In this post, I'll demonstrate the process of executing a bash script on a remote server using a Jenkins Pipeline Step with the sshPublisher plugin.

Server authentication setup


Generate a new key pair by logging in with the Jenkins service user and creating a key pair without a passphrase (leave it blank or set it for private key security):

# using the service user
sudo su -s /bin/bash jenkins
# generate key pair
ssh-keygen -f ~/.ssh/id_pipessh -t rsa

The private key ('id_pipessh') and the public key ('id_pipessh.pub') will be created in ~/.ssh

Copy the public key to the remote server:

ssh-copy-id -i ~/.ssh/id_pipessh.pub user@host

# if the ssh-copy-id command is not available, do it manually
cat ~/.ssh/id_pipessh.pub | ssh user@host "mkdir -p ~/.ssh && touch ~/.ssh/authorized_keys $$ chmod -R go= ~/.ssh && cat >> /.ssh/authorized_keys"

Note: If the password prompt is disabled on the remote server, ask the administrator to add your public key to the file '/.ssh/authorized_keys' (create it if it doesn't exist) and ensure proper permissions:

chmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
chmod 700 ~/.ssh/
2. Enable key authentication on the remote server by editing the /etc/ssh/sshd_config file and ensuring that 'PubkeyAuthentication yes' is set. Save it and restart the sshd service. In my case, I'm using an RHEL server:

sudo systemctl restart sshd

Test the connection:
# using verbose mode -v
ssh -i ~/.ssh/id_pipessh user@host -v

Jenkins setup


Install the plugin by navigating to Manage Jenkins > Manage Plugins > Available, check 'Publish Over SSH', and select 'install without restart'.



Configure the ssh key in Jenkins by going to Manage Jenkins > Configure System > Publish over SSH. Select the Add button > Advanced to set configuration. Complete the fields Name, Hostname, Username, Remote Directory, check the option 'Use password authentication, or use a different key', set the Passphrase (if applicable), and Path to key to the private key.


Finally, click 'Test Configuration' to validate if everything is set up correctly.

Create a new Pipeline and add the script content for creating two text files in a zip to be transferred to the remote server for unzipping.

    pipeline {
  agent any
  stages {
    stage('ssh') {
      steps {
        script{
          cleanWs()
          sh "echo 'hello' >> file1.txt"
          sh "echo 'hello' >> file2.txt"
          sh "zip -r oneFile.zip file1.txt file2.txt"
          echo 'Local files.....'
          sh 'ls -l'
          command='''
          unzip -o -d ./ oneFile.zip
          ls -l
          date
          cat /etc/os-release
          '''
        }

        // Copy file to remote server
        sshPublisher(publishers: [sshPublisherDesc(configName: 'dummy-server',
        transfers: [ sshTransfer(flatten: false,
        remoteDirectory: './',
        sourceFiles: 'oneFile.zip'
        )])
        ])
      }
    }
}
}

Save and execute the pipeline.

Jenkins output log:
[Pipeline] {
[Pipeline] stage
[Pipeline] { (ssh)
[Pipeline] script
[Pipeline] {
[Pipeline] cleanWs
[WS-CLEANUP] Deleting project workspace...
[WS-CLEANUP] Deferred wipeout is used...
[WS-CLEANUP] done
[Pipeline] sh
+ echo hello
[Pipeline] sh
+ echo hello
[Pipeline] sh
+ zip -r oneFile.zip file1.txt file2.txt
  adding: file1.txt (stored 0%)
  adding: file2.txt (stored 0%)
[Pipeline] echo
Local files.....
[Pipeline] sh
+ ls -l
total 12
-rw-r--r--. 1 jenkins jenkins   6 jun 22 19:36 file1.txt
-rw-r--r--. 1 jenkins jenkins   6 jun 22 19:36 file2.txt
-rw-r--r--. 1 jenkins jenkins 326 jun 22 19:36 oneFile.zip
[Pipeline] sshPublisher
SSH: Connecting from host [dummy]
SSH: Connecting with configuration [dummy-server] ...
SSH: Disconnecting configuration [dummy-server] ...
SSH: Transferred 1 file(s)
[Pipeline] sshPublisher
SSH: Connecting from host [dummy]
SSH: Connecting with configuration [dummy-server] ...
SSH: EXEC: STDOUT/STDERR from command [
                        unzip -o -d ./ oneFile.zip
                        ls -l
                        date
                        cat /etc/os-release
                    ] ...
Archive:  oneFile.zip
 extracting: ./file1.txt
 extracting: ./file2.txt
total 16
-rw-r--r--. 1 asanchez asanchez    6 jun 22 19:36 file1.txt
-rw-r--r--. 1 asanchez asanchez    6 jun 22 19:36 file2.txt
-rw-rw-r--. 1 asanchez asanchez  326 jun 22 19:36 oneFile.zip
drwxrwxr-x. 2 asanchez asanchez 4096 jun 20 23:31 out
mié jun 22 19:36:22 CDT 2022
NAME="Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server"
VERSION="7.4 (Maipo)"
ID="rhel"
ID_LIKE="fedora"
VARIANT="Server"
VARIANT_ID="server"
VERSION_ID="7.4"
PRETTY_NAME="Red Hat Enterprise Linux"
ANSI_COLOR="0;31"
CPE_NAME="cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:7.4:GA:server"
HOME_URL="https://www.redhat.com/"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugzilla.redhat.com/"

REDHAT_BUGZILLA_PRODUCT="Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7"
REDHAT_BUGZILLA_PRODUCT_VERSION=7.4
REDHAT_SUPPORT_PRODUCT="Red Hat Enterprise Linux"
REDHAT_SUPPORT_PRODUCT_VERSION="7.4"
SSH: EXEC: completed after 200 ms
SSH: Disconnecting configuration [dummy-server] ...
SSH: Transferred 0 file(s)
[Pipeline] }
[Pipeline] // script
[Pipeline] }
[Pipeline] // stage
[Pipeline] }
[Pipeline] // node
[Pipeline] End of Pipeline
Finished: SUCCESS

And that is all!