How to run the sftp command with a password from B

Question

I need to transfer a log file to a remote host using sftp from a Linux host. I have been provided credentials for the same from my operations group. However, since I don't have control over other host, I cannot generate and share RSA keys with the other host.

So is there a way to run the sftp command (with the username/password provided) from inside the Bash script through a cron job?

I found a similar Stack Overflow question, Specify password to sftp in a Bash script, but there was no satisfactory answer to my problem.

Answer 1

You have a few options other than using public key authentication:

1. Use keychain
2. Use sshpass (less secured but probably that meets your requirement)
3. Use expect (least secured and more coding needed)

If you decide to give sshpass a chance here is a working script snippet to do so:

export SSHPASS=your-password-here
sshpass -e sftp -oBatchMode=no -b - sftp-user@remote-host << !
   cd incoming
   put your-log-file.log
   bye
!

Answer 2

You can use sshpass for it. Below are the steps

1. Install sshpass For Ubuntu - sudo apt-get install sshpass
2. Add the Remote IP to your known-host file if it is first time For Ubuntu -> ssh user@IP -> enter 'yes'
3. give a combined command of scp and sshpass for it. Below is a sample code for war coping to remote tomcat sshpass -p '#Password_For_remote_machine' scp /home/ubuntu/latest_build/abc.war #user@#RemoteIP:/var/lib/tomcat7/webapps

Answer 3

Combine sshpass with a locked-down credentials file and, in practice, it's as secure as anything - if you've got root on the box to read the credentials file, all bets are off anyway.

Answer 4

You can use lftp interactively in a shell script so the password not saved in .bash_history or similar by doing the following:

vi test_script.sh

Add the following to your file:

#!/bin/sh
HOST=<yourhostname>
USER=<someusername>
PASSWD=<yourpasswd>

cd <base directory for your put file>

lftp<<END_SCRIPT
open sftp://$HOST
user $USER $PASSWD
put local-file.name
bye
END_SCRIPT

And write/quit the vi editor after you edit the host, user, pass, and directory for your put file typing :wq .Then make your script executable chmod +x test_script.sh and execute it ./test_script.sh.