Setting a shut down 'safety catch' for servers

[Guest]

Hi,

One thing that has always worried me is how easy it is to accidentally
select "Shut Down" or "Restart" on Windows servers when meaning to just
select "Log Off".

I've implemented a Group Policy that adds the "Log Off xxx" option to the
Start Menu, but it's still relatively easy to shut down a server by accident.
Other than installing third-party utilities, are there any built-in methods
in Windows 2000 Server to add an extra level of confirmation for a system
shut down? Ideally, the (admin) user would have to re-enter their password to
confirm.

What options are there in Windows Server 2003?

Thanks,
desil.

 

[Guest]

BTW, I do know about the old trick of pressing "Ctrl-Alt-Del" to abort a Shut
Down that has just started, but there's three problems with this:

1) There's a very limited time to do it, so one must be able to remember
it very quickly.
2) Servers these days are often administered through terminal sessions,
so it's practically impossible to send the equivalent of a "Ctrl-Alt-Del"
signal to the server in time (it usually involves right-clicking or selecting
from window menus in the client).
3) The operator has to know about the trick in the first place.

 

[David Wang [Msft]]

Take away the "Shutdown the System" privilege from all users/groups. The
only option is for users to disconnect/logoff.

Then, create one special user whose account credentials are known to your
admins. Create a link using RUNAS with that credential to execute shutdown
(shutdown -s -t 0 -f) and put the link in "all users" Desktop profile (or
wherever you want).

You now have this shortcut on the desktop that asks for a password which has
to be correct before the system shuts down. Everyone normally logoff by
default.

This comes pretty close to your desire for an admin to "re-enter [their]
password to be able to shutdown the server".

--
//David
IIS
http://blogs.msdn.com/David.Wang
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
//
BTW, I do know about the old trick of pressing "Ctrl-Alt-Del" to abort a
Shut
Down that has just started, but there's three problems with this:

1) There's a very limited time to do it, so one must be able to remember
it very quickly.
2) Servers these days are often administered through terminal sessions,
so it's practically impossible to send the equivalent of a "Ctrl-Alt-Del"
signal to the server in time (it usually involves right-clicking or
selecting
from window menus in the client).
3) The operator has to know about the trick in the first place.