Create a SUDO user for server administration

Sometimes you will need to administer your server beyond what you can do as the Aegir user.

Examples include installing additional software or editing PHP configuration.

It's not recommended to use the root user for administering things as it can be easy to make mistakes that could break your system.

Instead of running as root, it is recommended to create a user for yourself that has sudo privileges.

Create a user with SUDO privileges

In ubuntu/debian systems, creating a user and giving them the ability to run commands with sudo is easy with the adduser command.

Think of a username and password for yourself, then run the following commands as root:

root@aegir:~# adduser bob
Adding user `bob' ...
Adding new group `bob' (1001) ...
Adding new user `bob' (1001) with group `bob' ...
Creating home directory `/home/bob' ...
Copying files from `/etc/skel' ...
Enter new UNIX password: 
Retype new UNIX password: 
passwd: password updated successfully
Changing the user information for bob
Enter the new value, or press ENTER for the default
    Full Name []: Bob
    Room Number []: 
    Work Phone []: 
    Home Phone []: 
    Other []: 
Is the information correct? [Y/n] y
root@aegir:~#

Then add them to the "sudo" user group:

root@aegir:~# adduser bob sudo
Adding user `bob' to group `sudo' ...
Adding user bob to group sudo
Done.
root@aegir:~# 

Then you can switch to the "bob" user using sudo su, or login via ssh with your password.

root@aegir:~# sudo su - bob
bob@aegir:~$