script to FTP a file to another server - making backup of the current one first

A scripted transfer of the file with ftp (and a .netrc file) or, even easier, with ncftpput isn't much of a problem. The wrinkle is the need to rename the existing file. For that I'd think that an expect script would be the best choice, as I'd imagine that checking to see that the rename succeeded before uploading the file is important. I'm not where I can write/test a sample expect script right now, but I'll post one to this question later today or tomorrow.

Hi
   An example here

 echo "Enter filename"
 read file
 rsh RemoteServer mv $file $file.bkp.`date +%d%m`
 ftp -n RemoteServer  <<endftp
 user username password
 prompt
 put $file
endftp

  Note that  RemoteServer must be included in /etc/hosts.
 

You can use expect
see working example:

#!/usr/bin/expect
set timeout 1
cd /var/named
exec cp /etc/named.conf /var/named/
system tar cf - * | gzip -9 > /home/backup/ns1.db.files-`date +%d.%m.%y`.tgz

# begin met de ftp sessie

spawn ftp backup
expect "Name"
send "backup\r"
expect "Password:"
send "ZH0p1k\r"
expect "logged"
send "bi\r"
expect "I"
send "prompt off\r"
expect "off"
send "lcd /home/backup\r"
expect "now"
send "cd ns1\r"
expect "successful"
send "mput *tgz*\r"
expect eof
expect "ftp"
send "bye\r"
system rm -f /home/backup/*
exit

There has been an added twist to moving/renaming a file to another server, which I'm going to post a question about.  Bira, since the script you provided the info I needed to complete the process.  The FTP part worked, but RSH gave a permission denied error, I'm assuming there is something that needs to be done in UNIX to enable this.

Thanks to all - and hopefully someone will have some insight on the real problem, which will be having to SSH to a web server (FTP is not enabled) to mv the file and send the file over from a remote box.

Lisa

Could you please explain the grading?

If SSH is enabled, you simply can do:
   ssh user@web-server mv oldfile newfile

Can I suggest you use autoexpect. This basically allows you to continue working as normal inside an expect shell and then writes what you type and the response you get back to an expect script, which you then execute as normal.

Command: autoexpect -f <script_name>
expect1.1> ftp hostname
...ftp conversation...
quit
expect1.1>ssh hostname
...ssh conversation...
exit
expect1.1> exit

I find this easier than playing around with the script from the start. If you do use this message, don't forget to set your conservative parameter to 1 (as opposed to 0) to allow for a 1/10 second delay. More info available by doing man autoexpect.