10.12.1. Introduction¶

A command-line shell is provided to access the SFTPPlus management interface.

It is recommended to start the shell from the SFTPPlus installation folder.

On Unix-like systems, the admin-shell is available as:

$ cd /opt/SFTPPlus
$ ./bin/admin-shell.sh

On Windows systems, the admin-shell is available as:

CMD> cd "C:\Program Files\SFTPPlus"
CMD> admin-shell.bat

All Unix-like and Windows versions provide the same command-line arguments and shell commands. We use the generic admin-shell name for both types of executable files.

All commands to be executed in the administration's shell are prefixed with:

>

The admin-shell script is provided as a tool to help with troubleshooting or administrative tasks, without requiring an external tool.

In the case that you are using or planning to use admin-shell in production, your feedback and comments are welcome. They help us improve it and extend the scope of its usage.

10.12.2. Connecting to the management interface¶

The default admin-shell command will try to connect to the SFTPPlus administration interface running at https://localhost:10020 using the default configuration/self_signed_certificate.pem certificate.

You can specify a different address for the SFTPPlus Local Manager interface by setting it as a command line argument.

On Unix-like systems, the command would be:

$ ./bin/admin-shell.sh -a https://sftp-mgmt.example.com:2020

On Windows systems, the command would be:

CMD> bin\admin-shell.bat -a https://sftp-mgmt.example.com:2020

If the SFTPPlus Local Manager interface is not using the default self-signed certificate, you can start admin-shell using a different certificate. This can be the server's certificate itself or a Certificate Authority's certificate.

$ ./bin/admin-shell.sh -c /path/to/your/CA-or-server-cert.pem

10.12.3. Shell operation¶

When the admin-shell script is started, it will attempt to connect and authenticate to the SFTPPlus management interface.

If no administrator name or password was provided as command line arguments, admin-shell will ask for these details.

Upon a successful connection you will see a prompt such as:

Administrator name: admin
Password: PASSWORD-NOT-ECHOED
Connecting to https://localhost:10020 as admin.
Connected.
SFTPPlus (3.47.0) command line administration shell
>

After that, you can start entering admin-shell commands. To show all available commands:

> help

To find more details about a command:

> help COMMAND_NAME

For example, to show more details about the command show:

> help show

10.12.4. Scripting integration and password security¶

The admin-shell can be integrated in scripts by having all the options and command passed via the command line arguments.

It can read the password from the following sources:

• interactive without echo (safe): admin-shell (without any password argument)

• direct command line argument: admin-shell -p YOUR-PASSWORD

• file at a path defined via command line argument: admin-shell -p /path/to/your/password/file

• piped from another command: echo YOUR-PASSWORD | admin-shell -p -

You should replace echo "YOUR-PASS" with your password manager. We used echo just as an example.

On Unix-like systems, the command would look like this.

$ echo "YOUR PASS" | ./bin/admin-shell.sh -u admin -p - show failures