Ssh – How to copy with SCP between two servers using key auth

scpssh

I can log in via SSH using key authentication to SERVER1 and SERVER2. However, I can't copy files between the two servers. Why? How can I copy between them? (the data that I have to copy is bigger than my notebooks HDD)

My notebook runs Ubuntu 10.04 LTS and the two servers are AIX 5300-10-02-0943. My ~/.ssh/known_hosts file on my notebook contains the public keys for these two servers. I use tsocks because I have to use an SSH tunnel to reach these two servers. The two servers can ping each other. 

[USER@NOTEBOOK ~] tsocks scp -v -i /home/USER/.ssh/id_rsa -p -r root@SERVER1:/PATH/TO/DIR root@SERVER2:/PATH/TO/DIR
Executing: /usr/bin/ssh '-v' '-x' '-oClearAllForwardings yes' '-n' '-l' 'root' 'SERVER1' 'scp -v -r -p' '/PATH/TO/DIR' 'root@SERVER2:/PATH/TO/DIR'
OpenSSH_5.3p1 Debian-3ubuntu7, OpenSSL 0.9.8k 25 Mar 2009
debug1: Reading configuration data /etc/ssh/ssh_config
debug1: Applying options for *
debug1: Connecting to SERVER1 [SERVER1] port 22.
debug1: Connection established.
debug1: identity file /home/USER/.ssh/identity type -1
debug1: identity file /home/USER/.ssh/id_rsa type 1
debug1: Checking blacklist file /usr/share/ssh/blacklist.RSA-1024
debug1: Checking blacklist file /etc/ssh/blacklist.RSA-1024
debug1: identity file /home/USER/.ssh/id_dsa type -1
debug1: Remote protocol version 2.0, remote software version OpenSSH_5.2p1+sas
debug1: match: OpenSSH_5.2p1+sas pat OpenSSH*
debug1: Enabling compatibility mode for protocol 2.0
debug1: Local version string SSH-2.0-OpenSSH_5.3p1 Debian-3ubuntu7
debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEXINIT sent
debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEXINIT received
debug1: kex: server->client aes128-ctr hmac-md5 none
debug1: kex: client->server aes128-ctr hmac-md5 none
debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEX_DH_GEX_REQUEST(1024<1024<8192) sent
debug1: expecting SSH2_MSG_KEX_DH_GEX_GROUP
debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEX_DH_GEX_INIT sent
debug1: expecting SSH2_MSG_KEX_DH_GEX_REPLY
debug1: Host 'SERVER1' is known and matches the RSA host key.
debug1: Found key in /home/USER/.ssh/known_hosts:59
debug1: ssh_rsa_verify: signature correct
debug1: SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS sent
debug1: expecting SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS
debug1: SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS received
debug1: SSH2_MSG_SERVICE_REQUEST sent
debug1: SSH2_MSG_SERVICE_ACCEPT received
debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey,password
debug1: Next authentication method: publickey
debug1: Offering public key: /home/USER/.ssh/id_rsa
debug1: Server accepts key: pkalg ssh-rsa blen 151
debug1: Authentication succeeded (publickey).
debug1: channel 0: new [client-session]
debug1: Requesting no-more-sessions@openssh.com
debug1: Entering interactive session.
debug1: Sending environment.
debug1: Sending env LANG = en_US.utf8
debug1: Sending command: scp -v -r -p /PATH/TO/DIR root@SERVER2:/PATH/TO/DIR
Executing: program /applications/ssh/5.20.15.0/bin/ssh host SERVER2, user root, command scp -v -r -p -t /PATH/TO/DIR
OpenSSH_5.2p1+sas, OpenSSL 0.9.8k 25 Mar 2009
debug1: Reading configuration data /etc/ssh/ssh_config
debug1: Connecting to SERVER2 [SERVER2] port 22.
debug1: Connection established.
debug1: permanently_set_uid: 0/0
debug1: identity file /root/.ssh/identity type -1
debug1: identity file /root/.ssh/id_rsa type -1
debug1: identity file /root/.ssh/id_dsa type -1
debug1: Remote protocol version 2.0, remote software version OpenSSH_5.2p1+sas
debug1: match: OpenSSH_5.2p1+sas pat OpenSSH*
debug1: Enabling compatibility mode for protocol 2.0
debug1: Local version string SSH-2.0-OpenSSH_5.2
debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEXINIT sent
debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEXINIT received
debug1: kex: server->client aes128-ctr hmac-md5 none
debug1: kex: client->server aes128-ctr hmac-md5 none
debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEX_DH_GEX_REQUEST(1024<1024<8192) sent
debug1: expecting SSH2_MSG_KEX_DH_GEX_GROUP
debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEX_DH_GEX_INIT sent
debug1: expecting SSH2_MSG_KEX_DH_GEX_REPLY
debug1: read_passphrase: can't open /dev/tty: No such device or address
Host key verification failed.
lost connection
debug1: client_input_channel_req: channel 0 rtype exit-status reply 0
debug1: channel 0: free: client-session, nchannels 1
Transferred: sent 1984, received 3848 bytes, in 0.3 seconds
Bytes per second: sent 6903.4, received 13389.2
debug1: Exit status 1


[USER@NOTEBOOK ~] tsocks scp -i /home/USER/.ssh/id_rsa -p -r root@SERVER1:/PATH/TO/DIR root@SERVER2:/PATH/TO/DIR
Host key verification failed.
lost connection
[USER@NOTEBOOK ~]

Best Answer

This is very easy to fix. See, the source server does not know the destination server and it can't ask you to confirm the identity, since you don't have a terminal open there:

debug1: read_passphrase: can't open /dev/tty: No such device or address
Host key verification failed.
lost connection

So just log in to the source account/server and try to ssh (or scp) to the dest account, accept the host key and cancel login/scp. You should be able to copy.

local $ ssh source@src-server
src-server $ ssh dest@dst-server
The authenticity of host 'destination (10.0.0.x)' can't be established.
RSA key fingerprint is 71:ec:c0:86:7f:b6:51:eb:76:c8:1f:2f:ba:0a:f4:20.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? yes
dest@dst-server's password: ^C
src-server $ exit

local $ scp -r source@src-server:/path/to/files dest@dst-server:/path/to/files

If not, try:

local $ scp -r -o "ForwardAgent=yes" source@src-server:/path/to/files dest@dst-server:/path/to/files

If you have a SSH key with access to the destination server and the source server does not, adding -o "ForwardAgent=yes" will allow you to forward your SSH agent to the source server so that it can use your SSH key to connect to the destination server.

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