Re: Is user active or not ?

Renaud (Ron) Olgiati grabbed a keyboard and wrote:
> I find myself in need of an easy way to check whether the account of a remote 
> user on the lan is active or not.
> 
> Is there an easier way than to ssh, then grep $USER /etc/shaddow | grep !

You could install the finger daemon on the remote machine, and then doing a

finger user@othermachine

would tell you if they're logged in or not, and if not, when they last did.

> And is there a way to automate the ssh connection in a script ?

ssh youruser@othermachine "command"

Will let you run "command" on the other machine.  You'll still have to
enter your password on the other machine, unless you set up a ssh key to
allow you passwordless access to your account (or in your case, the root
account since you're trying to access /etc/shadow) on the other machine
from the machine you're trying to connect from.

                 --Dave

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