topic Re: SFTP in batch not working in Operating System - OpenVMS

SFTP in batch not working

Tschroeder — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 18:56:40 GMT

I can use SFTP interactively just fine to connect to a client's FTP site. To do this I created a user on my system with the same name as the FTP user on the client's server, then when logged in as the new user, I use the following command.

$ SFTP ftp.clientsaddress.com

It prompts me for a password and I login just fine. To do this in batch mode, I created a text file pwd.txt with the password in it. Then logged in as that same user, I issue the following command:

$ SFTP "-B" pwd.txt ftp.clientsaddress.com

warning: Authentication failed.
Disconnected; no more authentication methods available (No further authentication methods available.).

FATAL: ssh2 client failed to authenticate. (or you have too old ssh2 installed, check with ssh2 "-V")

I have checked the ssh2 version:

$ ssh2 "-V"
alpha2$dke0:[sys0.syscommon.][sysexe]tcpip$ssh_ssh2.exe: SSH Secure Shell OpenVMS (V5.5) 3.2.0 on AlphaServer DS25 - VMS V8.3

Other version info:

HP TCP/IP Services for OpenVMS Alpha Version V5.6
on an AlphaServer DS25 running OpenVMS V8.3

Any help would be appreciated.

Re: SFTP in batch not working

Steven Schweda — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 19:43:40 GMT

Re: SFTP in batch not working

Hoff — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 19:52:58 GMT

Using sftp to connect to an ftp site won't work. I'll assume that a connection to an sftp server was intended.

The file specification after the -B isn't a file containing a password, it's a file containing sftp transfer commands.

(And quoting from the HP documentation for this sftp stuff: "SYS$INPUT, SYS$OUTPUT, and SYS$ERROR may not work as you expect." They definitely don't.)

If you want to use sftp in batch, then you will want to set up the certificate-based login path. Some details on setting up the sftp and ssh and the rest of the certificate-based operations are here and here and here.

Re: SFTP in batch not working

Tschroeder — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 20:23:50 GMT

Thanks for the info. I will talk to my client and see if they want to setup an exchange of public keys. If so, I will have to figure out how to create those in OpenVMS

Re: SFTP in batch not working

Steven Schweda — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 21:13:25 GMT

Re: SFTP in batch not working

Hoff — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 21:32:26 GMT

One of the documents that's linked is an illustrated description of how to set up a certificate-based login, and it's specifically tailored for Microsoft Windows users working with PuTTY terminal emulator. It also covers OS X as a client, which uses OpenSSL. (OpenVMS also uses an ancient and somewhat wonky port of OpenSSL.)