Execute commands on remote machine via PHP
Solution 1
Run SSH commands through PHP on server A to server B.
Here is how to run ssh commands with the command line in linux: http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=fvwp&v=YLqqdQZHzsU
In order to run commands on linux with PHP use the exec() command.
I hope this will get you started looking in the right direction.
Look at these two posts for automating the password prompt
- https://serverfault.com/questions/241588/how-to-automate-ssh-login-with-password
- https://serverfault.com/questions/187036/execute-ssh-command-without-password
Here is a quick example with non-working code to get you thinking:
<?php
$server = "serverB.example.org";
//ip address will work too i.e. 192.168.254.254 just make sure this is your public ip address not private as is the example
//specify your username
$username = "root";
//select port to use for SSH
$port = "22";
//command that will be run on server B
$command = "uptime";
//form full command with ssh and command, you will need to use links above for auto authentication help
$cmd_string = "ssh -p ".$port." ".$username."@".$server." ".$command;
//this will run the above command on server A (localhost of the php file)
exec($cmd_string, $output);
//return the output to the browser
//This will output the uptime for server B on page on server A
echo '<pre>';
print_r($output);
echo '</pre>';
?>
The recommended flow is to run a command on server A to SSH to server B
Solution 2
Use phpseclib to securely SSH or SCP to remote servers
Install with
composer require phpseclib/phpseclib
use phpseclib\Crypt\RSA;
use phpseclib\Net\SSH2;
use phpseclib\Net\SCP;
// Load your private key
$key = new RSA();
$key->loadKey('private key string');
// Connect to the server
$ssh = new SSH2('ip_address', 'port', 'timeout');
if (!$ssh->login('username', $key)) {
throw new Exception("Unable to connect");
}
// Run a remote command
echo $ssh->exec('whoami');
// SCP put a string
$result = (new SCP($ssh))->put('remotePath', 'content to put');
// SCP put a file
$result = (new SCP($ssh))->put('remotePath', 'localPath', SCP::SOURCE_LOCAL_FILE);
// SCP get a file
$result = (new SCP($this->ssh))->get('remotePath', 'localPath');
// $result is true or false
Stroes
Prototyping, working, pizza and beer! But by day i am a Senior DevOps Engineer (Whatever that means)
Updated on August 12, 2022Comments
-
Stroes over 1 year
To give background on my environment:
I have 3 machines A, B & C
A = Webserver, running a php website which basically acts as an interface for B & C
B = Linux Ubuntu machine, i have root access, SSH and all the needed goodness to work on the machine via a SSH client (i have a .ppk private key file for this server)
C = MySql Database server running on Linux
I can successfully execute queries from A (php) on C (Mysql) and return the results. But now im trying to execute linux commands on B from A.
Eg.
I have a script thats running on B and would like to execute a command from A (php) to show the status of the script.
In Command line to do this is easy - ./SomeScript status
But i want to show the status of this script in the website im hosting on Server A.
Even just check the uptime of Server B on Server A.
Is this in anyway possible. i have googled forever as it seems but im not getting anywhere, Im not too phased if the connection is secure or not as this is a closed network with no outside access to this network.
Any advise would be highly appreciated.
Thanks