Problem sending multi-line command file via SSH

RouterOS General
1

I’d like to be able to make changes to my configuration in an automated way via an SSH connection. I have a file with the following content:

/ip firewall mangle
add chain=whatever blah blah
add chain=whatever blah blah

If I type something like this at the command line it works fine. If I connect via SSH and do the same thing it works fine. But if I try and automate this process by piping it to an SSH session:

$ cat foobar.txt | ssh -i admin 192.168.88.1

Then I get the error message

bad command name add (line 1 column 1)

If I change my file to be

/ip firewall mangle add chain=whatever blah blah
/ip firewall mangle add chain=whatever blah blah

then it works, but this means modifying my script to have a lot of repeated information in it. Am I doing something obviously wrong here?

2

I use semi-colons between commands, at least for short things. I don’t run but a few lines on my stuff. Try using { } around your file and see if that helps.

3

Thanks for the suggestion, but braces don’t seem to help. I get a ‘missing closing brace’ error in addition to the ‘bad command name’ errors if I put braces round it.

4

Currently this is how ssh input is processed. Each line is treated as completely separate scripts that is why you get error when trying to send

/ip firewall mangle
add chain=whatever blah blah

Probably in the future it will be changed.

5

Thanks for clarifying. Is there a good way of applying a batch of commands like this, other than FlashFig? I’ll probably use FlashFig for bulk configuration of routers in a live setup, but for the moment I just want a quick way of applying a batch of commands from the command-line while I’m developing.

The best way I’ve found is to copy the file across with SCP and execute it on the router, which seems to work fine.

6

Yes, best way is to upload file and execute it on a router.

7

That still being a problem?? Thanks!

8

No. It works OK now.

9

Have some chance to support multiline script via ssh?
ssh admin@my.mikrotik.org < ros_multiline.script

scp && ssh run - unwanted and thread unsave

10

Hi!
Maybe someone still needs it…
I faced exactly the same problem.
On my Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS the solution is:

$ ssh 192.168.88.1 $(cat script.rsc)

Good luck!