Initial Setup of a Linux CentOS5 / RHEL5 System

Initial Setup of a Linux CentOS5 /RHEL5 System

After the initial install there are a number of things that I do to the system. I'm going to document them here.

1. Never login as root!
   

During the install, there will be a place to create an account. Create an account there. Login with the account you created during the install.

1. Get sudo working for your account.
   

Once you are logged in, start a "Terminal". Type su, type the root password. This will be the first and last time you type "su". Now, edit /etc/sudoers. Find the line

## Allow root to run any commands anywhere
root    ALL=(ALL)       ALL

and add you account:

## Allow root to run any commands anywhere
root    ALL=(ALL)       ALL
jkh     ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:     ALL

I add the "NOPASSWD:" option, this allows you to run sudo with out typing your password. Many people would argue that this is a security problem. Just make sure that your password is strong.

## Allow root to run any commands anywhere
root    ALL=(ALL)       ALL
jkh     ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:     ALL

Since the /etc/sudoers is not 'writeable' by anyone, to save the file you must use :w!