DreamHost is removing sudo access from existing VPS instances on Nov 30th

1 points by gibybo 10y ago ↗ HN

Here's the email I received today:

Dear DreamHost VPS Aficionado,

Change is good! I'm not just talking about the kind that jingles in your pocket like sleigh bells, but that's nice too. I'm talking about HOSTING!

You may have noticed over the past year or two that we've totally amped up our VPS game. We've increased memory. We've installed super-fast slick new SSDs for lightning-fast data access. AND we've lowered prices.

Now we're about to roll out another change to our VPS services that may affect you!

We will be removing admin (sudo) access from all DreamHost VPS instances.

All of our Virtual Private Servers are managed. That is to say that we provide you with a specific software environment and we work hard to keep it up to date with security patches and all the latest updates. When users take server management into their own hands with the "sudo" command, this can limit our own ability to provide a safe and reliable managed hosting environment.

The good news, for users looking to have more control over their hosting environment, is that our cloud computing service, DreamCompute, is completely unmanaged. Install whatever software you like! Don't need a web server? No problem! We'll provide you with a base OS install (or you can even upload your own!) and that's it. Use sudo, or heck, just login as root if you want!

DreamCompute provides the full and complete remote server control that so many of our VPS users have been craving for years.

Timing!

Sudo access will be disabled on Monday, November 30, 2015.

Please be sure to check out DreamCompute if you're looking for virtual computing resources but want full control of everything! We think you'll find it's a great complement to traditional, managed VPS services.

As always, our brilliant tech support team is on standby if you've got any questions about this change. You can contact them from the Support section of your account control panel at any time.

4 comments

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Albright 10y ago ↗

I presume this also breaks `su root`?

gibybo 10y ago ↗

I can't test it since the change hasn't happened yet, but it certainly seems that way. It sounds like they are saying they don't want people having any sort of root access on their VPS.

detaro 10y ago ↗

Seems like they want to migrate the VPS to a clearly and completely managed product and have root users use something else. (managing a server while the user has root gotta be a pain)

> lease be sure to check out DreamCompute if you're looking for virtual computing resources but want full control of everything! We think you'll find it's a great complement to traditional, managed VPS services.

Yeah, I can definitely see that. Though as someone who runs a non-managed VPS and relies on having root access to it, I'd be a bit miffed if my hosting company just up and announced that I'd have to move to another service soon. I'd hope they'd at least give me a migration script or something.