Managing sudo permissions across multiple servers becomes increasingly complex as your infrastructure grows. Each time you need to update permissions, manually editing individual sudoers files creates:

• Inconsistency between servers
• Security risks from delayed updates
• Administrative overhead

Here are three proven approaches for centralized sudoers management:

1. Configuration Management with Puppet

Create a Puppet module to manage your sudoers file:

class sudo {
  file { '/etc/sudoers':
    ensure  => present,
    owner   => 'root',
    group   => 'root',
    mode    => '0440',
    source  => 'puppet:///modules/sudo/sudoers',
    replace => true,
  }
}

2. Version Control with Git

Implement a Git-based workflow:

# Setup cron job on each server
*/5 * * * * root cd /etc && git pull origin master && visudo -c && cp sudoers.tmp /etc/sudoers

3. LDAP Integration

Configure sudo to use LDAP:

# Install required packages
yum install nss-pam-ldapd openldap-clients pam_ldap

# Configure /etc/nsswitch.conf
sudoers: files ldap

Key factors to evaluate when choosing your approach:

Method	Pros	Cons
Puppet	Atomic changes, full audit trail	Learning curve
Git	Simple version control	Manual sync required
LDAP	Enterprise-grade	Complex setup

Always validate sudoers files before deployment:

# Test syntax before applying
visudo -c -f /path/to/new/sudoers

# Safe deployment script example
#!/bin/bash
TMP_FILE="/tmp/sudoers.tmp"
cp new_sudoers $TMP_FILE
if visudo -c -f $TMP_FILE; then
  cp $TMP_FILE /etc/sudoers
  echo "Update successful"
else
  echo "ERROR: Invalid sudoers syntax"
  exit 1
fi

For environments needing server-specific rules:

# In /etc/sudoers.d/local
# Server-specific rules here
%web_servers ALL=(root) /usr/bin/systemctl restart apache

---

Managing sudo permissions across multiple servers becomes increasingly complex as your infrastructure grows. Each server maintaining its own /etc/sudoers file creates maintenance headaches and potential security inconsistencies. The fundamental issue lies in sudo's default local-only configuration.

# Example of traditional per-server sudoers entry
%admin ALL=(ALL) ALL
%developers server1=(appuser) /usr/bin/systemctl restart app_service

While solutions like NIS (Network Information Service) exist, they don't natively support sudoers distribution. Manual synchronization via SFTP creates version control challenges and potential single points of failure.

The most robust approach uses infrastructure-as-code tools. Here's a Puppet manifest example:

class sudo_config {
  file { '/etc/sudoers':
    ensure  => present,
    owner   => 'root',
    group   => 'root',
    mode    => '0440',
    source  => "puppet:///modules/sudo/${::environment}/sudoers",
    replace => true,
  }
}

For teams using SVN (as mentioned in the original question), here's a post-commit hook example:

#!/bin/bash
REPOS="$1"
REV="$2"
sudoers_path="/path/to/central/sudoers"

svn export -r $REV file://$REPOS/sudoers/trunk/sudoers $sudoers_path.tmp
visudo -c -f $sudoers_path.tmp && mv $sudoers_path.tmp $sudoers_path

For larger enterprises, LDAP provides real-time centralized management. Configure /etc/nsswitch.conf:

sudoers: files ldap

Then set up /etc/sudo-ldap.conf with your LDAP server details and schema mappings.

Always include validation in your deployment process. This Ansible playbook snippet ensures safe deployment:

- name: Deploy new sudoers file
  ansible.builtin.copy:
    src: sudoers
    dest: /etc/sudoers.tmp
    owner: root
    group: root
    mode: '0440'

- name: Validate sudoers file
  ansible.builtin.command: visudo -c -f /etc/sudoers.tmp
  register: sudo_check
  failed_when: sudo_check.rc != 0

- name: Apply validated sudoers
  ansible.builtin.command: mv /etc/sudoers.tmp /etc/sudoers
  when: sudo_check.rc == 0

Maintain previous versions with timestamped backups:

# In your deployment script
cp /etc/sudoers /etc/sudoers.bak.$(date +%Y%m%d%H%M%S)

Consider implementing a dead man's switch that reverts changes if not confirmed within a timeframe.