Question

Rebooting a Linux-based server from the command line

Asked by: averyb

I need to reboot a Linux server by executing a bat file from a Windows server.

This gets me logged into the server from the command line
putty root@<IP Address> -pw <Password>


When I add this to reboot the server it doesn't work.  It didn't recognize any of -d -f or -i switches, so I got rid of them.
-m /etc/init.d/reboot -d -f -i


This left me with
putty root@<IP Address> -pw <Password> -m /etc/init.d/reboot

but Putty gave me an error saying "unable to open command file "/etc/init.d/reboot"

I should also add that this server is not a regular Linux server.  It is a Comm Server that runs on Linux.

I connected to the server with putty using the credentials from the script. I traversed to /etc/init.d and entered "reboot"
The server rebooted.

As I am sure the solution is clear to verterans, it is equally clear that I am not a Linux admin.  I know just enough to be dangerous.

If the solution is to create a script then I'll need help doing that.  I don't understand vi at all.






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Asked On
2006-02-23 at 10:22:31ID21748998
Tags

putty

,

command

,

linux

,

reboot

,

server

Topic

Linux Administration

Participating Experts
4
Points
500
Comments
10

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Answers

 

by: kfullartonPosted on 2006-02-23 at 10:32:33ID: 16031650

Is "reboot" an actual file int the /etc/init.d directory?  On  my redhat system for example, I can run reboot from anywhere as /sbin is in my path.  Login to the system and do a "which reboot".  Place the result from that after -m in your command.

 

by: ravenplPosted on 2006-02-23 at 10:46:40ID: 16031798

try simply executing
/sbin/reboot

 

by: averybPosted on 2006-02-23 at 11:03:05ID: 16031954

"which reboot" returned /sbin/reboot

putty root@<IP Address> -pw <Password> -m /sbin/reboot

I still get "unable to open command file"

I looked in the putty documentation and found a reference how the -m might not work on some embedded devices like routers.  This isn't a router, but it something kind of similar.

I'm hoping that is not the case.

Any other suggestions?

 

by: kfullartonPosted on 2006-02-23 at 11:25:43ID: 16032193

I can't get this to work with the version of putty I'm using.  You could try autoexpect.  It will create a script from your session.

http://expect.nist.gov

 

by: ravenplPosted on 2006-02-23 at 11:32:36ID: 16032264

All clear: use plink: http://the.earth.li/~sgtatham/putty/0.58/htmldoc/Chapter7.html#plink
plink root@<IP Address> -pw <Password> /sbin/reboot

 

by: averybPosted on 2006-02-23 at 12:13:49ID: 16032700

plink sounds like the ticket.   I can't test it until tomorrow--change window closed at 15:00.  I'll post the results tomorrow.

Thanks

 

by: dbardbarPosted on 2006-02-23 at 13:01:30ID: 16033216

And, BTW, what you should have done if you wanted to use the -m switch was to create a file ON YOUR WINDOWS MACHINE, named for instance a.txt, and INSIDE THE FILE write the commands you want executed on the linux machine.

 

by: averybPosted on 2006-02-23 at 19:57:12ID: 16035864

Well I'll be darned.  Thanks for the information.  I'll try both of them out.

 

by: ppfoongPosted on 2006-02-23 at 20:09:18ID: 16035914


To securely reboot the Linux machine, you should use the "shutdown" command instead. The command for reboot is:

# shutdown -r now

In fact, if you use the "reboot" command in user mode (runlevel 1-5), "reboot" will make a system call to "shutdown" too.

 

by: averybPosted on 2006-02-24 at 18:06:29ID: 16043986

Plink did the trick.  Thanks

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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