PHP SSH2 Bindings

PHP can use the bindings to the libssh2 library which provide access to resources (shell, remote exec, tunneling, file transfer) on a remote machine using a secure cryptographic transport. I documented some code snippets for future reference.

You can use ssh keys but for simplicity here making the call with a password:

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$conn_id = ssh2_connect('server', 22);
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ssh2_auth_password($conn_id, 'user', 'pwd');
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echo("SOLARIS SERVER SNAPSHOTS - CREATION);
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$stream=ssh2_exec($conn_id,"/usr/sbin/zfs list -t snapshot -o name,creation | grep $share | grep -v tank");
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$outS="";
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stream_set_blocking($stream, true);
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while($o=fgets($stream)){
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$outS = $outS . $o;
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}
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fclose($stream);
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print_snaps_sorted($outS);

Slightly more complicated to make up the built-in javascript “command” you are passing when using a ZFS appliance.

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$chk_snaps_cmd="
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run('select DBF');
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run('snapshots');
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snapshots = list();
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for (i = 0; i < snapshots.length; i++) {
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run('select ' + snapshots[i]);
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creation = run('get creation');
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printf('%s %s', snapshots[i],creation);
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run('cd ..');
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}";
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$share = $_GET['share'];
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$conn_id = ssh2_connect('server', 22);
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ssh2_auth_password($conn_id, 'user', 'pwd');
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echo('ZFS STORAGE APPLIANCE SNAPSHOTS - CREATION');
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$stream=ssh2_exec($conn_id,"script run('shares select $share');" . $chk_snaps_cmd);
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stream_set_blocking($stream, true);
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while($o=fgets($stream)){
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  $outS = $outS . $o;
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}
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fclose($stream);
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print_snaps_sorted($outS);

Note: I had an issues using ssh calls not returning results when using a non-privileged user whereas a root user worked. Thanks Matt M for pointing out the obvious. I needed to use the full path to the binary in this case /usr/sbin/zfs so most likely some path issue in the user shell.