How to restrict direct root access | Linux

We can do it just in two steps.

Step One:

At first we will create new root user as follows (for example, newroot)

Login as root using SSH.
Create new user e.g., newroot and add user to wheel group
```
useradd -G wheel newroot
```
Set password for newroot
```
passwd newroot
```
You will get option to enter password. Use letter and number only.
Save the newroot and password somewhere of you edge.
Su to newroot
```
su - newroot
```
Test sudo permission (permission should be root)
```
sudo whoami
```
Enter password of newroot and it will show result “root”.
Open sshd config file and check whether it has the “newroot” in AllowUsers. If not, add the user manually. (usually at the end).
```
vi /etc/ssh/sshd_config
```
[Permission Denied!] Quit :q
```
AllowUsers newroot
```
Restart sshd.service
```
sudo systemctl restart sshd.service
```

Step Two:

Now we are going to disable the root user. Before doing this, you have to logout from “root” and then login with “newroot”.

You can only disable the “root”, if you can successfully login with “newroot”.

After successfully login with “newroot”, su to “root” using root password.
```
su - root
```
Then open sshd_config.
```
vi /etc/ssh/sshd_config
```
Search and change permitRootLogin “yes” to “no” as follows.
```
permitRootLogin no
```
Restart sshd.service to implement the change
```
sudo systemctl restart sshd.service
```
Now logout from “newroot” and try to login “root”
Login with root now not allowed. Access Deny.
So login with “newroot” and then su to root with root password
```
su - root
```

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How to restrict direct root access | Linux | CentOS