There was just an article in _SysAdmin_ magazine about almost exactly what you're asking for. The author used it to e-mail commands through a firewall, but it would be easily adapted.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Andrew J Perrin - http://www.unc.edu/~aperrin Assistant Professor of Sociology, U of North Carolina, Chapel Hill [EMAIL PROTECTED] * andrew_perrin (at) unc.edu On Wed, 29 May 2002, Karl E. Jorgensen wrote: > Since I set up a Debian/GNU Linux box for a couple of friends, I find > myself having to administer it remotely. Which is OK, as I did install > ssh on it. > > But the box is only connected to the internet via a pay-as-you-go > dial-up connection. And: I only want them to be connected to the > internet when *they* like it (it's their phonebill after all). Which > probably doesn't always coincide with when I want to log in and do > things. > > So, this weird scheme occured to me: It is possible to do *some* of the > admin via email? (not TCP/IP over SMTP/POP3...) I'm thinking something > along the lines of being able to email commands to the box (GNUPG signed > and encrypted of course), and have it email me back the output (again, > signed & encrypted). Similar to at(1), but remotely and via email. > > This won't work for interactive commands, but *should* work for the > basics (i.e. "apt-get --download-only --yes install so-and-so" etc.) > > Writing something like the above is fraught with caveats and security > holes, so I'd rather not write the lot from scratch. > > Has anybody else been in the same situation? What was your solution? > Ideas and comments are welcome! > > -- > Karl E. Jørgensen > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > www.karl.jorgensen.com > ==== Today's fortune: > If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate. > -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
