# Sftp.put\_file problems on Linux

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/sftp-put-file-problems-on-linux/131497>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [March 10, 2008, 6:26pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/sftp-put-file-problems-on-linux/131497 "2008-03-10T18:26:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![milo](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/85e7bf/32.png) [@milo](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/milo)\
**Post date:** [March 10, 2008, 6:26pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/sftp-put-file-problems-on-linux/131497/1 "2008-03-10T18:26:25Z")

</div>

I have written a simple script to locate particular files on a server  
and copy them elsewhere with sftp. There is one particular part of the  
script that gives me some trouble:

```
begin
  sftp.put_file("#{ramdisk}/#{file}","#{dst_dir}")
rescue
  puts "Message: #{sftp.status[:code]} (#{sftp.status[:message]})"
end
```

The code dies at this point, with this error.

```
Message: 0 (Success)
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/net-sftp-1.1.1/lib/net/sftp/operations/abstract.rb:78:in
`do_status': Net::SFTP::Operations::StatusException (4, "Failure")
(Net::SFTP::Operations::StatusException (4, "Failure"))
        from
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/net-sftp-1.1.1/lib/net/sftp/session.rb:221:in
`do_status'
        from /usr/lib/ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom_require.rb:27:in
`to_proc'
        from
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/net-sftp-1.1.1/lib/net/sftp/protocol/01/impl.rb:92:in
`call'
        from
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/net-sftp-1.1.1/lib/net/sftp/protocol/01/impl.rb:92:in
`call_on_status'
        from
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/net-sftp-1.1.1/lib/net/sftp/protocol/03/impl.rb:37:in
`do_status'
        from
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/net-sftp-1.1.1/lib/net/sftp/protocol/01/impl.rb:189:in
`dispatch'
        from
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/net-sftp-1.1.1/lib/net/sftp/protocol/driver.rb:189:in
`do_data'
        from /usr/lib/ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom_require.rb:27:in
`to_proc'
         ... 20 levels...
        from
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/net-ssh-1.1.2/lib/net/ssh/session.rb:138:in
`initialize'
        from /var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/net-ssh-1.1.2/lib/net/ssh.rb:47:in
`new'
        from /var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/net-ssh-1.1.2/lib/net/ssh.rb:47:in
`start'
        from ./sftp_script.rb:26
```

Everything else is fine - the connection is set up properly and I can  
use sftp.mkdir. Also, if I replace put\_file with this, it works:

```
scp_command = "scp #{ramdisk}/#{file}
#{user}@#{host}:/home/#{user}/#{dst_dir}"
unless system("#{scp_command}")
  raise "Could not scp #{file}."
end
```

This is less than ideal due to filling up the logs of the receiving  
machine, though.  
Does anyone know what might be causing the problem with put\_file?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![milo](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/85e7bf/32.png) [@milo](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/milo)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2008, 2:14am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/sftp-put-file-problems-on-linux/131497/2 "2008-03-11T02:14:55Z")

</div>

Seems to me like your TCP connection is being killed by the server.  
I’m guessing.

Try adding a keep-alive to your /etc/ssh/ssh\_config

ServerAliveInterval 15

unlike sftp, scp will open a new connection for each file.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![milo](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/85e7bf/32.png) [@milo](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/milo)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2008, 10:36am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/sftp-put-file-problems-on-linux/131497/3 "2008-03-11T10:36:59Z")

</div>

Michael S. wrote:

> Seems to me like your TCP connection is being killed by the server.  
> I’m guessing.

Thanks for your reply.  
I’m not sure that that’s it, as my script includes other commands (e.g.  
sftp.mkdir) that work fine even though all the put\_file commands fail.  
So, the connection must be remaining open. I can also use sftp on the  
command line.  
Could there be some sort of status message being returned from the ssh  
connection that the Ruby code doesn’t like?