Homework & Coursework Questions

You can do something like this:

Code:

ssh username@host <local-scriptfile.sh

chmod +x ? Or did you mean something different?

A shell script is a simple text file. You can create/edit it with a text editor.
You can run it in a Unix shell (terminal) with bash myscript.
You can make it executable with chmod +x myscript and put a shebang (first line) #!/bin/bash. Then you can run it as a new command ./myscript and, if . is in your PATH, myscript.

You asked a lot of questions in one and i can't answer them all (a forum is simply not the right place to teach someone - a good book is better suited for that). I will try to give you some starting points though and suggest some literature you might want to read.

Generally: if you do not know how to use command then issue man command at the commandline. In most cases a manual page (hence the name) with a description will come up, telling you what the command does, which options it understands and how they influence its operation, etc. - basically everything you need to know about it.

I suggest you try that by issuing man ssh. Issuing man chmod would have told you what Scott explained to you above. You might want to try that too an compare what you read there with what Scott told you. Man(ual) pages are always written the same way, so once you get used to using them they are telling you everything you want to know. If you want to work successfully with Unix/Linux you can't start to early using them.

Automation is usually done using scripts instead of issuing single commands. Once we find out that the same group of commands are oftenly used together we can "package" them into a script and then, instead of repeatedly calling the commands, use the script. Almost every OS has such a script language: in z/OS (MVS) it is called REXX, in DOS/Windows it is called "Batch", in modern Windows there is "PowerShell" and in Unix there are even several such languages, most of them related: almost every commando processor (="shell") is not only intended for interactive use but also has its own programming language. The most common shells/languages today are: Korn Shell (ksh), Bourne-Again Shell (bash), Bourne-Shell (sh/bsh), POSIX shell (sh).

You will have to select one of these, but they are very similar. Most code written for one will also run in the others.

My suggestion is to pick either ksh or bash - these are the most widely used shells - but my preference is with ksh. It is IMHO better suited for scripting, but this might be personal preference. It would go too far to discuss the differences here. You can start with both of these and get working results.

A recommendable book to learn programming in ksh is the "KornShell Programming Tutorial" by Barry Rosenberg. Written with a fine sense of humor all the while being really informative.

I hope this helps.

bakunin