testing return status from "ftp" 3

• Dec 8, 2004

1
• #2

KenCunningham

Technical User

Mar 20, 2001

8,475

GB

I don't think (but stand to be corrected) that you can reliably use $? in this circumstance. I do it by writing the output of the ftp command to a file and then grepping that file for whatever output I would expect from a successful transfer. Not perfect, I guess, but it suits my need and I've never had a problem with it (famous last words!).

 

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• Dec 8, 2004

• #3

columb

IS-IT--Management

Feb 5, 2004

1,231

EU

My answer to this was to send the file and then retreive it under a different name. If the retreived file matched the sent file then the transfer was successful. There might be a more elegant solution but I saw mine as foolproof.

The ftp script looked like

Code:

open remotehost
put datafile
get datafile datafile.test
bye

then

Code:

diff datafile datafile.test >/dev/null && error_routine

Columb Healy

 

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• Dec 8, 2004

• #4

tbohon

Programmer

Apr 20, 2000

293

US

We solved this in our ftp scripting by sending a file called verify.ftp immediately after sending the 'real' file, then retrieving it to a working directory. If we're able to retrieve the file, we were really connected - if it isn't there, we shoot out an email warning to the appropriate parties.

 

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• Dec 8, 2004

1
• #5

Clairvoyant1332

Programmer

May 21, 2003

147

US

This is how I check FTP return codes in my scripts:

Code:

ftplog=/tmp/ftplog.$$

ftp -nv desthost < commands.txt > $ftplog

xfrcnt1=`grep "^226 " $ftplog | wc -l`
xfrcnt2=`grep "^5[0-9][0-9] " $ftplog | wc -l`

if [ $xfrcnt1 -ne $numfiles ] || [ $xfrcnt2 -ne 0 ]
then
  echo "success"
else
  echo "failed"
fi

When looking at raw ftp output, every line is prepended with a 3 digit number describing what happened (see RFC 959). A line starting with code 226 indicates a successful transfer. A line starting with a number with 5 as the first digit indicates an error of some sort. The two grep commands after the ftp make a count of how many of each of these appear in the output. If you get any 5xx codes, or if you don't get the same number of 226 codes as you do sent files, you have an error.

 

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• Dec 8, 2004

• Thread starter
• #6

Calator

Programmer

Feb 12, 2001

262

AU

Thank you all for your valued suggestions. I tend to base my solution on Clairvoyant's code, but reversing the success and failed messages (error in your example!)
Columb, truly fail-proof solution, but costly if you deal with very large files?
Ken, yours appears the same as Clairvoyants, but no code supplied.

 

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• Dec 8, 2004

• #7

KenCunningham

Technical User

Mar 20, 2001

8,475

GB

Quite correct, Calator. Great minds think alike but some can obviously be bothered to go the extra mile ;-)

Glad you got your solution.

 

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• Dec 8, 2004

1
• #8

PHV

MIS

Nov 8, 2002

53,708

FR

Take a look here:

http://www.the-eggman.com/seminars/ftp_error_codes.html

Hope This Helps, PH.
Want to get great answers to your Tek-Tips questions? Have a look at FAQ219-2884 or FAQ222-2244

 

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• Dec 9, 2004

• Thread starter
• #9

Calator

Programmer

Feb 12, 2001

262

AU

Hi guys,

look what happened!! Clairvoyant's error diagnistic logic failed on the example below:

226 Transfer complete.
560 bytes sent in 0 seconds (0.55 Kbytes/s)
221

I think we need to tell grep to exclude any lines that have the pattern "bytes sent"
Any suggestions how to code that? Or alternatives? Thanks.

 

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• Dec 10, 2004

• #10

KenCunningham

Technical User

Mar 20, 2001

8,475

GB

Just use grep -v:

xfrcnt2=`grep "^5[0-9][0-9] " $ftplog |grep -v 'bytes sent' wc -l`

Should exclude this from the wc -l. HTH.

 

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• Dec 10, 2004

• #11

KenCunningham

Technical User

Mar 20, 2001

8,475

GB

Sorry, missed a pipe:

xfrcnt2=`grep "^5[0-9][0-9] " $ftplog |grep -v 'bytes sent' | wc -l`

 

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• Dec 10, 2004

• #12

futurelet

Programmer

Mar 3, 2004

539

US

Save as ftp.awk:
[tt]
BEGIN {
if ( ARGC != 3 )
{ print "Awk prog. needs logfile and file-count." >"/dev/tty"
files = 1
exit
}
files = ARGV[2] + 0
ARGC--
}

/bytes sent/ { next }
/^226 / { successes++ }
/^5[0-9][0-9]/ { errors++ }

END { print (successes==files && !errors) }
[/tt]
success=`awk -f ftp.awk $ftplog $numfiles`

 

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