pipe stderr to syslog inside automated ftp script - linux

Question

I'm using simple script to automate ftp. The script looks like this:
ftp -nv $FTP_HOST<<END_FTP
user $FTP_USER $FTP_PASS
binary
mkdir $REMOTE_DIR
cd $REMOTE_DIR
lcd $LOCAL
put $FILE
bye
END_FTP
But I would like to pipe STDERR to the syslog and STDOUT to a logfile. Normally I would do something like that: ftp -nv $FTP_HOST 1>>ftp.log | logger<<END_FTP but in this case that won't work because of <<END_FTP. How should I do it properly to make the script work? Note that I want to redirect only output from the FTP command inside my script and not the whole script.

Answer 1

This works without using a temp file for the error output. The 2>&1 sends the error output to where standard output is going — which is the pipe. The >> changes where standard output is going — which is now the file — without changing where standard error is going. So, the errors go to logger and the output to ftp.log.
ftp -nv $FTPHOST <<END_FTP 2>&1 >> ftp.log | logger
user $FTP_USER $FTP_PASS
binary
mkdir $REMOTE_DIR
cd $REMOTE_DIR
lcd $LOCAL
put $FILE
bye
END_FTP

Answer 2

How about:
exec > mylogfile; exec 2> >(logger -t myftpscript)
in front of you ftp script

Answer 3

Another way of doing this I/O redirection is with the { ... } operations, thus:
{
ftp -nv $FTPHOST <<END_FTP >> ftp.log
user $FTP_USER $FTP_PASS
binary
mkdir $REMOTE_DIR
cd $REMOTE_DIR
lcd $LOCAL
put $FILE
bye
END_FTP
# Optionally other commands here...stderr will go to logger too
} 2>&1 | logger
This is often the best mechanism when more than one command, but not all commands, need the same I/O redirection.
In context, though, I think this solution is the best (but that's someone else's answer, not mine):
ftp -nv $FTPHOST <<END_FTP 2>&1 >> ftp.log | logger
...
END_FTP

Answer 4

Why not create a netrc file and let that do your login and put the file for you.
The netrc file will let you login and allow you to define an init macro that will make the needed directory and put the file you want over there. Most ftp commands let you specify which netrc file you'd like to use, so you could use various netrc files for various purposes.
Here's an example netrc file called my_netrc:
machine ftp_host
user ftp_user
password swordfish
macrodef init
binary
mkdir my_dir
cd my_dir
put my_file
bye
Then, you could do this:
$ ftp -v -Nmy_netrc $FTPHOST 2>&1 >> ftp.log | logger