Root user guide

A server’s root user has administrative privileges for the server.

Best practices

Avoid using root when the actions you are performing do not require administrative privileges.

Deploying code to apps

Do not create files or directories in your apps while logged in as the root user. Files and directories created by the root user will not be writable by the app’s system user and will cause permissions problems and errors for apps.

To upload files to your apps, SSH or SFTP into the server as the app’s system user.

Customizations

Note

We can’t provide support for customizations.

Before running commands as the root user such as to install software or make configuration changes to a server, create a snapshot of the server. If an incorrect command you run as the root user breaks your server, you will need to restore the server from a snapshot.