ssh php Not everyone knows about PHP's capabilities of making SSH connections and executing remote commands, but it can be very useful. I've been using it a lot in PHP CLI applications that I run from cronjobs, but initially it was a pain to get it to work. The PHP manual on Secure Shell2 Functions is not very practice or thorough for that matter, so I would like to share my knowledge in this how to, to make it a little less time consuming setting this up.

In this article I'm going to assume that:

You're running Debian / Ubuntu
If not, you will have to substitute the package manager aptitude with whatever your distribution provides
You're running PHP 5
If not, just replace php5 with php4 everywhere
You have basic knowledge of PHP & server administration
You already have PHP installed

Prerequisites

Packages

First let's install the following packages:

sudo aptitude update
sudo aptitude install php5-dev php5-cli php-pear buid-essential \
openssl-dev zlib1g-dev

That should set us up alright.

libssh2

Now we need libssh2 from sourcefourge. We have to compile this, but no worries, this is all you need to do:

cd /usr/src
wget http://surfnet.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/libssh2/libssh2-0.14.tar.gz
tar -zxvf libssh2-0.14.tar.gz
cd libssh2-0.14/
./configure
make all install

That's it! Easy right? If you want you can check if there's a newer version at sf.net but 0.14 will do just fine.

Installation

ssh2.so

Next we need to link libssh & PHP together. There's a PECL module for this so let's install using:

pecl install -f ssh2

The -f makes sure ssh2 is installed even though there's not a stable candidate. You could also use the package name: ssh2-beta to overrule this.

Now you need to make sure our new ssh2.so module is loaded by PHP. Edit your php.ini file (for CLI utitilies: /etc/php5/cli/php.ini, for Apache utilities /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini)

extension=ssh2.so

It should be placed beneath the: "Dynamic Extensions" section somewhere around line 515.

Great! PHP supports SSH - time to code

You've just enabled ssh2 support in PHP. Now how can we make use of this? There are 2 options. SSH supports the:

execute method
This tells the server's operating system to execute something and pipe the output back to your script. (recommended)
shell method
This opens an actual shell to the operating system, just as you would normally when logging in with your terminal application. Some routers that don't have a full POSIX compliant implementation, but run their own application as soon as you login, require this. (advanced)

Method 1: Execute

Best would be to create functions or even a class for the following code, but this is the basic idea and will definitely get you started:

if (!function_exists("ssh2_connect")) die("function ssh2_connect doesn't exist");
// log in at server1.example.com on port 22
if(!($con = ssh2_connect("server1.example.com", 22))){
    echo "fail: unable to establish connection\n";
} else {
    // try to authenticate with username root, password secretpassword
    if(!ssh2_auth_password($con, "root", "secretpassword")) {
        echo "fail: unable to authenticate\n";
    } else {
        // allright, we're in!
        echo "okay: logged in...\n";
        
        // execute a command
        if(!($stream = ssh2_exec($con, "ls -al" )) ){
            echo "fail: unable to execute command\n";
        } else{
            // collect returning data from command
            stream_set_blocking( $stream, true );
            $data = "";
            while( $buf = fread($stream,4096) ){
                $data .= $buf;
            }
            fclose($stream);
        }
    }
}

Method 2: Shell

Best would be to create functions or even a class for the following code, but this is the basic idea and will definitely get you started:

if (!function_exists("ssh2_connect")) die("function ssh2_connect doesn't exist");
// log in at server1.example.com on port 22
if(!($con = ssh2_connect("server1.example.com", 22))){
    echo "fail: unable to establish connection\n";
} else {
    // try to authenticate with username root, password secretpassword
    if(!ssh2_auth_password($con, "root", "secretpassword")) {
        echo "fail: unable to authenticate\n";
    } else {
        // allright, we're in!
        echo "okay: logged in...\n";
        
        // create a shell
        if(!($shell = ssh2_shell($con, 'vt102', null, 80, 40, SSH2_TERM_UNIT_CHARS))){
            echo "fail: unable to establish shell\n";
        } else{
            stream_set_blocking( $shell, true );
            // send a command 
            fwrite($shell,"ls -al\n");
            sleep(1);
            
            // & collect returning data
            $data = "";
            while( $buf = fread($shell,4096) ){
                $data .= $buf;
            }
            fclose($shell);
        }
    }
}

Tips

Sometimes when a server is busy, or a connection is buggy, the buffer may run dry, and the PHP script stops collecting data from a command output (even though the command hasn't completed yet!). There are a couple of things you could do about that:

ssh2_exec($con, 'ls -al; echo "__COMMAND_FINISHED__"' );

Now, in the loop where you keep checking for the buffer, just see if the COMMAND_FINISHED line is coming by. Because then you know you have all the data. To avoid infinite loops, just limit the loop with a timeout of 10 seconds or so:

$time_start = time();
$data = "";
while( true ){
    $data .= fread($stream, 4096);
    if(strpos($data,"__COMMAND_FINISHED__") !== false){
        echo "okay: command finished\n";
        break;
    }
    if( (time()-$time_start) > 10 ){
        echo "fail: timeout of 10 seconds has been reached\n";
        break;
    }
}

In the example above, you'd better set stream_set_blocking to false.

Can't get enough?

PHP can send files over ssh!

ssh2_scp_send($con, "/tmp/source.dat", "/tmp/dest.dat", 0644);

Doesn't work?

Check the following:

- Did you follow every step of the prerequisites & installation how to in this article?
- On the serverside, 'PasswordAuthentication yes' must be enabled in the sshd_config. Default is yes on most servers, but in some cases you will have to turn this on yourself by making sure the following lines are in place in the file: /etc/ssh/sshd_config:

# Change to yes to enable tunnelled clear text passwords
PasswordAuthentication yes

If you've made any changes, ssh needs a restart

/etc/init.d/ssh restart

Post a comment here if it's still failing. Don't forget to paste the error that you're getting.

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tags: php, ssh, ubuntu, PEAR, PECL, libssh2, CLI, apache, router
category: Programming - PHP
read: 33,912 times

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» Currently away on vacation. I can reply your message the 24th of July 2008. Please post anyway and check back then. Thank you!

Comments

#93. Ross on 26 June 2008

Ross Hi, I'm trying to install this on a machine running CentOS. However I am hitting this error when trying to run the "make all install" command for libssh2 [code=text]make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/libssh2-0.14/src' gcc -o channel.o channel.c -c -g -O2 /usr/include -I/usr/include -Wall -I../include/ -fPIC gcc: /usr/include: linker input file unused because linking not done channel.c:1253:10: /usr/include: No such file or directory channel.c:71: internal compiler error: Segmentation fault Please submit a full bug report, with preprocessed source if appropriate. See <URL:http://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla> for instructions. make[1]: *** [channel.o] Error 1 make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/libssh2-0.14/src' make: *** [all] Error 1[/code]

#92. Ho Wai Keong on 26 June 2008

Ho Wai Keong This article has helped me solved installation of ssh2 to my php on my server. I guess those who have difficulties to compile or make the ssh2.so, u should download the ssh2 tarball from this link http://svn.mandriva.com/cgi-bin/viewvc.cgi/packages/cooker/php-ssh2/pristine/SOURCES/

this definitely fixes it!

#91. Peter on 25 June 2008

Peter When i use ssh2_scp_send() to copy files it show me a warning saying that the file wasn't copied and the return value of the function is false but the file is truly copied. I tested if the file was really well
copied by verifying his md5 hash code and the copy was successful, the file was well copied. Can you help me?

#90. Shoaibi on 10 June 2008

Shoaibi Great article indeed...

#89. Kevin on 06 June 2008

Kevin @ UnrealComps: My guess would be that the module has not been loaded. Did you include the
extension=ssh2.so

#88. UnrealComps on 06 June 2008

UnrealComps I have followed all the steps above but it still says "function ssh2_connect doesn't exist". Any ideas? Thanks

#87. MianoSM on 04 June 2008

MianoSM Thank you, I went back and double checked my extensions and had mistakenly commented out my own additions. Thank you for your rapid response. : )

#86. Kevin on 03 June 2008

Kevin @ MianoSM: My guess would be that the module has not been loaded. Did you include the
extension=ssh2.so

#85. MianoSM on 03 June 2008

MianoSM I'm following the prerequisites, as well as the steps with copy and paste (with a few sudo's beforehand on some of them), on a 6.06 Ubuntu system.

I get install ok: channel://pear.php.net/ssh2-0.10

I have also restarted sshd after ensuring:
... [more] passwordauthentication yes

Now, when I use the block for Method 1, I'm seeing:

"function ssh2_connect doesn't exist"

Any pointers on this would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

#84. Kevin on 31 May 2008

Kevin @ nunu: Seem's to me you can't connect. Can you connect to that same IP using regular console SSH?

#83. nunu on 27 May 2008

nunu hei, i got this error :

Warning: ssh2_connect() [function.ssh2-connect]: Unable to connect to 10.128.16.19 on port 22 in /var/www/html/oned/ssh.php on line 2

Warning: ssh2_connect() [function.ssh2-connect]: Unable to connect to 10.128.16.19 in /var/www/html/oned/ssh.php on line 2
... [more]
can you tell me what's wrong?

i'm using :

libssh2 version 0.12
banner SSH-2.0-libssh2_0.12

Thankyou

#82. NJ on 09 May 2008

Thanks a ton!! I was trying to resolve this problem from a long time. It really helped.

#81. cartmanf on 04 May 2008

cartmanf Thank you kindly for the extensive tutorial. I found it extremely useful.

Hope you post some more advanced tutorials soon.

Regards,
... [more] Reinhard

#80. Wes on 24 April 2008

Wes I found what was the problem. a space in the var that I was using. I used trim and that took care of it.

Thanks a lot for all your help.

Excellent tutorial indeed

#79. Kevin on 23 April 2008

Kevin @ Wes: Can't reproduce easily, but 2 tips:
- concatenate the var
- when sudoing it is probably better use a shell instead of exec

#78. Wes on 22 April 2008

Wes Correction

if(!($stream = ssh2_exec($con, "ls /home/user/$v1" )) )

#77. Wes on 22 April 2008

Wes Thanks Kevin, I found the easiest way is to enable sudo user from running commands without being asked for a password

%admin ALL=NOPASSWD: ALL

But after all that i cant pass variables to the shell, for example:

if(!($stream = ssh2_exec($con, "/home/user/ls /home/user/$v1" )) )

#76. Kevin on 22 April 2008

Kevin @ shinta: No problem, glad it works!

#75. shinta on 22 April 2008

shinta oh i'm sorry i didn't see #29. Patrick on 23 October 2007 comment
i'ts doesn't work in newes libssh2

i trying libssh2-0.14 and everything ok

... [more] thank u kevin for your article
GBU

#74. Kevin on 22 April 2008

Kevin @ shinta: Hi,

make: *** [ssh2.lo] Error 1
ERROR: `make' failed

Is just the conclusion. Best is to find the first thing (not the last) that goes wrong in the text you get. And what about

pear install -f ssh2

? Some people for some weird reason can't use pecl on their system, though ssh2 definitely is a pecl package...

#73. shinta on 22 April 2008

shinta hi kevin i'have something problem with
command:

--------------------------------------------------------
pecl install -f ssh2
... [more] --------------------------------------------------------

and i got :

--------------------------------------------------------
No releases available for package "pecl.php.net/ssh2"
Cannot initialize 'ssh2', invalid or missing package file
Package "ssh2" is not valid
install failed
--------------------------------------------------------

whether i do connect to internet? to execute "pecl install -f ssh2"?

and i download some pakcage from http://pecl.php.net/package/ssh2

and i try to execute

--------------------------------------------------------
pecl install -f /home/user/ssh2-0.10.tgz
--------------------------------------------------------

and it's running some script / something compile,but i got some error

--------------------------------------------------------
make: *** [ssh2.lo] Error 1
ERROR: `make' failed
--------------------------------------------------------

what's wrong in my command?
i use ubuntu feisty?

#72. few bugs when setting up ssh2 on 18 April 2008

few bugs when setting up ssh2 working link - http://programming.has.no.com/2008/04/18/libssh2-and-php/

#71. few bugs when setting up ssh2 on 18 April 2008

few bugs when setting up ssh2 I had a few bugs when trying to get ssh2 to work, such as an error in the pelc and libssh2 not working inside a chroot.... fixes can be found here <a href="http://programming.has.no.com/2008/04/18/libssh2-and-php/">http://programming.has.no.com/2008/04/18/libssh2-and-php/</a>

#70. Kevin on 17 April 2008

Kevin @ Wes: It might work if you open a shell instead of using the 'exec' method. One way to find out :) Let me know alright?

#69. Sebastian on 17 April 2008

Sebastian Hey Wes,
if you have root access on that box, configure sudo and put that in your script (e.g. sudu rcapache2 reload).
rgds,

#68. Wes on 17 April 2008

Wes Thanks a lot Kevin, I found your tutorial in the time I needed something like it the most. Thanks much.

I want to run some commands as root, but I can't login as root, is there away that I can su into root after logging into server as normal user?

#67. Sebastian on 09 April 2008

Sebastian Kevin,
does "I see" mean you were able to reproduce the behavior?

Unfortunatly, your idea doesn't work on my system.
The echo command will not be displayed on the webpage. But the first part can be seen in the local file.
... [more]
What type of connection is opend to transfer the data back?
Can I presume, when a regular ssh connection from console works, that the ssh2_exec() should work too?
Any ideas? The server to reach is in the same network, so there shouldn't be any routing/firewalling problem.
rgds,

#66. Kevin on 09 April 2008

Kevin @ Sebastian: I see. If you change the command like this it will probably work:

ssh2_exec($con, 'ls -al >> /tmp/file.txt; echo "--command finished--"');

#65. Sebastian on 09 April 2008

Sebastian Ahhh, ok, I tried the first variant of __command finished__. I suppose this should be displayed in the browser when the script is executed. But that was not the case. On forwarding this echo to a textfile

ssh2_exec($con, 'ls -al >> /tmp/file.txt; echo "--command finished--" >> /tmp/file.txt');

works as expected. The stout was directed into the file, and can be read by loggin in on console. hrrghh.

#64. Kevin on 08 April 2008

Kevin @ Sebastian: Yeah I meant the tip of running an echo '__COMMAND_FINISHED__', setting blocking to false, etc. The one from the header 'tips'.

#63. Sebastian on 08 April 2008

Sebastian Hey Kevin,
1st: The initial script works, too. It echos: okay: logged in...
2nd: the connection establishes fine. otherwise I could not have touched a file.
I stripped the code to exclude other errors (typos, etc)
Which second tip? Have I missed anything?
... [more] You mean about valitading the results?
How shall I test?
We can switch over to email conversation, not to "spam" your commments. Drop a mail to s(dot)waitz(at)rtsgroup(dot)net.
Thanks a lot.

#62. Kevin on 08 April 2008

Kevin @ Sebastian: Hm, you stripped out all of the checks. Might that be one reason it did not echo anything? Furthermore, have you tried my second 'tip'?

#61. Sebastian on 08 April 2008

Sebastian That works, five seconds sleep in the script, results in 5 sec timedifference in the logfile. I was able to touch a file on the remote system and echo some data in it. But cat'ing the file to have some data back doesn't work. Crazy! Thats the codesnipped I'm working with:

<?php
error_reporting( E_ALL );
$con = ssh2_connect("cme1", 22);
ssh2_auth_password($con, "rts", "thesecret");
// execute a command
$stream = ssh2_exec($con, "touch /tmp/file.txt; echo \"My Test\" >> /tmp/file.txt; sleep 5; cat /tmp/file.txt");
// collect returning data from command
stream_set_blocking($stream, true);
$data = "";
while( $buf = fread($stream,4096) ){
     $data .= $buf;
}
fclose($stream);
?>

#60. Kevin on 08 April 2008

Kevin The disconnect is logged the same second the connect is. I guess therein lays your problem?

What about building a 5 second sleep. Executing a command (maybe a command that touches a file on the remote system?), validate the results and then disconnect, for testing purposes?

#59. Sebastian on 08 April 2008

Sebastian No changes in behavior. No errors. No hints. connection establishes successfully, but no response. I stripped the code for only connecting, executing, streaming, output. But nothing. The /var/log/messages on the remote system sais: [code] Apr 8 04:21:13 cme1 sshd[21681]: Accepted password for rts from 10.34.2.9 port 51653 ssh2 Apr 8 04:21:13 cme1 sshd[21683]: Received disconnect from 10.34.2.9: 11: PECL/ssh2 (http://pecl.php.net/packages/ssh2) [/code] Any ideas? Thanks

#58. Kevin on 08 April 2008

Kevin @ Sebastian: Strange. Not a lot to go on either. If a step fails you should get an error. How about turning on all error reports?

<?php
$old_level = error_reporting( E_ALL );
?>

Does this tell you anything?

#57. Sebastian on 07 April 2008

Sebastian Hey Kevin,
thanks for the tutorial. Installation and configuration works nicly on SLES 10.

But I have the problem, that Method 1 oder 2 doesn't get any result back.
No errors in apache2 log.
... [more] On echo'ing $stream, I get "Resource id#3" back.
Any ideas?
Thanks a bunch

#56. Kevin on 08 March 2008

Kevin @ XSchne2036: You don't have phpize which is part of the php5-dev package. So it seems to me you skipped a step. Try (re)installing the requirements.

#55. XSchne2036 on 07 March 2008

XSchne2036 hi,

I followed your instructions
and ...

... [more]
zirkonia:/var/www/apache2-default/libssh2-0.18/src/.libs# pecl install -f ssh2 WARNING: failed to download pecl.php.net/ssh2 within preferred state "stable", will instead download version 0.10, stability "beta"
downloading ssh2-0.10.tgz ...
Starting to download ssh2-0.10.tgz (22,187 bytes)
........done: 22,187 bytes
5 source files, building
running: phpize
sh: phpize: command not found
ERROR: `phpize' failed

apt-cache search phpize has no results too...

please... what am I doing wrong ?

#54. youme on 26 February 2008

youme i have my own php script, no need to install on server, just upload php file on your server, and you have full access you server root, including system commands, exec commands, shell , SSH and lot more

if you want buy price is 150$ USD

email me mscmsc@brain.com.pk

#53. Emanuel on 06 February 2008

Emanuel Very obliged for its aid. The example executed! Where I can find more functions of this I modulate? I intend to use it, to connect itself in the Mikrotik it saw ssh and to twirl rules

#52. Kevin on 05 February 2008

Kevin @ Emanuel: My bad, the example code was missing a: ';' so:

die("function ssh2_connect doesn't exist")

needed to be:

die("function ssh2_connect doesn't exist");

I've updated the article accordingly. btw, you were using the CODE tags incorrectly but I've editted your comment for better readability.

#51. Emanuel on 05 February 2008

Emanuel Hi, finally I obtained to install lib ssh2.so. to put when I go to twirl the test function that exists in its wiki:

if (!function_exists("ssh2_connect")) die("function ssh2_connect doesn't exist")
// log in at server1.example.com on port 22
if(!($con = ssh2_connect("server1.example.com", 22))){
    echo "fail: unable to establish connection\n";
} else {
    // try to authenticate with username root, password secretpassword
    if(!ssh2_auth_password($con, "root", "secretpassword")) {
        echo "fail: unable to authenticate\n";
    } else {
        // allright, we're in!
        echo "okay: logged in...\n";
        
        // execute a command
        if(!($stream = ssh2_exec($con, "ls -al" )) ){
            echo "fail: unable to execute command\n";
        } else{
            // collect returning data from command
            stream_set_blocking( $stream, true );
            $data = "";
            while( $buf = fread($stream,4096) ){
                $data .= $buf;
            }
            fclose($stream);
        }
    }
"]

e in log of the apache returns me the following error: [CODE="[ error ] PHP error Parse: syntax error, unexpected T_IF in /var/www/htdocs/a.php on line 4[/CODE] wanted to know if it would have as to help to decide this problem me

#50. Kevin on 19 January 2008

Kevin @ Pimmy: I can't say I have. I did experience similar hanging sessions when connecting to (Force10) routers though. Implementing a lot of timeouts, double checks, and retries added some stability. I finally came to the conclusion that the router had a different buffer or timing mechanism. Cause when reading the buffer:

while( $buf = fread($shell,4096) ){
    $data .= $buf;
}
fclose($shell);

It was suddenly empty. Thus breaking the while and then closing the shell. But the router was just busy filling a new buffer and so the ssh session hang. But I doubt your problem is the same.

#49. Pimmy on 18 January 2008

Pimmy I have the case where I create an SSH2 session to a server and from there I execute a script which will copy some files back to the original server via SCP (This is done like that for security reasons).

The problem I see is that after everything completes there is a hanging ssh session left running on the server.

Has anyone experienced something similar or anyone with any ideas?
... [more]
Thanks,

Pimmy

#48. Kevin on 17 January 2008

Kevin @ Emanuel: Then I'm sorry Emanuel, I don't know slackware good enough to help you any further. But maybe the slackware forums are a good place to ask for further assistance as this seems to be distro related. Good luck anyway, too bad it doesn't work 'out of the box'.

#47. Emanuel on 17 January 2008

Emanuel yes, the place /usr/include vi exists inside that another folder exists…
/usr/include/libssh
and inside of it exists these archives:
config.h crypto.h libssh.h server.h sftp.h ssh1.h ssh2.h
to put ssh2.so not you.

#46. Kevin on 16 January 2008

Kevin The binding between libssh2 and php is ssh2.so, and last time I checked it wasn't availble for versions higher than 0.14.

But if I would have to guess, I would say that it's got something todo with not having a /usr/include available. Could that be?

#45. Emanuel on 15 January 2008

Emanuel 1º - I followed its tutorial one using the version libssh2-0.14.
./configure = OK
make all install =
root@servidor: /temp/libssh2-0.14# make all install
make [1]: Entering in the directory “/temp/libssh2-0.14/src”
... [more] GCC - channel.o channel.c - c - g - O2 /usr/include - I/usr/include - Wall - I. /include/ - fPIC
GCC: /usr/include: to linker input file unused because linking not done
channel.c: 1253: 10: /usr/include: Archive or directory not found
channel.c: 71: internal to compiler error: Imperfection of Please
segmentation submit full bug report,
with preprocessed source if appropriate.
See <URL: http://gcc.gnu.org/bugs.html > will be instructions.
make [1]: ** [channel.o] Error 1
make [1]: Leaving the directory “/temp/libssh2-0.14/src”
make: ** [all] Error 1

2º - As it did not give certain in 1a, I tried using the version libssh2-0.18 that it compiled normally, to put I was to look lib ssh2.so and I did not find, what I found was libssh2.so, from there I configured php.ini with the following parameter:
extension=libssh2.so
I restarted the apache and in log of error vi the following one:
PHP Warning: Unknown (): Invalid library (maybe not the PHP library) “libssh2.so” in Unknown on line 0.

Debtor for helps me!

#44. Kevin on 15 January 2008

Kevin @ Emanuel: Haven't used it since version 7, but isn't there something like slapt-get, or swaret that can (kind of) replace the package management tool aptitude?

If that doesn't work, let me know where you got stuck. what errors do you get. Thanks!

#43. Emanuel on 15 January 2008

Emanuel hi, congratulations for the article! It wanted to know if you it would have some tip of as I can make this installation of slackware 11.0? I made you vary attempts and in all I did not get success. It wanted to know if it can give some tip to me.

#42. Kevin on 16 December 2007

Kevin @ Pimmy: Thank you for sharing!

#41. Pimmy on 14 December 2007

Pimmy I knew it - I've posted the previous msg too soon.. But anyway, the problem was that for some reason, (from somewhere - clean tesing server) the compiler was referring to an old version of PHP. Still cant figure out where is the old libraries.

So I fixed the problem by pointing to my real PHP:

root@tangra:ssh2-0.10>phpize
... [more] root@tangra:ssh2-0.10>./configure \
> --with-php-config=/usr/local/php/bin/php-config \
> --with-ssh2=/usr/local
root@tangra:ssh2-0.10>make clean
root@tangra:ssh2-0.10>make

Then everything went smooth.

Cheers.

#40. Pimmy on 14 December 2007

Pimmy Now I am stuck with another problem. In my error_log I have the following line:

--------------------------------------------------------
PHP Warning: PHP Startup: U\x89\xe5VS\x8bu\x0c\xe8: Unable to initialize module\nModule compiled with module API=20020429, debug=0, thread-safety=
0\nPHP compiled with module API=20060613, debug=0, thread-safety=0\nThese options need to match\n in Unknown on line 0
... [more] --------------------------------------------------------

I've recompiled both libssh2-0.14 and ssh2-0.10 several times in different ways but no joy.

Have you got any suggestions?

#39. Hiren Thakkar on 13 December 2007

Hiren Thakkar Thanks .. This may be helpful to me.

#38. Pimmy on 13 December 2007

Pimmy I got stuck from the beginning compiling libssh2..

----------------------------------------------------
root@tangra:libssh2-0.14>make all install
make[1]: Entering directory `/space/installs/libssh2-0.14/src'
... [more] gcc -o channel.o channel.c -c -g -O2 /usr/include -I/usr/local/include -Wall -I../include/ -fPIC
gcc: cannot specify -o with -c or -S and multiple compilations
make[1]: *** [channel.o] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory `/space/installs/libssh2-0.14/src'
make: *** [all] Error 1
root@tangra:libssh2-0.14>gcc -v
Reading specs from /usr/lib/gcc-lib/i386-redhat-linux/3.2.3/specs
Configured with: ../configure --prefix=/usr --mandir=/usr/share/man --infodir=/usr/share/info --enable-shared --enable-threads=posix --disable-checking --with-system-zlib --enable-__cxa_atexit --host=i386-redhat-linux
Thread model: posix
gcc version 3.2.3 20030502 (Red Hat Linux 3.2.3-59)
----------------------------------------------------

This seems to be a 'minor' bug in version 0.14 which can be fixed by removing the '-o' option from the Makefile.in file (line 23).

It might be fixed in later versions of libssh2, but as you notice there are other bugs in the newer versions.

I would really like to know if anyone managed to successfully use the patest versions of libssh2.

Thanks for the tutorial

#37. Kevin on 09 December 2007

Kevin @ Nigel: I've never used PHP on Windows, but this is what I Can tell you: The PECL module acts as an interface between PHP & libssh2, and it seems to me you've totally skipped the libssh2 part. I wonder if this is even available on windows?

#36. Nigel on 09 December 2007

Nigel Hi Kevin, looks like you've done some really good work here, problem is I am stuck at first base with windows.
I want to start doing some ssh2 from my php scripts. Followed the instructions from php.net, i.e. got the PECL zip's, unzipped to c:\php5\exts
then added to php.ini: -
extension_dir=c:/php5/exts/
extension=php_ssh2.dll
... [more]
then restarted apache (and the server to be sure on the next attempts!)
...Code 500! aaaarrrggghhhh

Log file below, any ideas please??
have installed openssl.exe and made sure in path. php.ini file must be ok as it calls in the errors below but then errors. Anyone got any advise please!!! Stupidly told company that I can get this done next week :(

[Mon Dec 03 20:07:47 2007] [warn] pid file C:/Program Files/Apache Software Foundation/Apache2.2/logs/httpd.pid overwritten -- Unclean shutdown of previous Apache run?
PHP Warning: PHP Startup: Unable to load dynamic library 'c:/php5/exts/php_ssh2.dll' - The operating system cannot run %1.\r\n in Unknown on line 0
[Mon Dec 03 20:07:49 2007] [notice] Apache/2.2.4 (Win32) PHP/5.2.4 configured -- resuming normal operations
[Mon Dec 03 20:07:49 2007] [notice] Server built: Jan 9 2007 23:17:20
[Mon Dec 03 20:07:49 2007] [notice] Parent: Created child process 1072
PHP Warning: PHP Startup: Unable to load dynamic library 'c:/php5/exts/php_ssh2.dll' - The operating system cannot run %1.\r\n in Unknown on line 0
[Mon Dec 03 20:07:49 2007] [notice] Child 1072: Child process is running
[Mon Dec 03 20:07:49 2007] [notice] Child 1072: Acquired the start mutex.
[Mon Dec 03 20:07:49 2007] [notice] Child 1072: Starting 250 worker threads.
[Mon Dec 03 20:07:49 2007] [notice] Child 1072: Starting thread to listen on port 80.
[Mon Dec 03 20:11:09 2007] [error] [client 172.30.1.78] PHP Fatal error: Call to undefined function ssh2_connect() in C:\\Program Files\\Apache Software Foundation\\Apache2.2\\htdocs\\ssh.php on line 3
[Mon Dec 03 20:19:12 2007] [error] [client 172.30.1.78] PHP Fatal error: Call to undefined function ssh2_connect() in C:\\Program Files\\Apache Software Foundation\\Apache2.2\\htdocs\\ssh.php on line 3

#35. Kevin on 07 November 2007

Kevin Thanks for sharing that information Bryan! I hadn't tried 0.17 yet, seems more people are running into problems with it.

#34. Bryan on 06 November 2007

Bryan Thank you! I'm so glad I found this article, or I may have not been able to get this working.

I initially tried the 0.17 version of libssh, and I got the "make 1" error from PECL. When I installed 0.14, everything became peachy.

#33. Kevin on 31 October 2007

Kevin @ vezzo: If your really want an 'interactive' session with the remote server, you cannot use the exec function. You will have to use the shell function instead. Hope it helps. K

#32. vezzo on 31 October 2007

vezzo hey, kevin, why i can execute a lot of command but, I can't change directory with "cd Desktop" for example????

#31. Kevin on 25 October 2007

Kevin @ Patrick. I'm not certain if the pecl module supports the newer version (0.17). So maybe we can figure out what went wrong with 0.14? That way we can be certain that it can work.

@ JavieL: I'm sorry what do you mean exactly?

#30. JavieL on 23 October 2007

JavieL Some example for view?¿

#29. Patrick on 23 October 2007

Patrick Ok, first of all, this is some awesome tutorial!. I hope i can get this working!

Below my full report on what went wrong.

Today: 23-10-2007 i followed the instructions on:
... [more] http://kevin.vanzonneveld.net/techblog/article/make_ssh_connections_with_php/

However, i failed to sucessfully get libssh2-0.14 working.
It gave an error on the command './configure' at about 90%.
Also the command 'make all install' failed at about 40%.

Next i tried to get libssh2-0.17 working.
I sucessfully ran './configure' and 'make all install'.

Proceeding i executed: pecl install -f ssh2
This seemed to work, but failed at...

running: make
/bin/sh /tmp/pear-build-root/ssh2-0.10/libtool --mode=compile gcc -I. -I/tmp/pear/download/ssh2-0.10 -DPHP_ATOM_INC -I/tmp/pear-build-root/ssh2-0.10/include -I/tmp/pear-build-root/ssh2-0.10/main -I/tmp/pear/download/ssh2-0.10 -I/usr/local/include/php -I/usr/local/include/php/main -I/usr/local/include/php/TSRM -I/usr/local/include/php/Zend -I/usr/local/include -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -g -O2 -c /tmp/pear/download/ssh2-0.10/ssh2.c -o ssh2.lo
gcc -I. -I/tmp/pear/download/ssh2-0.10 -DPHP_ATOM_INC -I/tmp/pear-build-root/ssh2-0.10/include -I/tmp/pear-build-root/ssh2-0.10/main -I/tmp/pear/download/ssh2-0.10 -I/usr/local/include/php -I/usr/local/include/php/main -I/usr/local/include/php/TSRM -I/usr/local/include/php/Zend -I/usr/local/include -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -g -O2 -c /tmp/pear/download/ssh2-0.10/ssh2.c -fPIC -DPIC -o ssh2.lo
/tmp/pear/download/ssh2-0.10/ssh2.c: In function `zif_ssh2_methods_negotiated':
/tmp/pear/download/ssh2-0.10/ssh2.c:481: warning: passing arg 2 of `libssh2_session_methods' makes integer from pointer without a cast
/tmp/pear/download/ssh2-0.10/ssh2.c:481: error: too many arguments to function `libssh2_session_methods'
/tmp/pear/download/ssh2-0.10/ssh2.c: In function `zif_ssh2_fingerprint':
/tmp/pear/download/ssh2-0.10/ssh2.c:536: warning: assignment discards qualifiers from pointer target type
/tmp/pear/download/ssh2-0.10/ssh2.c: In function `zif_ssh2_publickey_add':
/tmp/pear/download/ssh2-0.10/ssh2.c:1038: warning: passing arg 1 of `_efree' discards qualifiers from pointer target type
/tmp/pear/download/ssh2-0.10/ssh2.c: In function `zif_ssh2_publickey_list':
/tmp/pear/download/ssh2-0.10/ssh2.c:1097: warning: passing arg 4 of `add_assoc_stringl_ex' discards qualifiers from pointer target type
/tmp/pear/download/ssh2-0.10/ssh2.c:1098: warning: passing arg 4 of `add_assoc_stringl_ex' discards qualifiers from pointer target type
/tmp/pear/download/ssh2-0.10/ssh2.c:1106: warning: initialization discards qualifiers from pointer target type
/tmp/pear/download/ssh2-0.10/ssh2.c:1107: warning: passing arg 2 of `zend_hash_add_or_update' discards qualifiers from pointer target type
make: *** [ssh2.lo] Error 1
ERROR: `make' failed

Here i have ceased to continue installing SSH2 for PHP.
I am unsure if the system has been badly effected by this partial installation.

#28. Kevin on 12 October 2007

Kevin @ prasanna: I'm not familiar with the libphp5.so configuration and so I do not have a way to reproduce your errors. I always just include the ssh2.so file as an extension in the php.ini (either cli, or apache, depending on the intended use). So unfortunately I can't help you with this.

#27. prasanna on 11 October 2007

i created the ssh2.so using
phpize && ./configure --with-ssh2 && make.
I run the above command under PECL/SSH directory.

But i have a doubt and i explained it below.
... [more]
Hi,

I am trying to add SSH2 support in my product. I am using Apache 2.0.4.7 with PHP 5.2.4.

For SSH2 support, i had compiled PECL/SSH2 package and created ssh2.so.

I used to run PHP using libphp5.so through httpd.conf. I struck at the creation of libphp5.so file.

<LoadModule php5_module /home/nprasanna/test/modules/libphp5.so>

I downloaded the latest PHP 5.2.4 and install it and got the libphp5.so, but i dont know how to include the ssh2.so while creating libphp5.so.

Please let me know, whether it is possible to create libphp5.so with ssh2.so support and make it work using Apache.

Also i tried by compiling PHP with a custom_php.ini file, (--with-config-file-path). In that custom_php.ini, i specified the ssh2.so as extension=ssh2.so, with the correct path of extension_dir value, failed that case too.

Please guide me how to use shh2.so in libphp5.so. whether we need to specify this at the creation of libphp5.so or we can make this possible by custom php.ini file.

Please suggest me a solution for this.
My email id: prasankn@gmail.com

Thanks,
prasanna

#26. Kevin on 10 October 2007

Kevin @ prasanna:

I believe you've typed:
pecl install ssh

... [more] instead of:
pecl install ssh2

#25. Kevin on 10 October 2007

Kevin @ Edi: Oh I see, I haven't used it like that. Only from CLI actually. I don't think you can store the connection resource in the $_SESSION variable so maybe you should write a CLI daemon in PHP that can accept commands as it keeps a connection open. Or just connect for every command you send.
You should really ask yourself if this technology belongs in a web app b.t.w. And if it does.. Please sanitize your input :)

#24. prasanna on 10 October 2007

I got the error

I had installed pecl, openssl.

I found no useful results while googling with the below error.
... [more]
No releases available for package "pecl.php.net/ssh"
Cannot initialize 'pecl/ssh', invalid or missing package file
Package "Array" is not valid
install failed

How to resolve it, please help me.
prasanna

#23. Edi on 10 October 2007

Edi Ok, thanks, I've got it,
but the situation is more complicated:
user can selects which commands to execute from the select list, then the
ssh conection created and the commands are executed, output is presented to the user, and after that, depends on the output, user should select other commands to be executed by the same ssh connection, (I don't know which commands).
I'm using post method and submit the commands that are chosen each time (reloading the same page), so ssh_connect() and auth....should be executed each time and the commands are executed, and it's quite slow.
... [more] maybe this is wrong method , but if there is some way to hold the ssh2 connection (session) each time the page is reloaded, without connecting to remote host again, then it should work well.

thanks in advance for any suggestions.

#22. Kevin on 09 October 2007

Kevin @ Edi: Sure, after you've used ssh2_connect & ssh2_auth_password you can use as many ssh2_execs as you want.

#21. Edi on 09 October 2007

Edi Very nice tutorial, thanx,

Question: Is there a way holding ssh session, in order to execute number of commands, chosen by the user, and not to create ssh connection (reload the page) again each time, to execute another command?

#20. Stefan Ideler on 05 October 2007

Stefan Ideler For people getting the make 1 error, I\'ve found the following 2 diff files to solve the problem for me.

(Compiling it on suse 10.2, 64 bit).

http://svn.mandriva.com/cgi-bin/viewvc.cgi/packages/cooker/php-ssh2/pristine/SOURCES/
... [more]
Download the tar, patch the 2 files with the diff files, then install it using phpize && ./configure --with-ssh2 && make && make install

On another note, if you have PEAR installed but not the pecl package, try an pear upgrade-all .
Appearently a number of older versions of PEAR do not include the pecl package.

Regards,

stefan at i3d dot nl

#19. Kevin on 04 October 2007

Kevin @ Joo: You shouldn't have to create the php.ini yourself. It should already be installed if php-cli is succesfully installed. That's probably why it isn't working.

try:
updatedb && locate php.ini |egrep '^/etc/.*\.ini$'

... [more] To find all the valid php.ini's on your system. If there isn't a cli version (either 4 or 5) maybe you will have to reinstall:
aptitude reinstall php5-cli
or
aptitude reinstall php4-cli

depending on the version you prefer.

#18. Joo on 04 October 2007

Joo Thank you for your advice, Kevin.

However, I can use ssh2* functions in php web page but I can't use them in CLI. I created /etc/php5/cli/php.ini already.

#17. Kevin on 04 October 2007

Kevin @Joo: The module ssh2.so isn't loaded in PHP. This could mean you have to double check the Installation Step, and see if extension=ssh2.so is added to the correct php.ini

I see you're using commandline so probably something like /etc/php5/cli/php.ini

#16. Joo on 04 October 2007

Joo I just copied your php script and then run it on my server. (Before doing that, I followed all your instruction and installed everything) However, I met a following message.

- [root@localhost htdocs]# php -f ssh2.php
function ssh2_connect doesn't exist[

... [more] What happened in my php?

Thanks in advance.

#15. Oriol on 23 September 2007

Oriol I'm using Ubuntu dapper 6.06 LTS in my servers. When I try to install openssl-dev I don't found it. But, the correct package for me is libssl-dev.

Tancks for your guide is very useful for me.

#14. ServerChief on 13 September 2007

Hi,

Just wanted to say thank you for this tutorial. I'm writting an application for VmWare ESX Updater Services, this tutorial, without a doubt will help me do it more efficiently.

Thanks,
... [more]
ServerChief

http://www.serverchief.com

#13. Jason on 11 September 2007

Jason Hi Kevin,

Do you have any idea about SSH Tunneling? I tried the following code but don't work:

$connection = ssh2_connect($SSH_HOST, $SSH_PORT);
... [more] ssh2_auth_password($connection, $SSH_LOGIN, $SSH_PASSWORD);
$tunnel = ssh2_tunnel($connection, $REMOTE_HOST.":".$REMOTE_PORT, $LOCAL_PORT);

Could you please help me?

#12. Kevin on 30 August 2007

Kevin @ trume: sorry dude I don't have email ;)

Anyhow, you might want to concatenate all of your commands with semicolons like this:
ls -al; echo "!BREAK!"; cat /proc/cpuinfo; echo "!BREAK!"; cat /proc/loadavg; echo "!BREAK!"; df -h

... [more] The shell on the other side will just run every command and give one big output.

Then just parse the output in PHP by exploding on "!BREAK!" (see 'explode' function in PHP manual)

#11. trume on 30 August 2007

trume hi,kevin,i wander if i can run the ssh connection once and get all infomation in that way.

i need to get the infomation realtime remote in ssh2,and now i need some advise if i can do it with php.

i will very glad if you can send a email, ^_^ my email is aquajamy@gmail.com.
... [more]
thanks.

#10. Kevin on 28 August 2007

Kevin @ Jan: When I install I get similar warnings like:
/tmp/pear/cache/ssh2-0.10/ssh2.c: In function 'zif_ssh2_methods_negotiated':
/tmp/pear/cache/ssh2-0.10/ssh2.c:483: warning: assignment discards qualifiers from pointer target type

However the building just continues and so they can be ignored. But in your case the 'make' exits with an error before it can run: /bin/bash /var/tmp/pear-build-root/ssh2-0.10/libtool
... [more]
Can it be that you ran into this bug?
http://pecl.php.net/bugs/bug.php?id=11779

#9. jan on 27 August 2007

jan i get this ...

/tmp/pear/cache/ssh2-0.10/ssh2.c: In function 'zif_ssh2_methods_negotiated':
/tmp/pear/cache/ssh2-0.10/ssh2.c:481: warning: passing argument 2 of 'libssh2_session_methods' makes integer from pointer without a cast
/tmp/pear/cache/ssh2-0.10/ssh2.c:481: error: too many arguments to function 'libssh2_session_methods'
... [more] /tmp/pear/cache/ssh2-0.10/ssh2.c: In function 'zif_ssh2_fingerprint':
/tmp/pear/cache/ssh2-0.10/ssh2.c:536: warning: assignment discards qualifiers from pointer target type
/tmp/pear/cache/ssh2-0.10/ssh2.c: In function 'zif_ssh2_publickey_add':
/tmp/pear/cache/ssh2-0.10/ssh2.c:1038: warning: passing argument 1 of '_efree' discards qualifiers from pointer target type
/tmp/pear/cache/ssh2-0.10/ssh2.c: In function 'zif_ssh2_publickey_list':
/tmp/pear/cache/ssh2-0.10/ssh2.c:1097: warning: passing argument 4 of 'add_assoc_stringl_ex' discards qualifiers from pointer target type
/tmp/pear/cache/ssh2-0.10/ssh2.c:1098: warning: passing argument 4 of 'add_assoc_stringl_ex' discards qualifiers from pointer target type
/tmp/pear/cache/ssh2-0.10/ssh2.c:1106: warning: initialization discards qualifiers from pointer target type
/tmp/pear/cache/ssh2-0.10/ssh2.c:1107: warning: passing argument 2 of '_zend_hash_add_or_update' discards qualifiers from pointer target type
make: *** [ssh2.lo] Error 1

makes me sad :(

#8. Peter on 14 August 2007

Peter Never mind, my mistake. I forgot to run 'make all install'. Duh!

#7. Peter on 14 August 2007

Peter Great tutorial; now to make it work. ;-)

When I run 'pecl install -f ssh2-beta' I get this error:

configure: error: The required libssh2 library was not found. You can obtain that package from http://sourceforge.net/projects/libssh2/
... [more]
Any suggestions?

#6. tr on 13 August 2007

Instead of 'pear install -f ssh2' try with 'pecl install -f ssh2'.

#5. Kevin on 10 August 2007

Kevin Did you type '-f' ?

#4. Will on 09 August 2007

Will First of all, great article. Second I'm having an error I was wondering if you had any thoughts on. I've been following the instructions pretty closely and all seems to have gone well up until the ssh2.so portion. Here is the error that I get when trying to run pear....

No releases available for package "pear.php.net/ssh2" - package pecl/ssh2 can be installed with "pecl install ssh2"
Cannot initialize 'ssh2', invalid or missing package file
Package "ssh2" is not valid
... [more] install failed

Any help would be great. Thanks...

#3. NiKo on 30 July 2007

NiKo Great article, thanks.

#2. Kevin on 28 July 2007

Kevin Hi Sara, nice to know that improvements are on it's way. And I'd just like to say you did a great job on integrating ssh into php. It really made my life easier (it definitely beats making system calls and parsing output ;)

And as for the PHP manual, maybe I will contribute directly to it. Not a bad idea. Thanks for your comment!

#1. Sara Golemon on 27 July 2007

Sara Golemon Glad you like PECL/ssh2 and libssh2! :)

A few notes:

Yes, 0.15 is out, with several refactoring points and I need to get around to updating the PHP extension to take advantage of new stuff in the library.
... [more]
Part of the reason for the refactorings is that some of the cURL developers have gotten involved in its development and wanted to make it better before building support for it into cURL (which...by the way, cURL now supports SFTP via libssh2).

SCP doesn't work entirely right. I recommend SFTP to anyone who has it available. It's a much more robust protocol and libssh2's implementation of it works much more solidly than it's implementation of SCP. (If ANYONE has a spec document describing SCP or RCP, I'd love to get a link...)

As to docs... Yeah... they could definately stand to be better... You're welcome to contribute directly to the PHP manual. CVS repository can be browsed at http://cvs.php.net/phpdoc/en/reference/ssh2 , anonymous CVS access instructions are at http://php.net/anoncvs.php, and instructions for getting your own cvs account can be found at http://php.net/cvs-php.php . You can also, of course, just send diffs (unified) to the phpdoc mailing list and ask someone politely to commit it for you.

Kevin van Zonneveld

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