sftpg3

sftpg3 — Secure Shell file transfer client - Generation 3

Synopsis

sftpg3 [options...]
[ profile | [user@] host [#port] ]

Description

sftpg3 (sftpg3.exe on Windows) is an FTP-like client that can be used for file transfer over the network. sftpg3 launches ssh-broker-g3 to provide a secure transport using the Secure Shell version 2 protocol. ssh-broker-g3 will ask for passwords or passphrases if they are needed for authentication. sftpg3 uses the configuration specified in the ssh-broker-config.xml file.

However, it should be noted that sftpg3 is not designed to be a drop-in replacement for an FTP client. It is an application that implements secure file transfer functionality and has most features that common FTP applications have.

To connect to a remote host using sftpg3, give either the name of a connection profile defined in the ssh-broker-config.xml file (profile) or the IP address or DNS name of the remote host, optionally with the remote username and the port of the Secure Shell server ( [user@] host [#port]). If no username is given, the local username is assumed. If no port is given, the default Secure Shell port 22 is assumed. The remote host must be running a Secure Shell version 2 server with the sftp-server subsystem enabled.

For information on special characters in file names, see the section called “Filename Support”.

Options

The following options are available:

-b buffer_size_bytes

Defines the maximum buffer size for one read/write request (default: 32768 bytes).

-B batch_file

Uses batch mode and executes SFTP commands from batch_file. The file can contain any allowed SFTP commands. For a description of the commands, see the section called “Commands”.

Using batch mode requires that you have previously saved the server host key on the client and set up a non-interactive method for user authentication (for example, host-based authentication or public-key authentication without a passphrase).

-D, --debug=LEVEL

Sets the debug level. LEVEL is a number from 0 to 99, where 99 specifies that all debug information should be displayed. This should be the first argument on the command line.

	Note
	Option `-D` only applies on Unix. On Windows, instead of this command line tool, use the Connection Broker debugging options `-D, -l`.

	Note
	The debug level can be set only when the sftpg3 command starts the Connection Broker. This option has no effect in the command if the Connection Broker is already running.

-N max_requests

Defines the maximum number of read/write requests sent in parallel (default: 10).

-P port

Connects to this Secure Shell port on the remote machine (default: 22).

-v, --verbose

Uses verbose mode (equal to -D 2).

--fips

Performs the checksums using the FIPS cryptographic library.

--password= PASSWORD | file://PASSWORDFILE | extprog://PROGRAM

Sets user password that the client will send as a response to password authentication. The PASSWORD can be given directly as an argument to this option (not recommended), or a path to file containing the password can be given, or a path to a program or a script that outputs the password can be given.

	Caution
Supplying the password on the command line is not a secure option. For example, in a multi-user environment, the password given directly on the command line is trivial to recover from the process table. You should set up a more secure way to authenticate. For non-interactive batch jobs, it is more secure to use public-key authentication without a passphrase, or host-based authentication. At a minimum, use a file or a program to supply the password.

Caution

Supplying the password on the command line is not a secure option. For example, in a multi-user environment, the password given directly on the command line is trivial to recover from the process table. You should set up a more secure way to authenticate. For non-interactive batch jobs, it is more secure to use public-key authentication without a passphrase, or host-based authentication. At a minimum, use a file or a program to supply the password.

--plugin-path=PATH

Sets plugin path to PATH. This is only used in the FIPS mode.

-V, --version

Displays program version and exits.

-h, --help

Displays a short summary of command-line options and exits.

Commands

When sftpg3 is ready to accept commands, it will display the prompt sftp>. The user can then enter any of the following commands:

append [-u, --unlink-source] [--streaming] [--force-lower-case] srcfile [dstfile]

Appends the specified local file to the remote file. No globbing can be used.

Options:

-u, --unlink-source

Removes the source file after file transfer.

--streaming [ =yes | no | force | ext ]

Uses streaming in file transfer if the server supports it. Files smaller than buffer_size_bytes are not transferred using streaming. Use force with small files. Default: no

The --streaming=ext option must be enabled with z/OS hosts to enable direct MVS dataset access. Use this option when the sftpg3 command is mainly used for mainframe dataset transfers. Other streaming settings can cause unpredictable results in MVS dataset transfers. On the other hand, note that in Unix System Services (USS) environment, extended streaming can slow down the transfer of small files.

The --streaming=ext option requires also the --checksum=no option, because if checksums are calculated, the file transfer uses staging, which excludes streaming.

An alternative way to activate extended streaming is to define environment variables:

SSH_SFTP_STREAMING_MODE=ext
SSH_SFTP_CHECKSUM_MODE=no

--force-lower-case

Destination filename will be converted to lowercase characters.

ascii [-s] [remote_nl_conv] [local_nl_conv]

Sets the transfer mode to ASCII. remote_nl_conv sets a remote newline convention. local_nl_conv operates on the local side, but is not as useful (the correct local newline convention is usually compiled in, so this is mainly for testing). Please note that these are only hints for the underlying transfer layer, which tries to use the newline convention given by the server wherever possible. You can set either of these to ask, which will cause sftpg3 to prompt you for the newline convention when needed. The available conventions are dos, unix, and mac, using \r\n, \n, and \r as newlines, respectively.

Options:

-s: Only shows current newline convention. Does not set the transfer mode to ASCII.

auto

File transfer mode will be selected automatically from the file extension.

binary

Files will be transfered in binary mode.

break

Interrupts batch file execution. Batch file execution can be continued with the continue command.

cd directory

Changes the current remote working directory.

chmod [-R] [-f] [-v] OCTAL-MODE [file...] , chmod [-R] [-f] [-v] [ugoa] [+-=] [rwxs] [file...]

Sets file permissions of the specified file or files to the bit pattern OCTAL-MODE or changes permissions according to the symbolic mode [ugoa][+-=][rwxs]. Only one symbolic mode combination is supported.

Options:

-R: Recursively changes files and directories.
-f: Uses silent mode (error messages are suppressed).
-v: Uses verbose mode (lists every file processed).

close

Closes the remote connection.

continue

Continues interrupted batch file execution.

debug [ disable | no | debuglevel ]

Disables or enables debug. With disable or no, debugging is disabled. Otherwise, sets debuglevel as debug level string, as per command-line option -D.

digest [-H, --hash] [-o, --offset] [-l, --length] file

Calculates MD5 or SHA-1 digest over file data.

Options:

-H, --hash= [ md5 | sha1 ]: Use md5 or sha1 hash algorithm (default: md5).
-o, --offset=OFFSET: Start reading from file offset OFFSET.
-l, --length=LENGTH: Read LENGTH bytes of file data.

get [-p, --preserve-attributes] [-u, --unlink-source] [-I, --interactive] [--overwrite] [--checksum] [-W, --whole-file] [--checkpoint] [--streaming] [--force-lower-case] [--prefix=PREFIX] file...

Transfers the specified files from the remote end to the local end. Directories are recursively copied with their contents.

Options:

-p, --preserve-attributes

Tries to retain permissions and timestamps.

-u, --unlink-source

Removes the source file after file transfer. Also directories are removed, if they become empty (move mode).

-I, --interactive

Prompts whether to overwrite an existing destination file (does not work with batch mode).

--overwrite [ =yes | no ]

Decides whether to overwrite existing destination file(s) (default: yes).

--checksum [ =yes | no | md5 | sha1 | md5-force | sha1-force | checkpoint ]

Uses MD5 or SHA-1 checksums or a separate checkpoint database to determine the point in the file where file transfer can be resumed. Files smaller than buffer_size_bytes are not checked. Use md5-force or sha1-force with small files (default: yes, i.e. use SHA1 checksums in FIPS mode, MD5 checksums otherwise). Use checkpointing when transferring large files one by one.

-W, --whole-file

Does not try incremental checks. By default (if this option is not given), incremental checks are tried. This option can only be used together with the --checksum option.

--checkpoint=s<seconds>

Time interval between checkpoint updates (default: 10 seconds). This option can only be used when --checksum=checkpoint.

--checkpoint=b<bytes>

Byte interval between checkpoint updates (default: 10 MB). This option can only be used when --checksum=checkpoint.

--streaming [ =yes | no | force | ext ]

Uses streaming in file transfer if the server supports it. Files smaller than buffer_size_bytes are not transferred using streaming. Use force with small files. Default: no

The --streaming=ext option requires also the --checksum=no option, because if checksums are calculated, the file transfer uses staging, which excludes streaming.

An alternative way to activate extended streaming is to define environment variables:

SSH_SFTP_STREAMING_MODE=ext
SSH_SFTP_CHECKSUM_MODE=no

--force-lower-case

Destination filename will be converted to lowercase characters.

--prefix=PREFIX

Adds prefix PREFIX to filename during the file transfer. The prefix is removed after the file has been successfully transferred. This option requires the EFT Expansion Pack on both SSH Tectia Client and Server.

getext

Displays the extensions that will be ASCII in the auto transfer mode.

lappend [options...] srcfile [dstfile]

Same as append, but appends the specified remote file to the local file.

lcd directory

Changes the current local working directory.

lchmod [-R] [-f] [-v] OCTAL-MODE [file...] , lchmod [-R] [-f] [-v] [ugoa] [+-=] [rwxs] [file...]

Same as chmod, but operates on local files.

lclose

Closes the local connection.

ldigest [-H, --hash] [-o, --offset] [-l, --length] file

Same as digest, but operates on local files.

lls [-R] [-l] [-S] [-r] [-p] [-z|+z] [file...]

Same as ls, but operates on local files.

llsroots

Same as lsroots, but operates on local files (when the local side has been opened to a VShell server).

lmkdir directory

Same as mkdir, but operates on local files.

lopen hostname | -l

Tries to connect the local side to the host hostname. If this is successful, lls and friends will operate on the filesystem on that host.

Options:

-l: Connects the local side to the local filesystem (which does not require a server).

lpwd

Prints the name of the current local working directory.

lreadlink path

Same as readlink, but operates on local files.

lrename oldfile newfile

Same as rename, but operates on local files.

lrm [options...] file...

Same as rm, but operates on local files.

lrmdir directory

Same as rmdir, but operates on local files.

ls [-R] [-l] [-S] [-r] [-p] [-z|+z] [file...]

Lists the names of files on the remote server. For directories, contents are listed. If no arguments are given, the contents of the current working directory are listed.

Options:

-R: Directory trees are listed recursively. By default, subdirectories of the arguments are not visited.
-l: Permissions, owners, sizes and modification times are also shown (long format).
-S: Sorting is done based on file sizes (default: alphabetical sorting).
-r: The sort order is reversed.
-p: Only one page of listing is shown at a time.
-z: The client generates the long output (alias for option -l).
+z: The long output supplied by the server is used, if available.

lsite [ none | name1=value1 name2=value2... ]

Same as site, but operates on local files and datasets.

lsroots

Dumps the virtual roots of the server. (This is a VShell extension. Without this you cannot know the filesystem structure of a VShell server.)

lsymlink targetpath linkpath

Same as symlink, but operates on local files.

mget [options...] file...

Synonymous to get.

mkdir directory

Tries to create the directory specified in directory.

mput [options...] file...

Synonymous to put.

open hostname | -l

Tries to connect the remote side to the host hostname.

Options:

-l: Connects the remote side to the local filesystem (which does not require a server).

pause [seconds]

Pauses batch file execution for seconds seconds, or if seconds is not given until ENTER is pressed.

put [options...] file...

Transfers the specified files from the local end to the remote end. Directories are recursively copied with their contents. Options are the same as for get.

pwd

Prints the name of the current remote working directory.

quit

Quits the application.

readlink path

Provided that path is a symbolic link, shows where the link is pointing to.

rename oldfile newfile

Tries to rename the oldfile to newfile. If newfile already exists, the files are left intact.

When renaming is used on MVS datasets on z/OS hosts, you need to define the following environment variables:

SSH_SFTP_STREAMING_MODE=ext to activate extended streaming
SSH_SFTP_CHECKSUM_MODE=no to deactivate the checksum mode

The checksums cannot be used with streaming, because checksum calculation requires staging, but staging and streaming are mutually exclusive.

rm [-I, --interactive] [-r, --recursive] file...

Tries to delete a file or directory specified in file.

Options:

-I, --interactive: Prompts whether to remove a file or directory (does not work with batch mode).
-r, --recursive: Directories are removed recursively.

rmdir directory

Tries to delete the directory specified in directory. This command removes the directory only if it is empty and has no subdirectories.

setext [extension...]

Sets the file extensions that will be ASCII in the auto transfer mode. Normal zsh-fileglob regexps can be used in the file extensions.

setperm fileperm [:dirperm]

Sets the default file or directory permission bits for upload. (Prefix fileperm with p to preserve permissions of existing files or directories.)

sget [options...] srcfile [dstfile]

Transfers a single specified file from the remote end to the local end under the filename defined with dstfile. Directories are not copied. No wildcards can be used. Options are the same as for get.

site [ none | name1=value1 name2=value2... ]

Sets the file and dataset parameters for the remote host. Parameters can be entered either one by one, or several parameters can be delimited by spaces or commas. Both long parameters and abbreviations can be used. When run without arguments, the site command outputs the list of entered parameters. Setting none resets all parameters.

The available parameters are:

P|profile=PROFILE
T|type=TYPE
O|RECfm=RECFM
R|LRecl=LENGTH
B|BLKsize|BLOCKSIze=SIZE
L|size=SIZE
M|DIrectory|directory_size=SIZE
CYlinders
TRacks
BLocks
space_unit=UNIT
PRImary|primary_space=SPACE
SECondary|secondary_space=SPACE
DATAClass|dataclas=CLASS
MGmtclass|mgmtclas=CLASS
STOrclass|storclas=CLASS
keyoff=OFFSET
keylen=LENGTH
volumes=VOLUMES
unit=UNIT
like=LIKE
X|transfer_mode=MODE
F|transfer_format=FORMAT
U|record_truncate=yes|no
C|transfer_codeset=CODESET
D|transfer_file_codeset=CODESET
E|transfer_translate_table=TABLE
A|transfer_translate_dsn_templates=TEMPLATES
I|transfer_line_delimiter=CONVENTION
J|transfer_file_line_delimiter=CONVENTION

sput [options...] srcfile [dstfile]

Transfers a single specified file from the local end to the remote end under the filename defined with dstfile. Directories are not copied. No wildcards can be used. Options are the same as for get.

symlink targetpath linkpath

Creates symbolic link linkpath, which will point to targetpath.

verbose

Enables verbose mode (identical to the debug 2 command). You may later disable verbose mode by debug disable.

help [topic]

If topic is not given, lists the available topics. If topic is given, outputs available online help about the topic.

helpall

Outputs available online help about all topics.

Command Interpretation

sftpg3 understands both backslashes (\) and quotation marks ("") on the command line. A backslash can be used for ignoring the special meaning of any character in the command-line interpretation. It will be removed even if the character it precedes has no special meaning.

Quotation marks can be used for specifying filenames with spaces.

	Note
	Commands get . and put . will get or put every file in the current directory and possibly they overwrite files in your current directory.

sftpg3 supports wild cards (also known as glob patterns) given to commands chmod, lchmod, ls, lls, rm, lrm, get, and put.

Filename Support

Different operating systems allow different character sets in filenames. On Unix and Linux, some of the special characters are allowed in filenames, but on Windows, the following characters are not allowed:

\/ : * ? " < > |

The sftpg3 command-line tool (both as an interactive and in a batch file) follows the syntax and semantics of Linux shell command-line also on the Windows platform, except that the escape character is ~ (tilde).

When you transfer files that have special characters in the filename (for example unixfilename*?".txt) from a Unix or Linux server to Windows, you need to provide the files with new names that are acceptable on Windows.

The sftpg3 command-line client includes two versions of the get command:

The get command can be used to transfer several files at the same time, but it is not possible to define target filenames. Note that if there are special characters in the filenames, you need to rename the files already on Unix so that the names are acceptable also on Windows.

The sget command is used to transfer one file at a time, and it allows you to define a new name for the destination file. Use it to make the name acceptable on Windows. The command sequence is as follows:

$ sftpg3

sftp> open user@server

sftp> sget "file*name.txt" windowsfilename.txt

Escaping special characters

In the sftpg3 command, the following characters have a special meaning, and they need to be escaped in commands that take filenames as arguments:

* asterisk is a wildcards for any number of any characters

? question mark is a wildcard for any single character

"" quotation marks placed around strings that are to be taken 'as is'

\ backslash is an escape character on Unix

~ tilde is an escape character on Windows

The escape character tells the sftpg3 command to treat the next character "as is" and not to assume any special meaning for it. The escape character is selected according to the operating system of the local machine.

Note that the \ and ~ characters are special characters themselves, and if they are present in the filename, an escape character must be placed in front of them,too. Therefore, if you need to enter a filename containing \ in Unix or ~ in Windows to any of the sftpg3 commands, add the relevant escape character to it:

\\ on Unix and Linux

~~ on Windows

When a filename or part of a filename is placed within the quotation marks "", the sftpg3 command interprets the quoted part 'as is', and none of the characters within the quote are interpreted as wildcards or as any other special characters.

However, on Unix a quotation mark " can also be part of a filename. If you need to enter the " character in a filename, you must add the escape character in front of it both on Unix and on Windows.

For example, to enter a file named file-"name".txt into a command on Windows, enter the following command:

sftp> sget "file-~"name~".txt" filename.txt

See the examples below to learn how the escape characters are used in the SSH Tectia sftpg3 commands, and how to enter filenames with special characters in different operating systems.

Examples of filenames in the sftpg3 commands:

The following filenames are valid in Unix and Linux, but they need escape characters in the commands:

file|name.txt
file-"name".txt
file?name.txt
file*name.txt
file\name.txt
file - name.txt
file~name.txt

When using the sftpg3 command-line tool on Unix or Linux, enter the above mentioned filenames in the following formats:

file\|name.txt     or  "file|name.txt"
file-\"name\".txt  or  "file-\"name\".txt"
file\?name.txt     or  "file?name.txt"
file\*name.txt     or  "file*name.txt"
file\\name.txt     or  "file\\name.txt"
file\ -\ name.txt  or  "file - name.txt"
file~name.txt      or  "file~name.txt"

Example commands on Unix or Linux:

sftp> get "file*name.txt"

sftp> sget "file*name.txt" newfilename.txt

When using the sftpg3 command on Windows, enter the above mentioned Unix filenames in the following formats:

file~|name.txt     or  "file|name.txt"
file-~"name~".txt  or  "file-~"name~".txt"
file~?name.txt     or  "file?name.txt"
file~*name.txt     or  "file*name.txt"
file~\name.txt     or  "file\name.txt"
file~ -~ name.txt  or  "file - name.txt"
file~~name.txt     or  "file~~name.txt"

Example command sequence on Windows:

> sftpg3 open user@server

sftp> get "file name.txt"

sftp> sget "file*name.txt" filename.txt

Exit Values

sftpg3 returns the following values based on the success of the operation:

0     Operation was successful. 
1     Internal error. 
2     Connection aborted by the user.
3     Destination is not a directory, but a directory was specified by the user. 
4     Connecting to the host failed. 
5     Connection lost. 
6     File does not exist. 
7     No permission to access file. 
8     Undetermined error from sshfilexfer.
11    Some non-fatal errors occured during a directory operation.
101   Wrong command-line arguments specified by the user.

In batch mode, sftpg3 returns the value 0 only if no errors occured during the execution. A failure to change the current working directory, a failure to establish a connection, or a connection loss during batch operation cause sftpg3 to abort. Other errors are reported to stderr and the last error value is returned as the exit value of the sftpg3 process.

Environment Variables

sftpg3 uses the following environment variables:

SSH_SFTP_BATCH_FILE=<file>

Defines the path to the batch file to be run when sftpg3 is started. This can be used for example to perform a certain action before an interactive session is started.

SSH_SFTP_CMD_GETPUT_MODE=sftp|ftp|openssh

Defines whether the get and put commands work as the sget and sput commands.

sftp - get and put work as usually, while sget and sput allow you to define the destination file name.

ftp - get = sget, and put = sput

openssh - get = sget, and put = sput.

Defines the default checksum mode for sftpg3 and scpg3 commands. Checksums are used to determine the point in the file where file transfer can be resumed if it gets interrupted.

no - checksums are not used; the file is always transferred from the beginning until EOF. This prevents staging in z/OS.

md5 - MD5 checksums are used

md5-force - MD5 checksums are forced

sha1 - SHA1 checksums are used

sha1-force - SHA1 checksums are forced

checkpoint - a separate checkpoint database is used.

SSH_SFTP_STREAMING_MODE=no|yes|ext

Defines the default streaming mode to be used with sftpg3 and scpg3 commands.

no - streaming is not used.

yes - standard streaming is used.

ext - extended streaming is used.

SSH_SFTP_ADVISOR_xxx

This environment variable represents a number of variables where the xxx is one of the file transfer parameters listed under the sftpg3 site command. The variables apply to processing of local files and they set the default values that can be overridden with the advisor strings.

Examples

Open a sftpg3 session with the remote side connected to the server defined in the connection profile profile1 in the ssh-broker-config.xml file (the local side is intially connected to the local filesystem):

$ sftpg3 profile1

Run sftpg3 in batch mode:

$ sftpg3 -B batch.txt

Example contents of the batch file batch.txt are shown below. Non-interactive authentication methods are used and the server host keys have been stored beforehand:

lopen user@unixserver.example.com
open user@winserver.example.com
binary
lcd backup
cd c:/temp
get --force-lower-case Testfile-X.bin
lchmod 700 testfile-x.bin
quit

The example batch file opens the local side of the connection to a Unix server and the remote side to a Windows server, and sets the transfer mode to binary. It changes to local directory backup and remote directory C:\Temp, and copies a file from the remote directory to the local directory. The filename is changed to lower-case characters (testfile-x.bin). After transfer, the file permissions are changed to allow the user full rights and others no rights.