vsftp is an interactive file transfer program which performs all operations over a Secure Shell-based strong-encryption enabled transport. vsftp supports SSH features such as public-key authentication, ciphers, and MACs. The user@ argument is optional. If it is not specified, your network username will be used.

OPTIONS

Command-line options are described below.

--accepthostkeys: Instructs vsftp to automatically accept host keys.
   Note: This option should be used with caution.
   If a host key has changed, it will invalidate
   the ability to detect a man-in-the-middle
   attack.
--auth authentication list: The authentication methods to be used in a comma separated list. Valid methods are keyboard-interactive, publickey, password, and gssapi.
-b filename: Instructs vsftp to use batch mode. For more information on using batch mode, read the VanDyke Support tip "How To Use vsftp Batch Mode To Automate File Transfers" on our website (www.vandyke.com).
-c cipher: The cipher that the SSH2 server will use. Protocol strings or display strings are permitted.
--help: Displays usage.
--http-proxy hostname[:port]: Specifies the http proxy to be used during connection.
-i file: The identity file to use for public-key authentication or a PKCS#12 file to use for X.509 authentication. If no file is specified, vsftp will attempt to use all public keys in the $HOME/.vshell/publickey directory.
--kex KEX: Specifies which key exchange algorithm to use. Valid algorithms are diffie-hellman, diffie-hellman-group, Kerberos, and any OID (in dotted number format) supported by the GSSAPI provider.
--log file: Specifies the file where vsftp will log all output, in addition to sending it to the console. If the file does not exist, vsftp will create it; or, if the file does exist, vsftp will append the output to it. If used in combination with the -v (verbose) option, the extra verbose output will also be logged.
-m MAC: The MAC that the SSH2 server will use.
--move: Instructs vsftp to move the file(s).
--nopreserve: Instructs vsftp not to preserve timestamp and permissions.
--noprompt: Fails if prompted for user input.
-p port: Specifies the port to be used during connection.
--passphrase passphrase: The passphrase for your private key.
--pw password: Your user password.
--socks4 server[:port]: Specifies the Socks version 4 server to be used during connection
--socks5 server[:port]: Specifies the Socks version 5 server to be used during connection
--spn hostname: Allows you to manually specify the SPN (Server Principal Name). The SPN is almost always of the form host@<server canonical name>. An example of a valid string is "host@mail.mydomain.com". If the server is in a different Kerberos realm, the realm name may need to be appended (e.g., host@mail.mydomain.com@KRBS.MYDOMAIN.COM.
-v: Displays verbose file transfer information. If you want even more and connection debug information, you can instruct vsftp to display the complete SSH trace output by entering "-v -v" on the command line.
-z n: The compression level (0-9). By default, the compression level is set to 5. Setting the level to 0 turns off compression. When compression is on, vsftp attempts to use zlib@openssh.com, zlib, and no compression, in that order, when making a connection.

INTERACTIVE COMMANDS

Interactive command options are described below. Commands that specify a path can contain the wildcard characters * and ?. vsftp will expand these wildcard characters. Multiple wildcard characters are permitted in a path (e.g., "*.*" or "*.?"). vsftp also supports file "globbing". The sequence [...] will match any one of the characters enclosed. Within [...], a pair of characters separated by a quotation mark (") matches any character lexically between the two. The backslash can be used to turn off wildcard characters (e.g., \* or \[).

ascii: Sets the file transfer mode to ASCII.
binary: Sets the file transfer mode to binary.
cd path: Changes the remote directory to that specified by the path.
chgrp group path: Changes the group of file path to group.
chmod mode path: Changes the permissions of file path to mode.
chown owner path: Changes the owner of file path to owner.
detail remotepath: Displays system information about the specified remote file or folder.
error continue|exit|exit-all: Specifies whether, on a command error, vsftp should continue, exit the file (either from include or batch mode), or exit all files (this also exits the application, if in batch mode). The default behavior is to continue.
exit: Exits the vsftp application.
get [-r] [-a|-b] [--nopreserve] [--move] remote path: Retrieves the remote path and stores it in the current local directory. The -r argument specifies a recursive get. The -a argument specifies that the files are transferred as ASCII; -b specifies binary. If neither -a nor -b is specified, the current transfer mode will be used (see "type" command). If the option --nopreserve is specified, the timestamp and permissions will not be preserved. If --move is specified, the file(s) will be moved.
help: Displays usage.
include filename or < filename: Includes the commands in the specified file as though they had been typed in.
lcd path: Changes the local directory to that specified by the path.
ldetail localpath: Displays system information about the specified local file or folder.
lls -l [-a] [-d] path: Displays the local directory listing of either the path or of the current directory if the path is not specified. Adding the -a argument will show all files and folders (including those hidden), and the -d argument will show only directories.
lmkdir path: Creates local directory specified by the path.
ln existingpath linkpath: Creates symbolic link on remote file.
lpwd: Prints local working directory.
lrm path: Deletes local file.
lrmdir path: Removes local directory.
ls -l [-a] [-d] path: Displays the remote directory listing of either the path or of the current directory if the path is not specified. If the -l flag is set, vsftp displays permission and ownership information. Adding the -a argument will show all files and folders (including those hidden), and the -d argument will show only directories. This command, if used with a / (i.e., ls / ), lists the roots when connecting to a server that allows multiple roots, such as VanDyke Software's VShell(R).
mkdir path: Creates remote directory specified by the path.
mv oldpath newpath: Moves remote file.
open host[:port]: Connects to the specified host on the specified port.
put [-r] [-a|-b] [--nopreserve] [--move] remotepath: Uploads the local path to the currently open directory on the remote machine. The -r argument specifies a recursive put. The -a argument specifies that the files are transferred as ASCII; -b specifies binary. If neither -a nor -b is specified, the current transfer mode will be used (see "type" command). If the option --nopreserve is specified, the timestamp and permissions will not be preserved. If --move is specified, the file(s) will be moved.
pwd: Prints the remote working directory.
quit: Quits the vsftp application.
rename oldpath newpath: Renames remote file.
rm [-r] path: Deletes the remote file specified by the path. Adding the -r argument will initiate a recursive remove operation.
rmdir path: Deletes the remote directory specified by the path.
su username: Substitutes the current user with the one specified.
   Note: This command can only be called if the
   remote machine is running VShell for Windows
   3.5 or later.
type [transfer mode]: Displays or sets the file transfer mode. Issuing this command with no parameter will display the current mode; issuing it with a mode parameter (either ascii or binary) will set the mode to that parameter.
version: Displays the remote vendor information (when available) and the SFTP protocol version.

EXAMPLES

The following are examples of vpka command-line use.

Publickey Authentication, Logging, Batch File for commands:    vsftp --log C:TempVSFTPlog.txt -b C:Temp.txt --auth
   publickey -i "C:ysIdentity" --passphrase p@ssph3se
   bleaker@redhat.com

In the above example, vsftp will authenticate "bleaker" on "redhat.com" using the private key "C:ysIdentity" with passphrase "p@ssph3se" using public-key authentication. After authentication, the commands in the batch file "vsftp_cmds.txt" will be executed. All information will be logged to a file "VSFTPlog.txt" in the "Temp" folder.
Contents of "vsftp_cmds.txt":

   put C:Temple1.txt
   put C:Temple2.txt
   lcd C:Temp
   get history.txt
Publickey Authentication via indicated SOCKS Proxy Server and Port: vsftp --auth publickey -i "C:ysIdentity" --passphrase
p@ssph3se --socks5 SOCKSserver:1080 bleaker@redhat.com

In this example, vsftp will authenticate "bleaker" on "redhat.com" using the private key "C:ysIdentity" with passphrase "p@ssph3se" using public-Skey authentication through the "SOCKSserver" port 1080.
Password Authentication, connecting to non-standard Port: vsftp -p 1022 --log C:TempVSFTPlog.txt --pw passw0rd
johnson@redhat.com

In the above example, vsftp will use password authentication to authenticate the "johnson" account on "redhat.com" using the password "passw0rd". All information will be logged to the file "VSFTPlog.txt" in the "Temp" directory. Communication will occur over port 1022.

FILES

The following are the locations of data files.

Host key files: The directory of these files is the same directory as the public key directory, which can be specified in the vshelld_config file. By default, the location is $HOME/.vshell/known_hosts.
Public key files: The directory of these files is specified in the vshelld_config file. By default, the location is $HOME/.vshell/publickey. Note: To find an acceptable public key match, vshelld (VShell(R) server for UNIX) will only look at files in the public key directory that end in .pub or that are named "authorized_keys". vshelld will not check those files with names that begin with a period (.). For example, file.pub would be checked to see if it contains a valid key, where as, .x.pub would not.

COPYRIGHT

VanDyke Software and VShell are registered trademarks of VanDyke Software, Inc. All other products and services mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

vsftp

NAME

SYNOPSIS