nixCraft

jaysunn · #1 (**permalink**) 21-09-2009, 08:20 PM

Hello Nixcraft users,

I had a requirement to use a shell script that I needed to call from a crontab, to contact a FTP server and put or get a file. I used the shell script below to achieve the task at hand.

You will need to modify the variable section to reflect your settings.

PHP Code:


			
#!/bin/bash



HOST=ftp.server.com  #This is the FTP servers host or IP address.

USER=ftpuser             #This is the FTP user that has access to the server.

PASS=password          #This is the password for the FTP user.



# Call 1. Uses the ftp command with the -inv switches.  -i turns off interactive prompting. -n Restrains FTP from attempting the auto-login feature. -v enables verbose and progress. 



ftp -inv $HOST << EOF



# Call 2. Here the login credentials are supplied by calling the variables.



user $USER $PASS



# Call 3. Here you will change to the directory where you want to put or get

cd /path/to/file



# Call4.  Here you will tell FTP to put or get the file.

put test.txt



# or

get test.txt

bye

EOF

Now you will need to make your script executable and call it from crontab.

Code:

Prompt#chmod +x ftpscript.sh

I called this script once a day at 2:00AM daily with this crontab entry.

Code:

Prompt#crontab -e

0 2 * * * /path/to/script/ftpscript.sh

Please feel free to post any questions in regards to this setup.

Have Fun and HTH,

Jaysunn

nixcraft · #2 (**permalink**) 21-09-2009, 10:47 PM

Yes, you can even create date folder for each day on server:

Code:

NOW=$(date +"%d-%m-%Y")
DEST="/backup/$NOW"
ftp -inv $HOST << EOF 
user $USER $PASS 
mkdir $DEST
cd $DEST
...

This may also help to other users:
FTP MySQL and Webserver System Backup script

jaysunn · #3 (**permalink**) 21-09-2009, 11:24 PM

Sir,

May I say. This is a great wizard:

FTP MySQL and Webserver System Backup script

Upon viewing the php source code I was intrigued by this. As always.......

Thanks Vivek

cfajohnson · #4 (**permalink**) 30-12-2009, 06:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nixcraft

Yes, you can even create date folder for each day on server:

Code:

NOW=$(date +"%d-%m-%Y")
DEST="/backup/$NOW"
ftp -inv $HOST << EOF 
user $USER $PASS

The username and password should be entered in ~/.netrc rather than
included in the script.

Quote:

Code:

mkdir $DEST
cd $DEST
...

This may also help to other users:
FTP MySQL and Webserver System Backup script

The ftp command is not designed for scripting.

If possible, use scp; if not, use one (or more) of the ncftp group of commands.

jaysunn · #5 (**permalink**) 31-12-2009, 12:02 AM

Hello Mr. Johnson,

Quote:

The username and password should be entered in ~/.netrc rather than
included in the script.

I have searched on my BSD and RHEL servers for that file. Is this something that the admin should create to store the username and password. Also can you please explain how the script will know how to look there for the credentials. Or point me to a manual page / document.

Best Regards,

Jaysunn

jaysunn · #6 (**permalink**) 31-12-2009, 12:05 AM

Disregard.

Google is my friend.
http://linux.about.com/library/cmd/blcmdl5_netrc.htm
Unix -> .netrc
http://www.google.com/codesearch?cli...ed=0CBYQrwQwAw
Thanks for the tip.

Jaysunn

cfajohnson · #7 (**permalink**) 31-12-2009, 02:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaysunn

I have searched on my BSD and RHEL servers for that file. Is this something that the admin should create to store the username and password. Also can you please explain how the script will know how to look there for the credentials. Or point me to a manual page / document.

Read the ftp man page:

Code:

man ftp

jaysunn · #8 (**permalink**) 31-12-2009, 02:18 AM

Yes I see now.

I researched this tremendously after you have pointed it out.

RHEL:

Code:

       -n     Restrains  ftp  from  attempting  ''auto-login'' upon initial connection.  If auto-login is enabled, ftp will check the .netrc (see below) file in the user's home directory for an
              entry describing an account on the remote machine.  If no entry exists, ftp will prompt for the remote machine login name (default is the user identity on the local machine), and,
              if necessary, prompt for a password and an account with which to login.

OSX 10.6.2

Code:

 -N netrc    Use netrc instead of ~/.netrc.  Refer to THE .netrc FILE for more information.

Thanks for the insight. I am excited to implement this on many servers. As well as getting my senior engineer jealous for understanding this before him....

THanks Again,

Jaysunn

rockdalinux · #9 (**permalink**) 01-01-2010, 11:24 AM

.netrc is standard these days, but if you ever get chance to work on older proprietary UNIX os like *cough* Solairs, AIX *cough* you will not find anything like .netrc. This is main reason for using ftp -u user syntax. Also ~/.netrc does not make your script secure. Both has its own security problem. If possible avoid using ftp and switch to rsync or scp / sftp. Those are secure and much better alternatives. These days OpenSSH is part of all UNIX like operating systems except *cough* MS-Windows server *cough*

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
[Solved] UNIX File Descriptors In Bash Shell	raj	Shell scripting	5	28-09-2009 03:57 AM
Bash FTP unload script (single file from list)	Boruts5	Shell scripting	0	26-02-2009 03:51 PM
Please suggest me this easy bash shell script	nextcmchiranjeevi	Shell scripting	1	11-02-2009 02:34 AM
Shell Script To Outputs File Permissions of Most Recently Modified File	glen_4455	Shell scripting	1	25-08-2008 02:39 PM
shell script to search specific file from txt file inside zip file and extract it	aasif.shaikh	Shell scripting	2	31-05-2008 06:44 PM

nixCraft

Bash Shell Script To Ftp File To Server

[HowTo] Bash Shell Script To Ftp File To Server

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads

The Following User Says Thank You to jaysunn For This Useful Post:
anak_jkt (10-11-2009)

The Following User Says Thank You to cfajohnson For This Useful Post:
jaysunn (31-12-2009)