Question

I am trying to do some basic scripting using ruby to log in to a windows machine via telnet and pull some files over using the dos command line ftp. When I do this manually everything goes swimmingly but when I try it via ruby I’m getting an error in the login call.

Here is my test program in its entirety:

require 'net/telnet'
tn = Net::Telnet::new("Host"=>"xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx", "Timeout"=>25, "Output_log"=>"output_log.log", "Dump_log"=> "dump_log.log", "Prompt"=>"C:.*>")
tn.login("administrator", "xxxxxxx") {}
tn.cmd('dir')
exit

The contents of output_log don’t betray anything as being wrong:

Trying 208.10.202.187...
Connected to 208.10.202.187.
Welcome to Microsoft Telnet Service 
login: administrator
password: 
*===============================================================
Welcome to Microsoft Telnet Server.
*===============================================================
C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>

Same for the dump_log which has very similar but awkwardly formatted contents. When I run the program it sits around for a while and then outputs the following error:

PS C:\code\tools\deployment> ruby test.rb
C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/1.8/net/telnet.rb:551:in `waitfor': timed out while waiting for more data (Timeout::Error)
        from C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/1.8/net/telnet.rb:685:in `cmd'
        from C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/1.8/net/telnet.rb:730:in `login'
        from test.rb:3

Which leads me to suspect that the telnet class is not recognizing the command prompt. I’ve tried several different regex strings for the Prompt parameter, including the default and nothing seems to help.

Answer 1

I think the prompt field needs to be a regexp, not a string
Try

tn = Net::Telnet::new("Host"=>"xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx", "Timeout"=>25,
"Output_log"=>"output_log.log", "Dump_log"=> "dump_log.log",
"Prompt"=> /C:.*>/)