Unable to edit files as admin user

I installed the following dist for system users only The_Perfect_Server_-_Ubuntu_Lucid_Lynx_(Ubuntu_10_04)_[ISPConfig_2]
Here is a problem I am running into:
I don't allow root to ssh in to my mail server. I log in with another admin ID and do sudo su. However, anytime I try to run the commands below I get and error about not being able to edit a read only file.

vi /etc/postfix/virtusertable

/etc/init.d/postfix restart


The only workaround I have found is to add my admin user ID to the root group or to allow root to ssh and run the commands. When lookink at the file system it shows root as the owner of the files I believe

 

What's the output of

Code:

whoami

when you get that error? What's the output of

Code:

ls -la /etc/postfix/

?

 

What's the output of
Code:
---------
whoami

administrator

when you get that error? W10: Warning : Changing a readonly file

What's the output of
Code:
---------
ls -la /etc/postfix/
---------
total 108
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 2010-07-06 09:52 .
drwxr-xr-x 88 root root 4096 2010-07-06 17:23 ..
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 318 2010-06-28 16:35 dynamicmaps.cf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 72 2010-06-28 17:35 local-host-names
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1841 2010-06-28 17:51 main.cf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 5301 2010-06-28 16:35 master.cf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 18992 2010-02-18 00:38 postfix-files
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 8729 2010-02-18 00:38 postfix-script
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 24256 2010-02-18 00:38 post-install
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2010-06-28 16:40 sasl
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2010-06-28 16:44 ssl
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 395 2010-07-06 09:51 virtusertable
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 12288 2010-06-28 17:51 virtusertable.db


I also can't run these commands as administrator
postmap /etc/postfix/virtusertable
/etc/init.d/postfix restart

I know that root is the owner. Do I need to change the owner of these files and if so how? I am also unable to reboot system as administrator



Thanks

 

It should show root after you run

Code:

sudo su

Does sudo su show any errors?

 

Not sure what logs to look in for the errors if there are any? As far as errors when I run the command sudo su and input my password. It seems to look normal.

 

I'd enable the root account. You can disable direct root logins in SSH for security reasons so that you have to use su to become root.

 

ok I have always had root enabled. I did disable ssh for root. My question is how do I eleveate to root since I disabled ssh for root?

 

I think you are asking about.

Code:

  sudo su - 

 

Log in as a normal user and the run

Code:

su

 

ok let's say my administrator user login is joe, not administrator. after ssh into box I ran the command sudo -l and it said my user joe had all rights. However, I still can't edit files owned by root. Any ideas?I don't want to enable my root account to ssh in

Thanks

 

Please use su!