Ubuntu Manpage: dbclient - lightweight SSH client

Provided by: dropbear_2013.60-1ubuntu2.1_amd64

NAME

       dbclient - lightweight SSH client

SYNOPSIS

       dbclient [-Tt] [-p port] [-i id] [-L l:h:r] [-R l:h:r] [-l user] host [command]

       dbclient [ args ] [user1]@host1[%port1],[user2]@host2[%port2],...

DESCRIPTION

       dbclient is a SSH client designed to be small enough to be used in small memory environments, while still
       being functional and secure enough for general use.

       If compiled with zlib support and if the server supports it, dbclient will always use compression.

OPTIONS

-p port
Connect to port on the remote host. Alternatively a port can be specified as hostname%port.
Default is 22.

-i idfile
Identity file. Read the identity key from file idfile (multiple allowed). This file is created
with dropbearkey(1) or converted from OpenSSH with dropbearconvert(1).

-L [listenaddress]:listenport:host:port
Local port forwarding. Forward the port listenport on the local host through the SSH connection
to port port on the host host.

-R [listenaddress]:listenport:host:port
Remote port forwarding. Forward the port listenport on the remote host through the SSH connection
to port port on the host host.

-l user
Username. Login as user on the remote host.

-t Allocate a PTY.

-T Don't allocate a PTY.

-N Don't request a remote shell or run any commands. Any command arguments are ignored.

-f Fork into the background after authentication. A command argument (or -N) is required. This is
useful when using password authentication.

-g Allow non-local hosts to connect to forwarded ports. Applies to -L and -R forwarded ports, though
remote connections to -R forwarded ports may be limited by the ssh server.

-y Always accept hostkeys if they are unknown. If a hostkey mismatch occurs the connection will abort
as normal. If specified a second time no host key checking is performed at all, this is usually
undesirable.

-A Forward agent connections to the remote host. dbclient will use any OpenSSH-style agent program if
available ($SSH_AUTH_SOCK will be set) for public key authentication. Forwarding is only enabled
if -A is specified.

-W windowsize
Specify the per-channel receive window buffer size. Increasing this may improve network
performance at the expense of memory use. Use -h to see the default buffer size.

-K timeout_seconds
Ensure that traffic is transmitted at a certain interval in seconds. This is useful for working
around firewalls or routers that drop connections after a certain period of inactivity. The trade-
off is that a session may be closed if there is a temporary lapse of network connectivity. A
setting if 0 disables keepalives.

-I idle_timeout
Disconnect the session if no traffic is transmitted or received for idle_timeout seconds.

-J proxy_command
Use the standard input/output of the program proxy_command rather than using a normal TCP
connection. A hostname should be still be provided, as this is used for comparing saved hostkeys.

-B endhost:endport
"Netcat-alike" mode, where Dropbear will connect to the given host, then create a forwarded
connection to endhost. This will then be presented as dbclient's standard input/output.

-c cipherlist
Specify a comma separated list of ciphers to enable. Use -c help to list possibilities.

-m MAClist
Specify a comma separated list of authentication MACs to enable. Use -m help to list
possibilities.

-s The specified command will be requested as a subsystem, used for sftp. Dropbear doesn't implement
sftp itself but the OpenSSH sftp client can be used eg sftp -S dbclient user@host

MULTI-HOP

       Dropbear  will also allow multiple "hops" to be specified, separated by commas. In this case a connection
       will be made to the first host, then a TCP forwarded connection will be made through that to  the  second
       host,  and  so  on. Hosts other than the final destination will not see anything other than the encrypted
       SSH stream.  A port for a host can be specified with a hash (eg matt@martello%44 ).  This syntax can also
       be used with scp or rsync (specifying dbclient as the ssh/rsh command). A file can be  "bounced"  through
       multiple SSH hops, eg

       scp -S dbclient matt@martello,root@wrt,canyons:/tmp/dump .

       Note  that  hostnames are resolved by the prior hop (so "canyons" would be resolved by the host "wrt") in
       the example above, the same way as other -L TCP forwarded hosts are. Host keys are checked locally  based
       on the given hostname.

ESCAPE CHARACTERS

       Typing a newline followed by the  key sequence ~. (tilde, dot) will terminate a connection.  The sequence
       ~^Z (tilde, ctrl-z) will background the connection. This behaviour only applies when a PTY is used.

ENVIRONMENT

       DROPBEAR_PASSWORD
              A  password  to  use  for  remote  authentication  can  be  specified  in the environment variable
              DROPBEAR_PASSWORD. Care should be taken that the password is not  exposed  to  other  users  on  a
              multi-user system, or stored in accessible files.

       SSH_ASKPASS
              dbclient can use an external program to request a password from a user.  SSH_ASKPASS should be set
              to the path of a program that will return a password on standard output. This program will only be
              used  if  either  DISPLAY  is  set  and  standard  input is not a TTY, or the environment variable
              SSH_ASKPASS_ALWAYS is set.

AUTHOR

       Matt Johnston (matt@ucc.asn.au).
       Mihnea Stoenescu wrote initial Dropbear client support
       Gerrit Pape (pape@smarden.org) wrote this manual page.