SSH Tunnel from Windows as a background process? - powershell

On Windows server we have a working OpenSSH SSH Tunnel to our MySQL database:
ssh -l <USER> -i <PUBLIC_KEY_FILE> -L 127.0.0.1:3306:localhost:3306 <SERVER_IP>
We would need to script it:
set the tunnel up as backgound process
do some stuff in foreground process, including but not limited to loading data from the database to local Windows machine
then close the backgound ssh tunnel/process once foreground stuff have been done
How would we do this?
With cmd/.bat we achieve the first two points by launching the ssh in separate cmd with start:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/start
START ssh -l <USER> -i <PUBLIC_KEY_FILE> -L 127.0.0.1:3306:localhost:3306 <SERVER_IP> -T
Then we can do our stuff part, but then we have not figured out how to close that concrete tunnel, without killing all the running ssh.exe processes. We do not want to kill all of them.
Is there some way?
Then we were thinking about Powershell:
Start-Job -Name "RUN_SSH_TUNNEL_X1" -ScriptBlock {ssh...
...stuff...
Stop-Job -Name "RUN_SSH_TUNNEL_X1"
But this does not seem to work, the job "RUN_SSH_TUNNEL_X1" seems to stop right after it is started, so the tunnel does not stay up.
Is there some way to keep the job up and running to close it after our stuff part is done?
Or should it be done with some other method? NB! Would like not to have to use 3rd party tools like Putty etc.

We left the tunnel creation in the bat file.
From Powershell then checked the running tasks run statement to check if the SSH tunnel was created/running. If not then called the tunnel create bat file.
Once work done called the same SSH tunnel task check and if was running, then killed the task.

Related

How to execute ssh connect by script?

I have local Windows 10 and remote Ubuntu server.
I want to automate connection to server and write executable script witch connects by ssh to server and open new terminal from another server.
What it's supposed to look like
I double click on bat
And then script
inits ssh connect
writes password
gives the user a terminal with a ready ssh connection.
That is, it mimics the following
Problems
How to wait ssh password request? All commands executes immediately.
(additional) can I write it in .sh script, run script, execute all in "start" terminal (from which I run .sh script) and then pass ssh control to invoked terminal?
It's best if someone writes a ready-made script
Automatically enter SSH password with script
Answers:
Direct answer - use expects. But sshpass is better. Also RSA-key can be used.
Can`t tell anything.
Can be done without any 3rd party tools like this:
$env:TMPPW=Get-Content -Path 'secure_file.txt' ; $un='MyUserName'
$j=Start-Job -ScriptBlock{Start-Sleep -Seconds 1
(New-Object -ComObject wscript.shell).SendKeys("$env:TMPPW{ENTER}")}
& ssh.exe -q -4 -l $un 127.0.0.1 'whoami'
$env:TMPPW=([guid]::NewGuid()).Guid ; $env:TMPPW=$null

how do i make a service run a script outside of session 0

The UPS software I am using has functionality to run a script on the management PC (PC1) when it goes into battery mode. I have come up with a powershell script (ShutdownVM.ps1) that works fine on its own to Invoke-Commands on the VM server; shutting down VM's gracefully and turning off the host machine (SERVER). The first problem arose when the UPS software could not directly run a .ps1 file.
Simple enough, I thought I would make a simple .bat (shutdown.bat) file to run the .ps1 file on PC1 to shut everything off on SERVER. Running my .bat file from the desktop pc worked perfectly, but as the UPS software would run it as a service, my poor .bat file would run from Session 0.
Here is the code i used in Shutdown.bat:
#echo on
Powershell.exe -executionpolicy unrestricted -command C:\Windows\ShutdownVM.ps1
The interactive services manager would pop up and my computer would hang and finally the UPS software would turn it off and I'd be back to square one, with SERVER and its VM's still running. So I thought I would download and use PSExec to execute my shutdown.bat file.
I made another .bat file and called it PSExec.bat and below is the code in it:
#echo on
psexec.exe -accepteula \\PC1 -h -u user -p pass -i 2 C:\Windows\shutdown.bat
Finally! It tries to run! Upon checking the interactive services manager, it showed the PSExec was throwing the error "the system cannot find the file specified"
"The System Cannot Find The File Specified"
I have no idea what file it is even looking for, I have double, triple checked the path names in my scripts and still have no idea as to what it is doing. If anyone could shed any light (or let me know of an easier way to achieve what I am trying to do) that would be great. Thanks!
-F

PuTTY scripting to log onto host

I'm using PuTTY to remotely log onto my school's host. Upon logging in, we are required to do these steps:
enter username
enter password
command "add oracle"
command "sqlplus"
enter username
enter password
I will be logging into this host a lot over the course of this semester and I was hoping to create a script that would eliminate the redundancy of the above steps. Ignoring the obvious security oversights of having my password in the script, how would I achieve this? I have zero experience with scripting, so your feedback is greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Edit: I played around with the command-line options for Putty and I was able to bypass steps 1-2 using:
putty -load "host" -l username -pw password
I've also created a shell file that looks like so:
#!/bin/bash
add oracle10g
sqlplus username password
When I try to add this option to the command-line using the -m option, it looks like PuTTY logs into the host and then immediately exits. Is there a way to keep my session open after running the shell file or am I using the -m option wrongly? Here is a link to a PuTTY guide that I have been following: http://the.earth.li/~sgtatham/putty/0.60/htmldoc/Chapter3.html.
Here is the total command that I am trying to run from the command-line:
putty -load "host" -l username -pw password -m c:\test.sh
Figured this out with the help of a friend. The -m PuTTY option will end your session immediately after it executes the shell file. What I've done instead is I've created a batch script called putty.bat with these contents on my Windows machine:
#echo off
putty -load "host" -l username -pw password
This logs me in remotely to the Linux host. On the host side, I created a shell file called sql with these contents:
#!/bin/tcsh
add oracle10g
sqlplus username password
My host's Linux build used tcsh. Other Linux builds might use bash, so simply replace tcsh with bash and you should be fine.
To summarize, automating these steps are now done in two easy steps:
Double-click putty.bat. This opens PuTTY and logs me into the host.
Run command tcsh sql. This adds the oracle tool to my host, and logs me into the sql database.
I'm not sure why previous answers haven't suggested that the original poster set up a shell profile (bashrc, .tcshrc, etc.) that executed their commands automatically every time they log in on the server side.
The quest that brought me to this page for help was a bit different -- I wanted multiple PuTTY shortcuts for the same host that would execute different startup commands.
I came up with two solutions, both of which worked:
(background) I have a folder with a variety of PuTTY shortcuts, each with the "target" property in the shortcut tab looking something like:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\PuTTY\putty.exe" -load host01
with each load corresponding to a PuTTY profile I'd saved (with different hosts in the "Session" tab). (Mostly they only differ in color schemes -- I like to have each group of related tasks share a color scheme in the terminal window, with critical tasks, like logging in as root on a production system, performed only in distinctly colored windows.)
The folder's Windows properties are set to very clean and stripped down -- it functions as a small console with shortcut icons for each of my frequent remote PuTTY and RDP connections.
(solution 1)
As mentioned in other answers the -m switch is used to configure a script on the Windows side to run, the -t switch is used to stay connected, but I found that it was order-sensitive if I wanted to get it to run without exiting
What I finally got to work after a lot of trial and error was:
(shortcut target field):
"C:\Program Files (x86)\PuTTY\putty.exe" -t -load "SSH Proxy" -m "C:\Users\[me]\Documents\hello-world-bash.txt"
where the file being executed looked like
echo "Hello, World!"
echo ""
export PUTTYVAR=PROXY
/usr/local/bin/bash
(no semicolons needed)
This runs the scripted command (in my case just printing "Hello, world" on the terminal) and sets a variable that my remote session can interact with.
Note for debugging: when you run PuTTY it loads the -m script, if you edit the script you need to re-launch PuTTY instead of just restarting the session.
(solution 2)
This method feels a lot cleaner, as the brains are on the remote Unix side instead of the local Windows side:
From Putty master session (not "edit settings" from existing session) load a saved config and in the SSH tab set remote command to:
export PUTTYVAR=GREEN; bash -l
Then, in my .bashrc, I have a section that performs different actions based on that variable:
case ${PUTTYVAR} in
"")
echo ""
;;
"PROXY")
# this is the session config with all the SSH tunnels defined in it
echo "";
echo "Special window just for holding tunnels open." ;
echo "";
PROMPT_COMMAND='echo -ne "\033]0;Proxy Session #master01\$\007"'
alias temppass="ssh keyholder.example.com makeonetimepassword"
alias | grep temppass
;;
"GREEN")
echo "";
echo "It's not easy being green"
;;
"GRAY")
echo ""
echo "The gray ghost"
;;
*)
echo "";
echo "Unknown PUTTYVAR setting ${PUTTYVAR}"
;;
esac
(solution 3, untried)
It should also be possible to have bash skip my .bashrc and execute a different startup script, by putting this in the PuTTY SSH command field:
bash --rcfile .bashrc_variant -l
When you use the -m option putty does not allocate a tty, it runs the command and quits. If you want to run an interactive script (such as a sql client), you need to tell it to allocate a tty with -t, see 3.8.3.12 -t and -T: control pseudo-terminal allocation. You'll avoid keeping a script on the server, as well as having to invoke it once you're connected.
Here's what I'm using to connect to mysql from a batch file:
#mysql.bat
start putty -t -load "sessionname" -l username -pw password -m c:\mysql.sh
#mysql.sh
mysql -h localhost -u username --password="foo" mydb
https://superuser.com/questions/587629/putty-run-a-remote-command-after-login-keep-the-shell-running
I want to suggest a common solution for those requirements, maybe it is a use for you: AutoIt. With that program, you can write scripts on top of any window like Putty and execute all commands you want to (like button pressing or mouse clicking in textboxes or buttons).
This way you can emulate all steps you are always doing with Putty.
entering a command after you logged in can be done by going through SSH section at the bottom of putty and you should have an option Remote command (data to send to the server) separate the two commands with ;
mputty can do that but it does not seem to work always. (if that wait period is too slow)
mputty uses putty and it extends putty.
There is an option to run a script.
If it does not work, make sure that wait period before typing is a high value or increase that value. See putty sessions , then name of session, right mouse button,properties/script page.
For me it works this way:
putty -ssh root#1.1.1.1 22 -pw password
putty, protocol, user name # ip address port and password. To connect in less than a second.
You can use the -i privatekeyfilelocation in case you are using a private key instead of password based.

executing win32ole script on remote windows machine through telnet

I am trying to create a word document on a remote windows machine. What I am trying is to telnet to the remote windows machine and run a perl script that creates word document through Win32::OLE. But it doesn't seem to work. Is this possible? Because my script has {visible} set to 1 but will that telnet session have access to instances of word application? Atleast I tried it didn't work.
Telnet may not be the best tool to accomplish this, I'm not sure what kind of permissions it has. I recommend using PsExec, which allows remote command execution on windows servers. If it works locally, it will work using PsExec.
For example:
PsExec.exe \\remotecomputer -u userName -p Password Perl C:\path\to\file\file.pl
You can use the -s flag to run as system account, and the -i flag to run it interactively on the desktop. Without the -i flag, it will run in the console session.

Sleep command in batch file?

When I'm writing a batch file to run automatically, how do I write it so that when the batch file is run, it can pause for a couple seconds in between commands?
Context:
psexec \\server -u user -p pass cmd
[there needs to be a pause here for psexec to establish a connection]
dir /s >output.txt \\server\shared
*Note: the reason I run the dir command server-side using psexec and not locally is because it's much faster to run dir on a local machine than remotely, and time is of the essence.
When I'm doing this by hand it's obviously easy, I just wait. But running a batch file makes it run all commands at near instant speeds next to each other, regardless of the completion status of the last command. How do I put in a pause?
On Windows Vista / Windows 7 you can use the timeout command:
timeout /T [delay in seconds] /NOBREAK > NUL
On previous versions of Windows, you can use the ping command (the ping command has 1000 ms of delay between each iteration):
ping -n [delay in seconds + 1] 127.0.0.1 > NUL
Some versions of Windows (like Windows Server 2003) has the sleep.exe executable:
sleep [delay in seconds]
Note: Windows Resource kit for 2003 contains sleep.exe command.
If you don't know the Windows version, simply use the ping hack since it'll be available.
There is timeout command in more recent version of Windows:
timeout /T 10
Windows Resource kit for 2003 will install on Windows XP. It contains SLEEP.EXE which can be used from a command batch file.
download is here http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=17657
I think the information here: http://malektips.com/xp_dos_0002.html would explain it better than I.
There's still the case of error handling though (what if the remote machine isn't up?). cmd.exe is quite useless for doing any remote activities for the most part, using powershell would enable so much more.
EDIT::
In fact, you can execute a program stored locally with psexec (it gets copied across and executed locally server-side) - would using that be a more viable alternative?
Without knowing what commands you're intending to run it's hard to take it much further.
EDIT(2)::
If it's just the one command you're running, simply store it in a dedicated file, like 'remote_dir_listing.cmd', and then use psexec with:
psexec \\server -u <user> -p <pass> -c -f remote_dir_listing.cmd
This will force a copy of the local file to the remote side each time you execute it (in case you want to expand it). In this way, you bypass the need for a pause at all - only when psexec has got the pipes open will it run, and once it completes, it closes itself silently.