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1 | \versionid $Id: plink.but,v 1.16 2002/08/07 19:20:06 simon Exp $ |
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3 | \C{plink} Using the command-line connection tool Plink |
4 | |
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5 | \i{Plink} (PuTTY Link) is a command-line connection tool similar to |
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6 | UNIX \c{ssh}. It is mostly used for automated operations, such as |
7 | making CVS access a repository on a remote server. |
8 | |
9 | Plink is probably not what you want if you want to run an |
10 | interactive session in a console window. |
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11 | |
12 | \H{plink-starting} Starting Plink |
13 | |
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14 | Plink is a command line application. This means that you cannot just |
15 | double-click on its icon to run it and instead you have to bring up |
16 | a \i{console window}. In Windows 95, 98, and ME, this is called an |
17 | \q{MS-DOS Prompt}, and in Windows NT and 2000 it is called a |
18 | \q{Command Prompt}. It should be available from the Programs section |
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19 | of your Start Menu. |
20 | |
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21 | In order to use Plink, the file \c{plink.exe} will need either to be |
22 | on your \i{\c{PATH}} or in your current directory. To add the |
23 | directory containing Plink to your \c{PATH} environment variable, |
24 | type into the console window: |
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25 | |
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26 | \c set PATH=C:\path\to\putty\directory;%PATH% |
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27 | |
28 | This will only work for the lifetime of that particular console |
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29 | window. To set your \c{PATH} more permanently on Windows NT, use the |
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30 | Environment tab of the System Control Panel. On Windows 95, 98, and |
31 | ME, you will need to edit your \c{AUTOEXEC.BAT} to include a \c{set} |
32 | command like the one above. |
33 | |
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34 | \H{plink-usage} Using Plink |
35 | |
36 | This section describes the basics of how to use Plink for |
37 | interactive logins and for automated processes. |
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38 | |
39 | Once you've got a console window to type into, you can just type |
40 | \c{plink} on its own to bring up a usage message. This tells you the |
41 | version of Plink you're using, and gives you a brief summary of how to |
42 | use Plink: |
43 | |
44 | \c Z:\sysosd>plink |
45 | \c PuTTY Link: command-line connection utility |
46 | \c Release 0.50 |
47 | \c Usage: plink [options] [user@]host [command] |
48 | \c Options: |
49 | \c -v show verbose messages |
50 | \c -ssh force use of ssh protocol |
51 | \c -P port connect to specified port |
52 | \c -pw passw login with specified password |
53 | |
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54 | Once this works, you are ready to use Plink. |
55 | |
56 | \S{plink-usage-interactive} Using Plink for interactive logins |
57 | |
58 | To make a simple interactive connection to a remote server, just |
59 | type \c{plink} and then the host name: |
60 | |
61 | \c Z:\sysosd>plink login.example.com |
62 | \c |
63 | \c Debian GNU/Linux 2.2 flunky.example.com |
64 | \c flunky login: |
65 | |
66 | You should then be able to log in as normal and run a session. The |
67 | output sent by the server will be written straight to your command |
68 | prompt window, which will most likely not interpret terminal control |
69 | codes in the way the server expects it to. So if you run any |
70 | full-screen applications, for example, you can expect to see strange |
71 | characters appearing in your window. Interactive connections like |
72 | this are not the main point of Plink. |
73 | |
74 | In order to connect with a different protocol, you can give the |
75 | command line options \c{-ssh}, \c{-telnet}, \c{-rlogin} or \c{-raw}. |
76 | To make an SSH connection, for example: |
77 | |
78 | \c Z:\sysosd>plink -ssh login.example.com |
79 | \c login as: |
80 | |
81 | If you have already set up a PuTTY saved session, then instead of |
82 | supplying a host name, you can give the saved session name. This |
83 | allows you to use public-key authentication, specify a user name, |
84 | and use most of the other features of PuTTY: |
85 | |
86 | \c Z:\sysosd>plink my-ssh-session |
87 | \c Sent username "fred" |
88 | \c Authenticating with public key "fred@winbox" |
89 | \c Last login: Thu Dec 6 19:25:33 2001 from :0.0 |
90 | \c fred@flunky:~$ |
91 | |
92 | \S{plink-usage-batch} Using Plink for automated connections |
93 | |
94 | More typically Plink is used with the SSH protocol, to enable you to |
95 | talk directly to a program running on the server. To do this you |
96 | have to ensure Plink is \e{using} the SSH protocol. You can do this |
97 | in several ways: |
98 | |
99 | \b Use the \c{-ssh} option as described in |
100 | \k{plink-usage-interactive}. |
101 | |
102 | \b Set up a PuTTY saved session that describes the server you are |
103 | connecting to, and that also specifies the protocol as SSH. |
104 | |
105 | \b Set the Windows environment variable \c{PLINK_PROTOCOL} to the |
106 | word \c{ssh}. |
107 | |
108 | Usually Plink is not invoked directly by a user, but run |
109 | automatically by another process. Therefore you typically do not |
110 | want Plink to prompt you for a user name or a password. |
111 | |
112 | To avoid being prompted for a user name, you can: |
113 | |
114 | \b Use the \c{-l} option to specify a user name on the command line. |
115 | For example, \c{plink login.example.com -l fred}. |
116 | |
117 | \b Set up a PuTTY saved session that describes the server you are |
118 | connecting to, and that also specifies the username to log in as |
119 | (see \k{config-username}). |
120 | |
121 | To avoid being prompted for a password, you should almost certainly |
122 | set up public-key authentication. (See \k{pubkey} for a general |
123 | introduction to public-key authentication.) Again, you can do this |
124 | in two ways: |
125 | |
126 | \b Set up a PuTTY saved session that describes the server you are |
127 | connecting to, and that also specifies a private key file (see |
128 | \k{config-ssh-privkey}). For this to work without prompting, your |
129 | private key will need to have no passphrase. |
130 | |
131 | \b Store the private key in Pageant. See \k{pageant} for further |
132 | information. |
133 | |
134 | Once you have done all this, you should be able to run a remote |
135 | command on the SSH server machine and have it execute automatically |
136 | with no prompting: |
137 | |
138 | \c Z:\sysosd>plink login.example.com -l fred echo hello, world |
139 | \c hello, world |
140 | \c |
141 | \c Z:\sysosd> |
142 | |
143 | Or, if you have set up a saved session with all the connection |
144 | details: |
145 | |
146 | \c Z:\sysosd>plink mysession echo hello, world |
147 | \c hello, world |
148 | \c |
149 | \c Z:\sysosd> |
150 | |
151 | Then you can set up other programs to run this Plink command and |
152 | talk to it as if it were a process on the server machine. |
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153 | |
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154 | \S{plink-options} Plink command line options |
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155 | |
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156 | Plink accepts all the general command line options supported by the |
157 | PuTTY tools. See \k{using-general-opts} for a description of these |
158 | options. |
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159 | |
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160 | In addition to this, Plink accepts one other option: the \c{-batch} |
161 | option. If you use the \c{-batch} option, Plink will never give an |
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162 | interactive prompt while establishing the connection. If the |
163 | server's host key is invalid, for example (see \k{gs-hostkey}), then |
164 | the connection will simply be abandoned instead of asking you what |
165 | to do next. |
166 | |
167 | This may help Plink's behaviour when it is used in automated |
168 | scripts: using \c{-batch}, if something goes wrong at connection |
169 | time, the batch job will fail rather than hang. |
170 | |
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171 | \H{plink-batch} Using Plink in \i{batch files} and \i{scripts} |
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172 | |
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173 | Once you have set up Plink to be able to log in to a remote server |
174 | without any interactive prompting (see \k{plink-usage-batch}), you |
175 | can use it for lots of scripting and batch purposes. For example, to |
176 | start a backup on a remote machine, you might use a command like: |
177 | |
178 | \c plink root@myserver /etc/backups/do-backup.sh |
179 | |
180 | Or perhaps you want to fetch all system log lines relating to a |
181 | particular web area: |
182 | |
183 | \c plink mysession grep /~fjbloggs/ /var/log/httpd/access.log > fredlogs |
184 | |
185 | Any non-interactive command you could usefully run on the server |
186 | command line, you can run in a batch file using Plink in this way. |
187 | |
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188 | \H{plink-cvs} Using Plink with \i{CVS} |
189 | |
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190 | To use Plink with CVS, you need to set the environment variable |
191 | \c{CVS_RSH} to point to Plink: |
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192 | |
193 | \c set CVS_RSH=\path\to\plink.exe |
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194 | |
195 | You also need to arrange to be able to connect to a remote host |
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196 | without any interactive prompts, as described in |
197 | \k{plink-usage-batch}. |
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198 | |
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199 | You should then be able to run CVS as follows: |
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200 | |
201 | \c cvs -d :ext:user@sessionname:/path/to/repository co module |
202 | |
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203 | If you specified a username in your saved session, you don't even |
204 | need to specify the \q{user} part of this, and you can just say: |
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205 | |
206 | \c cvs -d :ext:sessionname:/path/to/repository co module |
207 | |
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208 | \H{plink-wincvs} Using Plink with \i{WinCVS} |
209 | |
210 | Plink can also be used with WinCVS. Firstly, arrange for Plink to be |
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211 | able to connect to a remote host non-interactively, as described in |
212 | \k{plink-usage-batch}. |
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213 | |
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214 | Then, in WinCVS, bring up the \q{Preferences} dialogue box from the |
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215 | \e{Admin} menu, and switch to the \q{Ports} tab. Tick the box there |
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216 | labelled \q{Check for an alternate \cw{rsh} name} and in the text |
217 | entry field to the right enter the full path to \c{plink.exe}. |
218 | Select \q{OK} on the \q{Preferences} dialogue box. |
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219 | |
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220 | Next, select \q{Command Line} from the WinCVS \q{Admin} menu, and type |
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221 | a CVS command as in \k{plink-cvs}, for example: |
222 | |
223 | \c cvs -d :ext:user@hostname:/path/to/repository co module |
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224 | |
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225 | or (if you're using a saved session): |
226 | |
227 | \c cvs -d :ext:user@sessionname:/path/to/repository co module |
228 | |
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229 | Select the folder you want to check out to with the \q{Change Folder} |
230 | button, and click \q{OK} to check out your module. Once you've got |
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231 | modules checked out, WinCVS will happily invoke plink from the GUI for |
232 | CVS operations. |
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233 | |
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234 | \# \H{plink-whatelse} Using Plink with... ? |