Root login is permitted by default in Slackware 8.1. I don't know what distribution you use, but the setting is in /etc/ssh/sshd_config and is called PermitRootLogins and is set to either yes or no. Be sure it's not commented out if you decide to enable root logins. Of course, you can always log in as yourself and then type "su -" to get to root. The dash makes su act more like a regular login by giving you root's environment. Either method works. If you were running a major server, it would be better to disable root logins from any remote systems, thus you could track who did what as root to some degree since every su command gets logged.
