Copy files from remote Unix machine to windows

Question

I have a remote Unix machine which doesnt have SMB installed and I cannot install it. However there are some files located on that server that I need on a windows machine.

What I need is a way to periodically copy a number of specific files from the Unix machine based on a list of filenames I have on my windows machine.

How would I go about doing this? - This has to happen automatically once a day.

I'm thinking a little scheduled job on windows that reads a needed files' names in and then opens a ssh tunnel and runs a scp command remotely and copying each file. Is this a good solution or is there a better way?

Solution 1

Install Cygwin on the windows machine and use the "scp" command. Files can be "pulled" from the *nix machine over to the windows machine like this:

$> scp user@nixbox:/var/log/importantlogs/*.zip .

Solution 2

File Transfer Protocol (aka FTP)

Setup an FTP server on either machine (suggestion: let UNIX be the server), and connect as client from the other machine.

You can automatize any behavior over FTP using scripts.

Solution 3

Maybe Deltacopy and rsync?

http://www.aboutmyip.com/AboutMyXApp/DeltaCopy.jsp

In general terms, DeltaCopy is an open source, fast incremental backup program. Let's say you have to backup one file that is 500 MB every night. A normal file copy would copy the entire file even if a few bytes have changed. DeltaCopy, on the other hand, would only copy the part of file that has actually been modified. This reduces the data transfer to just a small fraction of 500 MB saving time and network bandwidth.

Here is a list of features

• Incremental backup - Copies part of the file that is actually modified
• Task scheduler - Profiles in DeltaCopy can run based on a schedule
• Email notification - Administrators can receive email confirmation on successful as well as failed transfers
• One-click restore - Backed up files can be easily restored.
• Windows friendly environment - No need to manually modify configuration files or play around with command line options.

Comments

[Linora]

Thanks for the suggestion, but I cannot install anything on the unix machine.

[Linora]

This looks interesting.. would it be possible to have a list of filenames and then run some java job which would run the above command for each fil in the list?

[Linora]

Cannot install anything on the unix machine I only have read permission on it..

[m0skit0]

Do it reverse then: server on Windows, client on UNIX. You should have write permissions on the directory of course.

[Marco]

Java is maybe a little overkill to copy files. A simple bash script should do the job.

[Linora]

Yeah, I'm considering just making a little bashscript to run on the unix machine and add it as a cron job. Maybe I'll learn a little unix then..

[nixman]

@Herter: an even simpler solution

[nixman]

@Herter: an even simpler solution in bash: for i in file1.txt file2.bin file3.ext; do scp user@nixbox:/var/log/logdir/$i . ; done should copy over all the files matching the filenames you specified.

[Linora]

I'll try out the scp command first.. if I cannot get that working I'll look into your suggestion. I'll give you a +1 for the suggestion :)