SSH SCP functions not working with a certain server

[chadjohnson]

I can successfully transfer files to and from my server using the following code:

$connection = ssh2_connect('hostname', 3222);
ssh2_auth_password($connection, 'username', 'password');

$sftp = ssh2_sftp($connection);

ssh2_scp_send($connection, '/local/directory/bug.gif', '/remote/directory/bug.gif', 0644);
ssh2_scp_recv($connection, '/remote/directory/bug.gif', '/local/directory/bug2.gif');

but when I try to do the same with a second server (have not tried a third) I get

Warning: ssh2_scp_send(): Failure creating remote file in /media/data/srv/www/test/sftp/prototype.php on line 8

Warning: ssh2_scp_recv(): Unable to receive remote file in /media/data/srv/www/test/sftp/prototype.php on line 9

The second server uses port 3222. I can in fact scp into this second server and transfer files via the command line as well as FileZilla and gFTP just fine. I do in fact have read/write permission on the target directory.

What's going on? Please help if possible--it's very urgent.

[pimmy]

Hi,

I have similar problem: ssh2_scp_send fails for absolutely no reason. In my case I have a loop through an array of files and sending them one by one to another server. In 80% of the times the first file fails to be sent, and the rest are transferred OK. The code I use is as simple as it can get:

$fileList[0] = '/dir_name/file_01.txt';
$fileList[1] = '/dir_name/file_02.txt';
$fileList[2] = '/dir_name/file_03.txt';

$conn = ssh2_connect('my.server.com', 22);
ssh2_auth_password($conn, 'username', 'password');


foreach ($fileList as $srcFile) {

$dstFile = "/var/tmp" . $srcFile;

// Create the directory first if not exist
if (!$sshStream = ssh2_exec($conn, "mkdir -p '" . dirname($dstFile) . "';") ) {
	echo "Failed to execute SSH2 command: [mkdir -p <filename>]";
	continue;
}
stream_set_blocking( $sshStream, true );
$res = stream_get_contents($sshStream);

if ( !ssh2_scp_send($conn, $srcFile, $dstFile) ) {
	echo "Failed to copy file [".$srcFile."] to [".$dstFile."].";
}
}

I've spent a lot of time testing various things and another thing that puzzles me is that I cannot get any response from this either:

if (!$sshStream = ssh2_exec($conn, "ls -l /var/tmp;") ) {
	echo "Failed to execute SSH2 command: [mkdir -p <filename>]";
}
stream_set_blocking( $sshStream, true );
echo stream_get_contents($sshStream);

Echo is basically always empty.

Any clues anyone?

Cheers,

Pimmy

[chadjohnson]

My problem was solved by using fopen + fwrite to send the file, and file_get_contents to download the file. Note these functions wrapped around the SSH and SFTP functionality. See the PHP docs for more details.

[pimmy]

Thanks very much. I've tried already the SFTP, but it doesnt work at all for me for some reason. Any chance for a snipped from your code?

Cheers,

Pimmy

[chadjohnson]

This will upload an image and download it again to another file. You may have to play around with the try/catch exception handling code (there may be a bug in this snippet).

Note you should not need to have shell access enabled for this to work.

$connection = ssh2_connect('host', 22);
ssh2_auth_password($connection, 'user', 'pass');

$sftp = ssh2_sftp($connection);

$stream = @fopen("ssh2.sftp://$sftp/path/to/image.gif", 'w');

try {
        if (! $stream)
            throw new Exception("Could not open file: $remote_file");

    $data_to_send = @file_get_contents("image.gif");
    if ($data_to_send === false)
        throw new Exception("Could not open local file: $local_file.");

    if (@fwrite($stream, $data_to_send) === false)
        throw new Exception("Could not send data from file: $local_file.");

} catch (Exception $e) {
  echo $e->getMessage();
}

@fclose($stream);

$data = file_get_contents("ssh2.sftp://$sftp/path/to/image.gif");

print "Size of data: " . strlen($data);

file_put_contents("image2.gif", $data);

[pimmy]

Thanks Chad,

I will try this out today. I really appreciate your help.

Cheers,
Pimmy

[pimmy]

Hi Chad,

It may sound strange, but SFTP read/write also fails on the first file. It fails around 90% of the tests, and only on the first file from the list - never on any other file. What or which file is the first one is also irrelevant.

Can you or anyone else suggest what else can I do or any clues what could be causing this.

Thanks,

Pimmy

[pimmy]

Hi,

It was all my bad: In a function which gets executed before the recursive file transfer I had the following:

    if (!$sshStream = ssh2_exec($conn, "rm -rf '" . $rootPath . "';") ) {
        echo "Failed to execute SSH2 command: [rm -rf <filename>]";
        break;
    }
    stream_set_blocking( $sshStream, true );

I wasnt reading the output from the command:

$res = stream_get_contents($sshStream);

In the PHP docs this actually is not mentioned anywhere, so I've excluded it as a possible cause of the problem. Anyway adding this line solved the problem.

Just as a reference:

sftp->fopen->file_get_contents->fwrite has much better performance than ssh2_scp_send

So, thanks Chad..

Cheers,

Pimmy