using cron jobs and scp to automate backups

ammonkc

I've written a simple shell script that does a backup of my mysql databases everyday with cron jobs. My script works pretty well, but its only backing it up to directory on the same machine. I'm trying to figure out how to have the script send the file to a remote server using scp. for the life of me I can't figure out how to do this in a script since scp prompts for a password to the remote host. I know this can be done I just can't figure it out. I'm guessing it has something to do with the rsa keys.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advanced

MrBlueSky

You can do it using expect. Expect is a unix tool which let you automate tasks that normally require actions of a user, like in your case typing in a password when prompted to do so.

Here is an example which automates an ftp session:

ammonkc

Thanks, I'm gonna check out expect. It sounds interesting. But I did find a solution using a different method. I just used ssh-keygen to generate a public and private ssh key. I put the public key on the remote machine in /root/.ssh/ and now it can connect through ssh to run the script. I'm not sure how secure this method is. I'm guessing that its still pretty secure since it still is sent through an encrypted ssh tunnel. All the ssh-keys do is pair the remote machine with a trusted machine to allow it to connect without a password.