ALLOW NON-ROOT SSH/SFTP ACCESS

[dboonthego]

Will it ever be a thing?  It pains me to use the root user for things that don't require root.  I need to use SFTP instead of SMB to transfer a file between mobile and Unraid and the only user that can accomplish this is root.

 

The owner, group, and file permissions are reset to root root 644 which creates problems accessing over SMB on Windows machines.  I could set a cronjob to periodically set the permissions, but that's a hack.  Is there a better way?

 

-rw-r--r--  1 root root  23998 Dec  7 23:51 myfile.txt

 

[primeval_god]

You should not connect directly to unRAID via ssh or sftp to transfer files. A better option would be to setup a docker container (or LXC container if thats more your style) to host an ssh or sftp server for file transfer. You could configure whatever usernames and permissions you need in the container.

[dboonthego]

8 hours ago, primeval_god said:

You should not connect directly to unRAID via ssh or sftp to transfer files.

Other than because I'm connecting as root, why not?  Just to be clear, it's a local lan connection, not public.

Edited December 9, 2023 by dboonthego

[primeval_god]

13 hours ago, dboonthego said:

Other than because I'm connecting as root, why not?

Well that is the big one. The root user (which is the only real user) is meant for management and should be used sparingly. And your asking whether other uses accounts can have access to the unRAID os which is not how its meant to be used.

But more generally docker is the preferred way of extending functionality on unRAID. Anything that can be done with docker, should be done with docker. It helps to isolate user customization from the unRAID os. In this case it would allow you to easily ensure your file transfer client only has access to the specific folders that it needs access to.

[DivideBy0]

This is a *unix system after all so at least it should mimic same basic security principles I don't think that's asking for too much. 

After all is *unix that invented the security principles and not Al Gore

Edited December 9, 2023 by DivideBy0

[dboonthego]

On 12/9/2023 at 7:48 AM, primeval_god said:

The root user (which is the only real user) is meant for management and should be used sparingly.

Precisely why I wish I could connect as a limited user, but I get your point and understand why it's not supported; I just wish it was.

 

I believe I can switch from SFTP to Nextcloud and accomplish my goal so I'll try that first since I already have the Nextcloud docker.  A dedicated SFTP docker to transfer this one file isn't appealing, but I'll keep it in mind for the future.  Thanks for your input!