Re: [pcp] pmie - privileged use

[Chandana De Silva <chandana@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks for both suggestions, I think sudo glue is simpler from an admin 
perspective, and a bunch sysadmins not well versed in pcp lore.

On 15/02/14 12:40, Nathan Scott wrote:
> ----- Original Message -----
> > > One possibility is to give pcp sudo privileges on pmie.
> > > Is there another way ?
> > I think you have already suggested the "best" solution for a "behind the
> > firewall" environment ... sudo glue, as in (in sort of reverse order of how
> > you'd set it up)
> > ...
> There is an alternative which doesn't involve sudo, if use of sudo is an
> issue.  A PMDA can be written with a storable metric, and pmie can be told
> to pmstore(1) into that metric on detection of a process to kill.  A PMDA
> starts out its life running as root, and (as many do) can choose to change
> to an arbitrary unprivileged user.
>
> They can also nowadays obtain the credentials of the user account requesting
> the pmstore(1).  As such they provide several options for security models -
> e.g. the PMDA could change user to "apache" early on in its life, dropping
> root privileges - then, at pmstore time (even if the credentials checks were
> not being used) the PMDA would be limited in the damage it can do; e.g. only
> being able to terminate "apache" user processes.
>
> cheers.
>
> --
> Nathan