How about webmin... Yes I know the legion of complaints against "gui" tools, BUT it just might save you here.. You ftp up the rpm and have you DE (distant end) fingers type rpm -Uvh webmin(tab) and after it grunts for a few seconds you can then login as root with your root password. (btw the default in MDK is over ssl so it is reasonably secure for all but the ultra paranoid.)
Under the system tab you can review logs. Install packages (either over the net or from a local (to you or to it) file. Under others you can check system status. And most important. Run single shell commands, and view the output. It's not just like being there.. BUT it is a "side door" that just might let you in enough to get ssh working so that the real work can begin. I know this only because I've used it. Just for this purpose. (passwd file got munged on my user, no ssh in as root. Logged in repaired.. logged out woo hooooo!) Once it's up consider this... Choose wisely a second door into this box. From across the room the console is an option from across the nation you have to have two legit ways in. Otherwise you end up just like you are right now. I used to maintain two servers in Amsterdam, I learned the hard way. (Fortunately my partner was a crackers cracker. The kind who is so good he won't do it because it costs money to get the reputation, and he broke into his own server.) James On Tue, 2003-01-07 at 08:34, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > On Tue, 7 Jan 2003, Tibbetts, Ric wrote: > > > All; > > I have an interesting challenge. Some speculation will be required to > > solve this one! > > > > The situation: > > > > Linux Server sitting in Seattle, I'm in Florida. > > The Linux Server crashed due to a power failure (I know, it needs a > > UPS). When the server came back up, it came up, sans sshd. So I cannot > > get on it to check it out. I also cannot get on to diagnose the problem > > with sshd, because ssh is my only access (kinda a catch-22 isn't it?). > > What services do you have available? If everything else is running > properly then you can probably assume that something went wrong only > with the sshd startup. Possible problems could include: > > SSH was improperly upgraded ( /var/empty not created, host keys not > properly generated, sshd was turned on in the rc scripts during upgrade). > > > Further complicating it: I Have no one on site, that knows spit about > > computers, that can help. The best that can be offered is a pair of > > fingers, that are extremely computer illerate. > > > > Somehow, I need to diagnose the problem, and find a way to fix it. > > Any suggestions will be greatfully accepted. > > > > Any "guesses" on what would be snagging up sshd? All I know is that it > > failes to start, both on boot, and via "service sshd start". I don't > > know what's in the logs, I can't get to them. > > > > Have someone log in to the box as root. Type: > sshd -d -p XXXXXX > (where XXXXXX is an accessible and available port) > > On your end, type: > ssh -p XXXXXX hostname > > This will start a second sshd process that might allow connections. It > will also send debug messages to the console and not background. If you > have a firewall configured you might be able to disable the service for > an open port, say apache, then run sshd on the allowed port. > > > I know this is vague, but it's all I have to go on at the moment. > > > > Any suggestions, speculations, "WAGs" will be very greatfully accepted! > > > > Also: Telnet is not installed, so enabling that is not a solution. > > If you have the X libraries installed you might be able to start a VNC > session on that end. > > > > Thank you! > > > > Ric > > > > PS: The server is running on Mandrake 8.1 > > > > > > > ______________________________________________________________________ > > Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? > Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
