Re: Putty: PSFTP connection without password prompt (CORRECT VERSION)

From: Jack Moe (mojorisin_at_bigmailbox.net)
Date: 04/08/04 

Date: 8 Apr 2004 12:00:40 -0700

s_federici@yahoo.com (Stefano) wrote in message news:<4dcaebfc.0404080127.77fcd3d7@posting.google.com>...
> > Why don't you use 'pscp' with null passphrases? You then have a
> > single command line to copy your file(s) in a batch file.
>
> Well, what should I say if not: thanks, thanks, thanks, thanks!!!!
>
> I spent 2 weeks to learn a lot (from my point of view, I know) about
> secure transfer of files:
> 1. FPTS is NOT SFTP

Not sure what FPTS is. . . either; what is it?

> 2. You can transfer files with a LOT of different tools.

Yup. . .

> BUT
> PSCP (http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html)
> is the answer in the following case:
> 1. you are sending files to a server running SSH
> 2. you don't want an interactive shell
> 3. you are working in windows

Also:
4. You don't want to use the "-pw <password>" option, as this is no
better than putting passwords in FTP UNIX '.netrc' files or imbedding
them in your script

> The incredibly simple line to use (as a future reference for novice
> users like me) is something like the following:
>
> pscp -pw yourpassword -P serverPortForSFTP yourfile
> username@host:folder/filetoupload

That is very un-secure. Set up a NULL passphrase (not password) using
'puttygen' to generate the RSA key and then put the public key on the
SSH server.

If you're running SSH on a UNIX server, you may also want to use
'rssh' as the default user shell so that user cannot SSH into the
system and get a shell, but only copy files.

> In my case:
>
> pscp -pw JuveXXXXXX -P 22 stats.gif
> presXXX@vaxcaXXX.unica.it:www/stats.gif
> (I partially hidden some parts for security reasons).

All you need is:
pscp <filename> user@host:<filename>

The NULL passphrase authenticates the user without prompting (like
.rhosts files for 'rcp'). Make sure the account that's transfering
the file does not have admin privs. . . otherwise any user knowing
that this trust is set up will expoit this and attempt to SSH straight
into the system (reason for using 'rssh' as the shell).

Does this help a little bit more, or did I misunderstand your second
post as understanding already?

MJ

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