Shell Programming and Scripting

Hi

I'm working on an Expect script that is supposed to log-into a remote server and run some steps and exit. In the script I first spawn a 'ssh' session to the server and then after logging in I 'send' all the necessary steps ( with a '\r' at the end, so that they get automatically executed the moment they are sent to the remote process) . Some of these steps take about a min to complete and the control isn't (and shouldn't be) turned over to the expect script before completion.

Now the wierd problem is, if I end my expect script with a 'interact' statement then every single line of the script is hit and executed. But if I remove the 'interact' then most of the intermediate 'send' statements are skipped and the script all of a sudden comes to a halt.

Trouble is I dont have to use the interact statement because I want the script to finish and exit by itself and not give the control to user at the end.

I dont have much experience with expect scripting but I guess this problem is because the script is expecting the response back way-too-soon for the intermediate steps to finish and turn-around, due to which some statements are overlooked. So to put sufficient delay between send commands I used 'after' /'wait' statements in-between...but to no avail. Setting timeout to a big number also didn't help

Please let me know if there is a solution to this problem.

Perhaps you could post your script ?

Code:

spawn ssh $username@$server
expect -re "password:" {
   send "$password\r"
}
expect "$"
send "cd $user_dir\r"
expect "$"
send "/bnr/tools/peel/peel $context_sname\r"
expect "Peel already running" {
   exit
}
expect ">"
send "\n\r"
expect ">"
send "traceci me\r"
send "\n\r"
expect ">"
send "tabxfr\r"
send "\n\r"
expect ">"
send "setup lbrest\r"
send "\n\r"
set timeout 20
expect ">"
send "\003\r"
expect "emdebug"
send "cd table_dump\r"
expect ">"
send "go\r"
send "\n\r"
expect ">"
send "rmount hpdisk\r"
expect ">"
send "startxfr\r"
set timeout 100
expect ">" 
send "quit all\r"
expect ">"
send "bsyall noex\r"
send "y\r"
set timeout 20
expect ">"
send "\003\r"
expect "emdebug>"
send "cd ..\r"
expect ">"
send "go\r"
send "\n\r"
expect ">"
send "hpdump 'DATAFILL_smtxv19ap'\r"
interact

In the above script.. if I don't use the interact at the bottom, the statements send "rmount hpdisk\r" , expect ">", send "startxfr\r" almost always get passed over.

Can't remember the exact syntax now, but you can slow down the rate at which expect sends characters (send_slow?) and you can also turn on some pretty verbose debugging (exp_debug?) that allows you to see exactly what's going backwards and forwards.