ssh Shortcuts in Bash
(The above photo is "Good and Evil", by Abbie F (C) via Flickr).
This is the bash script I use to ssh into my fileserver (without having to type the whole IP address, etc). It works for simply logging in with ssh, or for sending a command only. If you want to send a series of commands, you'll need to separate each command with \; or else it (a lone semi-colon) will be interpreted as an instruction to run the command on the local machine after the first command is sent via ssh (you're 'escaping' the semi-colon, so it gets sent through ssh as a regular character, instead of its typical role of separating commands). This method works for me, but I'd love to learn a better way if there is one.
I name the script something short and put it in my path. I also use it in conjunction with password-less login. I know it's not such a big deal to write out:
ssh user@ipaddress "command -arguments"
but it saves time if you're constantly ssh'ing to that machine.
Here it is in a more-legible format, that shouldn't be copied and pasted (because of the way WordPress changes quotation marks):
#!/bin/bash
SSH_ARGUMENTS=`while (($#)) ; do echo -n "$1 " ; shift ; done ; echo`
ssh administrator@192.168.0.202 "$SSH_ARGUMENTS"
And here it is in a way that's easier to copy and paste (but harder to read, in my opinion):
#!/bin/bash SSH_ARGUMENTS=`while (($#)) ; do echo -n "$1 " ; shift ; done ; echo` ssh administrator@192.168.0.202 "$SSH_ARGUMENTS"
Also, here's a slight variation that's useful if you have multiple machines with a sequential naming scheme, where you can specify the machine number:
#!/bin/bash ## for example: comp 4 shutdown -r now ## note: in my setup, the username correlates with the computer's number WORKSTATION_NUMBER=$1 shift SSH_ARGUMENTS=`while (($#)) ; do echo -n "$1 " ; shift ; done ; echo` ssh $WORKSTATION_NUMBER@192.168.0.10$WORKSTATION_NUMBER "$SSH_ARGUMENTS"
Edit: I suppose anyone who knows anything about BASH would know that the entire SSH_ARGUMENTS line could be removed and the variable $SSH_ARGUMENTS replaced with $*
...every day learning a little bit more.