README
1mussh - MUltihost SSH
2
3$Id: README,v 1.7 2005/08/24 00:34:31 doughnut Exp $
4
5=====================
6Mussh is a shell script that allows you to execute a command or script
7over ssh on multiple hosts with one command. When possible mussh will use
8ssh-agent and RSA/DSA keys to minimize the need to enter your password
9more than once.
10
11
12Requirements
13============
14General:
15- ssh with ssh-agent
16When Proxying:
17- Proxy server must have OpenSSH 2.3 or greater, or an sshd that works with
18 ForwardAgent under ssh2.
19- Proxy server must have mussh installed in your PATH. To verify that it
20 is in your path use "ssh user@proxy 'which mussh'".
21 Use "ssh user@proxy 'echo $PATH'" to determine what your path is.
22
23License
24=======
25GPL
26
27
28Compatibility
29============
30I wrote and tested this on Mandrake 8.x, Redhat 7.x, RedHat Enterprise
31(2.1,3,4), and Fedora Core (3,4,5). Other than that, it needs more testing!
32If you get this to run _anywhere_ else, email me at doughnut@doughnut.net.
33
34
35Interaction with ssh-agent
36==========================
37Assuming that you're not turning off the agent with '-A' mussh will attempt
38to use ssh-agent. Normally mussh will get rid of the agent when it exits.
39See EXAMPLES for examples.
40
41
42Usage
43=====
44mussh [OPTIONS] <HOST ARGS> <COMMAND ARGS>
45
46Arguments can be in any order.
47
48OPTIONS:
49 --help This gives a brief help message.
50
51 -d see -d1
52
53 -d 0 Turns debug mode off.
54
55 -d 1 On STDERR prints out basic actions and ssh-agent
56 activity and which host is being connected to.
57
58 -d 2 Includes all of the output from -d1, the list of
59 hosts and the command/script as it will be
60 executed on each host.
61
62 -v see -v1
63
64 -v 1 Sets ssh in debug1 mode by passing "-v" to ssh.
65
66 -v 2 Sets ssh in debug2 mode by passing "-v -v" to ssh.
67
68 -v 3 Sets ssh in debug3 mode by passing "-v -v -v" to ssh.
69
70 -m [n] Run concurrently on 'n' hosts at a time (async).
71 Use '0' (zero) for infinite. (default if -m)
72
73
74 -q No output unless necessary.
75 This will cancel -d and -v if after them on
76 the command line. It also suppresses the output
77 of each host. This will NOT suppress the
78 password/passphrase prompts required to log
79 into each host.
80
81 -P Do NOT fall back to passwords on any host. This will
82 skip hosts where keys fail. If you use this with
83 '-d' you'll still see which hosts failed.
84
85 -i <identity> [identity ..]
86 Load an identity file.
87 When -i is used, the specified identity file(s) is
88 loaded instead of the default identity. You can
89 load as many RSA/DSA identities as you'd like.
90
91 -o <ssh-args> Args to pass to ssh with -o option. See the
92 ssh(1) man page for more info on the -o option.
93
94 -a Force loading ssh-agent.
95 Without this flag, mussh will not load another
96 agent when one is already loaded.
97
98 -A Do NOT load ssh-agent.
99 If no agent is loaded you will be prompted for a
100 password or passphrase by ssh for each host. If
101 you do not have RSA/DSA keys for the destination
102 hosts, this will save you some hassle.
103
104 -b Print each hosts' output in a block without mingling
105 with other hosts' output.
106 -B Allow hosts' output to mingle. (default)
107
108
109 -l <login> Use 'login' when no other is specified with hostname.
110 -L <login> Force use of 'login' name on all hosts. These can be
111 handy for adding 'root@' to hostnames kept in a file
112 for -H option. With -h it means you get to type less.
113
114 -u Unique. Eliminate duplicate hosts (default).
115 If you a host or user@host occurs more than
116 once across files specified with -H or hosts
117 specified with -h, the host or user@host is used
118 only once.
119
120 -U Do NOT make host list unique.
121 This simply overrides the -u flag. This will
122 cause scripts to be executed on duplicate hosts
123 once per listing.
124
125 -s <shell> Path to shell on remote host. (Default: bash)
126 This will allow you to run commands in a shell other
127 than bash. Sorry but one had to be specified.
128
129 -t <secs> Timeout setting for each session.
130 (requires openssh 3.8 or newer)
131
132 -V Print version info and exit.
133
134
135
136HOST ARGS:
137 -h [user@]<host> [[user@]<host> ..]
138 As with ssh itself, the username can be
139 supplied for a host but is not required.
140
141 -H <file> [file ..]
142 Add contents of file(s) to list of hosts.
143 Files should have one host per line. Use
144 "#" for comments.
145
146COMMAND ARGS:
147 -c <command> Add a command or quoted list of commands and
148 args to list of commands to be executed on
149 each host. May be used more than once.
150
151 -C <file> [file ..]
152 Add file contents to list of commands to be
153 executed on each host. May be used more
154 than once.
155
156At least one host is required. Arguments are in no particular order.
157
158
159Tips
160====
161 - To pipe commands to mussh, you can get the commands from standard
162 input by using '-C -'.
163 - To pipe hosts to mussh, you can get the hosts from standard input
164 by using '-H -'.
165 - When you already have an ssh-agent loaded, you can avoid loading
166 sensitive keys into that agent by using '-a' to force mussh
167 to load (and dispose of) it's own agent.
168 - When mussh is running you can use CTRL-\ to view which hosts are
169 currently running and which hosts remain.
170 - Blocking (-b) in asynchronous mode (-m) only makes the output look
171 serial. The commands are still running at the same time on the
172 remote host.
173
174