How to edit sudoers file without errors

How to edit sudoers file without errors

APPLIES TO : Solaris , Linux 

ISSUE : Wrong Sudoers entry will cause errors to administrative operation.

GOAL :  edit the sudoers without any error OR  verify the sudoers file before editing it

SOLUTION : Copy the sudoers file to /tmp, update the changes, verify for correction using visudo command, if no error reported deploy the file to /etc/sudoers.

Follow the below steps.

1.     Copy the file to /tmp directory

                    $ sudo cp /etc/sudoers /tmp/sudoers.tobe

2.     Edit the copied sudoers file and made the required changes.
                     $ vi /tmp/sudoers.tobe
                               “enter the commands you wish to add”

3.     Run the below command to verify the new file for errors

                     $/usr/sbin/visudo -c -f /tmp/sudoers.tobe

                             The output should as below

                             “/tmp/sudoers.tobe file parsed OK”

                             If you get parse error as below, please check for corrections on the newly added entries.

                             “>>> sudoers file: syntax error, line 132 <<<

                             parse error in /tmp/sudoers.tobe near line 132”

4.     Take a copy of existing sudoers file

                     $sudo cp -p /etc/sudoers /etc/sudoers.`date +%Y-%m-%d-%H%M`

5.     Change the permission of the new file

                     $sudo chmod 440 /tmp/sudoers.tobe

6.     Copy the new file to /etc/sudoers

                     $sudo cp /tmp/sudoers.tobe /etc/sudoers

7.     Verify the suoders functionality

                     $sudo –l

7.     Delete the temporary file

                     $sudo rm /tmp/sudoers.tobe

~Judi~