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I am trying to connect to 3 different remote machines, copy files between these machines and then stay in the final remote machine to perform a few tasks. I am trying to create a bash script to help me automate this process. Here is what I will like to do

fname='file to be copied across these remote machines' 
rmt1='remote machine1'
mt2='remote machine2'
rmt3='remote machine3'

#copy file from local to rmt1
scp -r  $fname  $rmt1
#log into rmt1
ssh -Y $rmt1
#from rmt1, copy file from rmt1 to rmt2
scp -r  $fname  $rmt2
#from rmt1 log into rmt2
ssh -Y $rmt2
#from rmt2 copy file from rmt2 to rmt3
scp -r  $fname  $rmt3
#from rmt2 log into rmt3
ssh -Y $rmt3
Then finally stay in rmt3 where I can do other things.

I need a bash script to help me automate this process so that I don't have to type so much each time I need to do this. Any help will be highly appreciated. Note I have enabled public/private keys using ssh-keygen so any of these does not require me to enter a password

Many thanks in anticipation for your help

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  • Always paste your script into https://shellcheck.net, a syntax checker, or install shellcheck locally. Make using shellcheck part of your development process. Commented Aug 12, 2022 at 19:52
  • Always double-quote your variables when you use them. For example instead of scp -r $fname $rmt3 use scp -r "$fname" "$rmt3" Commented Aug 12, 2022 at 21:58
  • Many thanks for this, I will take note of that henceforth. Commented Aug 12, 2022 at 22:42

1 Answer 1

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Assuming that the one private key on the local host will allow logins to all three remote hosts, and a modern version of OpenSSH, I would do it this way instead:

#!/bin/sh
fname='file to be copied across these remote machines' 
rmt1='remote machine1'
rmt2='remote machine2'
rmt3='remote machine3'

scp -J "$rmt1,$rmt2" "$fname" "$rmt3":/target/path/
ssh -Y -J "$rmt1,$rmt2" "$rmt3"
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5
  • Double quotes around those variables Commented Aug 12, 2022 at 21:57
  • I already used ssh-keygen to remove asking for password all the time so it has no issues with password for now. However, here is the error I got. Invalid -J argument lost connection Invalid -J argument Commented Aug 12, 2022 at 22:41
  • I did what you described and here is the error I got ``` Invalid -J argument lost connection Invalid -J argument ``` Commented Aug 12, 2022 at 22:50
  • You might have an old version of OpenSSH that does not support the -J option. Please run ssh -V to identify the SSH version. Commented Aug 12, 2022 at 23:38
  • Here is the output OpenSSH_8.9p1 Ubuntu-3, OpenSSL 3.0.2 15 Mar 2022 Commented Aug 13, 2022 at 2:18

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