15 scp commands securely copy

files to remote servers Linux

by ARK · Published July 21, 2016 · Updated July 13, 2017

Basically to copy files/directories from one Server/Machine to another we have

to use file sharing services such as Samba(SMB) OR NFS, but we don’t want to
create an Samba server / NFS server just to copy required files/directories one
time. Here is an solution where we can make use of 15 scp commands securely
copy files to remote server. This scp command examples works an all the Unix /
Linux flavors.

scp copies files between hosts on a network. It uses SSH for data transfer, and
uses the same authentication and provides the same security as SSH. Unlike rcp,
scp will ask for passwords or passphrases if they are needed for authentication.

scp command example syntax

scp [options] Source Destination

15 scp commands advantages

 scp use SSH as dependant 
 SCP use cipher systems AES, Blowfish, 3DES, CAST128, and Arcfour
which are supported by SSH
 We can also use passphrase to authenticate

Environment for demonstration

 Server (Source) 192.168.4.20

 Desktop (Destination) 192.168.4.200

1. Copy File from Source to Destination ( Server1

–> Server2)
A simple way to copy the file from server to desktop use below command.
[root@TechTutorials ~]# scp test [email protected]:/root/Desktop

2. Copy multiple files from source to destination

In this below example we just copy multiple files to remote host, as custom
selected files (required files)
[root@TechTutorials ~]# scp initial-setup-ks.cfg file1 file2
[email protected]:/root/Desktop/

scp commands

3. Copy directory instead of copying single /

multiple files
If we have an multiple files in a directory instead of copying all the files
separately we can just copy entire directory as it is to destination. Let’s see an
example command
[root@TechTutorials ~]# scp -r test [email protected]:/tmp/

 As we see an above example we copied an ‘test’ directory to destination server.

To copy directory ‘-r’ option have to use along with scp command

4. Preserving the time stamp as like source

When you copy files / directories from Source to Destination, we get an latest
time stamp in destination side. Copy the files / directories exact as like source
(all attributes will be copied) so exact time stamp and permissions will be
copied.
[root@TechTutorials ~]# scp -rvp test [email protected]:/root/Desktop/

preserving attributes
5. Compress and copy files /
directories faster – 15 scp commands
examples
Using ‘-C’ option will compress and copy the files / directories to destination.
Data compression will happens in Network level and destination receives data
size as it is in source.
[root@TechTutorials ~]# scp -C linux-nrpe-agent.tar.gz
[email protected]:/root/

6. Know your copy status

If you would like to see an copy status, we have to use ‘-v’ option along with
scp command. Verbose will be displayed 
[root@TechTutorials ~]# scp -v file1 [email protected]:/root/
Executing: program /usr/bin/ssh host 192.168.4.200, user root, command scp
-v -t /root/
OpenSSH_6.6.1, OpenSSL 1.0.1e-fips 11 Feb 2013

[email protected]'s password:

7. Use random port to along with scp command

We can also specify particular port to copy data from source to destination
[root@TechTutorials ~]# scp -P 22 file2 [email protected]:/root/Desktop/

8. Suppress scp command output (verbose)

warning and error messages Just copy
Quiet mode: disables the progress meter as well as warning and diagnostic
messages from ssh
[root@TechTutorials ~]# scp -vq file1 [email protected]:/tmp/
Executing: program /usr/bin/ssh host 192.168.4.200, user root, command scp
-v -t /tmp/
[email protected]'s password:
Sending file modes: C0644 32 file1
Sink: C0644 32 file1
9. copy/scp  files/directories without
using password
Generate an ssh key and copy to destination which makes passwordless
connection
[root@TechTutorials ~]# ssh-keygen -t rsa
Generating public/private rsa key pair.
Enter file in which to save the key (/root/.ssh/id_rsa):
Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase):
Enter same passphrase again:
Your identification has been saved in /root/.ssh/id_rsa.
Your public key has been saved in /root/.ssh/id_rsa.pub.
The key fingerprint is:
ff:37:20:a2:52:a3:88:f8:23:de:ef:ef:79:ed:a8:49 root@TechTutorials
The key's randomart image is:
+--[ RSA 2048]----+
| |
| |
| |
| |
| S |
| o ... . |
|.. . o E .o. . |
|+ + o o o..o o |
|.+.oo+o*o..... . |
+-----------------+
[root@TechTutorials ~]# ssh-copy-id [email protected]
/usr/bin/ssh-copy-id: INFO: attempting to log in with the new key(s), to
filter out any that are already installed
/usr/bin/ssh-copy-id: INFO: 1 key(s) remain to be installed -- if you are
prompted now it is to install the new keys
[email protected]'s password:

Number of key(s) added: 1

Now try logging into the machine, with: "ssh '[email protected]'"

and check to make sure that only the key(s) you wanted were added.

Now initiate an scp will not ask any password

[root@TechTutorials ~]# scp key stdin [email protected]:/root/

without password copy files

10. Instead password use key file

To use key file we have to mention ‘-i’ option along with 15 scp commands
[root@TechTutorials ~]# scp -i privatekey.key anaconda-ks.cfg
[email protected]:/root/

11. Use SSH config file to scp

Here in 15 scp commands we can also use predefined  parameters to make scp
copy easier

All possible values with scp command

AddressFamily
BatchMode
BindAddress
CanonicalDomains
CanonicalizeFallbackLocal
CanonicalizeHostname
CanonicalizeMaxDots
CanonicalizePermittedCNAMEs
ChallengeResponseAuthentication
CheckHostIP
Cipher
Ciphers
Compression
CompressionLevel
ConnectionAttempts
ConnectTimeout
ControlMaster
ControlPath
ControlPersist
GlobalKnownHostsFile
GSSAPIAuthentication
GSSAPIDelegateCredentials
HashKnownHosts
Host
HostbasedAuthentication
HostKeyAlgorithms
HostKeyAlias
HostName
IdentityFile
IdentitiesOnly
IPQoS
KbdInteractiveAuthentication
KbdInteractiveDevices
KexAlgorithms
LogLevel
MACs
NoHostAuthenticationForLocalhost
NumberOfPasswordPrompts
PasswordAuthentication
PKCS11Provider
Port
PreferredAuthentications
Protocol
ProxyCommand
PubkeyAuthentication
RekeyLimit
RhostsRSAAuthentication
 RSAAuthentication
SendEnv
ServerAliveInterval
ServerAliveCountMax
StrictHostKeyChecking
TCPKeepAlive
UsePrivilegedPort
User
UserKnownHostsFile
VerifyHostKeyDNS
[root@TechTutorials ~]# scp -F .ssh/config anaconda-ks.cfg
[email protected]:/root/

12. Execute remote to remote host copy

Scenario is copy files from Server2 –> Server3 execute scp command from
Server1
[root@TechTutorials ~]# scp [email protected]:/root/file1
[email protected]:/tmp/

13. Use different Encryption

algorithm to copy
As i mentioned in above of this article SSH will support not only AES
encryption it will also support more algorithms, we can also specify which
algorithm yo want to use 
[root@TechTutorials ~]# scp -c 3des nagios-plugins-2.1.1.tar.gz
[email protected]:/tmp/

14. Use specified bandwidth scp command

examples
Whereas we may not have much bandwidth to copy files from source to
destination, if we push numbers of files yet time with low bandwidth Network
will choke/breaks. Instead of breaking we take an action to limit and copy. All
the values of bandwidth we mention in Kilo-bits.
[root@TechTutorials ~]# scp -l 500 nagios-plugins-2.1.1.tar.gz
[email protected]:/tmp/

15. Shell script to copy files / directories to

multiple Servers with single command
To make 15 scp commands simple i made an simple scripts which help you to
copy files/directories to multiple servers using single command. Use
passwordless connection which makes your work more easier

To use this script we have to write list of servers in /tmp/destfile.txt

# vi /tmp/destfile.txt
192.168.4.200
192.168.4.2
192.168.4.90

#chmod 777 /tmp/destfile.txt

Now Create a file anywhere where to keep script file. In this example i want to
keep my script in /scripts/ directory
# vi /scripts/multiscp.sh
#!/bin/bash
## Author: Ankam Ravi Kumar
## Purpose: Copy files to multiple Server using single script
## Date: 21st July 2016

echo -e "Please Enter the file path which you want to copy:\c"
read file

for dest in `cat /tmp/destfile.txt`; do

  scp -rC $file ${dest}:/tmp/
done

How to execute this file

# chmod u+x /scripts/multiple.sh
# sh /scripts/mutiple.sh

Output of the script

[root@Techtutorials ~]# sh multiscp.sh

Conclusion
15 scp commands which makes our life easy to copy files/directories instantly
to remote servers. scp command examples are most useful for transferring files
and directory content from one server to another server.