Execute multiple commands on remote server using bash

Question

I want to execute cd and scp commands on a remote server which have to be logged in with a different sudo user. Below code snippet asks for the password(echos on screen) for my user but hangs there. It doesn't execute cd

#!/bin/bash
server=myserver.com
ssh $server 'sudo -S -u <user> -i; cd dir1/dir2/; scp file1 user@local-sever'

i tested with: ssh user@IP 'cd /etc && cat passwd'

Incrivel Monstro Verde
– Incrivel Monstro Verde

2021-01-21 14:19:35 +00:00
Commented Jan 21, 2021 at 14:19 — Incrivel Monstro Verde
– Incrivel Monstro Verde, Commented Jan 21, 2021 at 14:19

Raman Sailopal · Accepted Answer · 2021-01-21 15:05:01Z

2

The issue is that you have a semi colon before cd and so sudo has no command to execute. Remove the ; and it should work:

ssh $server 'sudo -S -u <user> -i scp dir1/dir2/file1 user@local-sever'

edited Jan 21, 2021 at 15:05

answered Jan 21, 2021 at 14:24

Raman Sailopal

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3 Comments

Paul Hodges Over a year ago

Note that the sudo ends with the cd and the default user might not have permissions for the scp.

Raman Sailopal Over a year ago

Good point @Paul Hodges, I've amended the solution.

user140452 Over a year ago

@RamanSailopal That seems to work but scp command isn't working. It is not even asking for password.

Paul Hodges · Accepted Answer · 2021-01-21 15:21:16Z

There are several ways to address this, but most boil down to wrapping up the commands into a set of instructions. Raman's solution is good since it handles the issue by using full paths, but sometimes that isn't an option. Here's another take -

Assuming your command list can afford the quotes, I like here-strings.

ssh -t sa-nextgen-jenkins.eng.rr.com <<< "
  echo 'set -x; cd /tmp; whoami; touch foo; ls -l foo; rm -f foo;'|sudo -iSu user
"

If you need the quotes, try a here-doc.

ssh -t sa-nextgen-jenkins.eng.rr.com <<END
  echo 'set -x; echo "$RANDOM"; cd /tmp; whoami; touch foo; ls -l foo; rm -f foo;'|sudo -iSu $user
END

You can also write a small script that has arbitrarily complex commands and scp it over, then use a remote ssh call to execute it as the relevant user.

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