Copying Files with SCP
SCP (Secure Copy Protocol) is a command-line tool for securely transferring files between computers over SSH.
The basic SCP command syntax looks like this:
Basic Commands
scp [options] file_name user@destination_host:destination_directory
This command copies the specified file (file_name) to a specific directory (destination_directory) on the destination host (destination_host) using the specified user account (user).
Example:
scp -v file.pdf root@10.10.10.2:.
Recursive Copy of Directories
scp -r /root/documents root@10.10.10.2:.
Using SCP to Download Files
SCP (Secure Copy Protocol) is also used to securely copy files between a local and a remote machine over SSH.
Downloading a File from a Remote Server
Use the command:
scp username@remote_host:/path/to/remote/file /path/to/local/folder
Example:
scp user@example.com:/home/user/file.txt ~/Downloads/
Where:
user— the username on the remote server.example.com— the address of the remote server./home/user/file.txt— the file path on the server.~/Downloads/— the local folder path where the file will be saved.
Downloading a Folder from a Remote Server
To download a directory, use the -r option:
scp -r username@remote_host:/path/to/remote/folder /path/to/local/folder
Example:
scp -r user@example.com:/home/user/documents ~/Downloads/
Additional Options
-P <port>— specify a non-standard SSH port.-i <key_file>— specify a private SSH key for authentication.-C— enable data compression during transfer.
Example with a custom port and key:
scp -P 2222 -i ~/.ssh/id_rsa user@example.com:/home/user/file.txt ~/Downloads/
SCP is convenient for quick, encrypted file transfers, but for large amounts of data, it’s better to use rsync.
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