FTP from bash script running from cron not working

Question

I have a script that is run by cron to create backup of a MySQL database and some files. After creating a tar ball and encrypting it with openSSH I have to put it on a remote ftp server. Following is the code for ftp part:

    HOST='abcd.dyndns.biz'
    USER='username'
    PASSWD='password'
    FILE='myBack-'${LOCAL_HOST}'-'${DATENAME}'.enc.tar.gz'
    DIRNAME='/usr/local/backups/'

    cd ${DIRNAME}

    ftp -n ${HOST} <<END_SCRIPT
    quote USER ${USER}
    quote PASS ${PASSWD}
    cd backup
    lcd ${DIRNAME}
    put ${FILE}
    quit

END_SCRIPT

If i directly run the script from command line > sudo ./mybackup.sh it runs smoothly and put the backup file on ftp, but when it is running from cron it has never put the file on ftp though other pre-ftp and post-ftp (like consolidating log file and emailing outcome) steps work fine. I am not able to get anything from any log files also or to pinpoint the cause.

NOTE:- Our dyndns.biz ip does not change as we have paid plan.

Answer 1

Use Curl's upload functionality instead:

curl --upload-file "$FILE" --user "$USER:$PASSWD" "ftp://$HOST/backup/"

Answer 2

Umm.. I see several points why it could fail.

1. you don't know that ftp has opened a connection when you are sending input, but maybe it takes care of that for you (im not familiar with your ftp prog.. it could be anything afaik).

2. you are not separating your ftp:// commands with semicolons or newlines - try adding \n or ;. again idk what ur app wants

   • If it turns out your app can't take input from sdtin in a batch, get expect (tool for automating interactive applications). Chances are there is a binary for it in your package manager.

3. you are not checking that the file actually exists before trying to put it.