Is it possible to use the diff command to compare two directories on different Unix (AIX) servers?

We have two regions set up and we want to be able to compare if the scripts directory in both regions contain the same files?

I want to figure out if its possible.. Have been messing around by dumping the listing of each dir into separate files and comparing them with diff.. But that doesn't work the way i need it to..

Is there any other command out there that could work?

Thanks,
Jaz

EDIT**

Can something like this work?? I've tried it from the command line but it gives the following error.

ksh: syntax error: `(' unexpected

diff <(ssh server_name 'cd directory_to_compare; find . -type f -exec {} \;| sort -k 2') <(ssh servername2 'cd directory_to_compare; find . -type f -exec {} \;| sort -k 2') >> diff_report.txt

don't understand your command, there is no command follow by -exec, if the missed command is ls, then you needn't -exec, use -print (or not, -print is default for find) will export the file list.

Because there is no command for -exec, I don't understand what you sort for.

diff <(ssh server_name 'find directory_to_compare -type f | sort') <(ssh server_name 'find directory_to_compare -type f | sort')

Ok, maybe I don't need the sort.. Just tried

diff <(ssh paehowup2303 'find /home/x136873 -type f') <(ssh njros1up2303 'find /home/x136873 -type f')

In which shell do you run the command?

Try if you have bash.

bash diff <(ssh paehowup2303 find /home/x136873 -type f) <(ssh njros1up2303 find /home/x136873 -type f)

Korn shell..

---------- Post updated at 09:37 PM ---------- Previous update was at 04:45 AM ----------

Would it be possible to use the "rsync --dry-run" option to find differences in directories on separate servers.. Only just come across the command and not sure how it works.. The man pages are pretty long.. When comparing the directories can the command work over ssh? I'm can't get my head around how the command works...

In Korn shell I would expect something more like this: -

diff <$(ssh paehowup2303 'find /home/x136873 -type f')  <$(ssh njros1up2303 'find /home/x136873 -type f')

No, the syntax is correct with the <(..) constructs. Jazzmania, my guess would be that you are running ksh88 on the system you are firing the command from. What happens if you run this:

(echo ${.sh.version}) 2>&- || echo ksh88

Originally Posted by Jazmania .. do i need the ' in the command?