SSH Commands to a Sophos Router Device Console

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Demonstrates establishing an SSH session with a Sophos XG router and sending commands in its device console session. The router presents a numbered main menu; the example selects the Device Console entry and then runs commands at the resulting console> prompt.

Note: QuickShell allocates a PTY, which is what a network device console expects. The device presents an interactive prompt, and each command's output is read up to the next prompt.

Dim success As Long
success = 0

'  This example requires the Chilkat API to have been previously unlocked.
'  See Global Unlock Sample for sample code.

'  Demonstrates establishing an SSH session with a Sophos XG router and sending commands in its
'  device console session.
'  
'  Note: QuickShell allocates a PTY, which is what a device console expects.  Navigating the
'  device's menus is a matter of reading up to each prompt and sending the expected keystrokes.

Dim ssh As New ChilkatSsh

Dim port As Long
port = 22
success = ssh.Connect("172.16.16.16",port)
If (success = 0) Then
    Debug.Print ssh.LastErrorText
    Exit Sub
End If

'  Normally you would not hard-code the password in source.  You should instead obtain it
'  from an interactive prompt, environment variable, or a secrets vault.
Dim password As String
password = "mySshPassword"

success = ssh.AuthenticatePw("mySshLogin",password)
If (success = 0) Then
    Debug.Print ssh.LastErrorText
    Exit Sub
End If

Dim channelNum As Long
channelNum = ssh.QuickShell()
If (channelNum < 0) Then
    Debug.Print ssh.LastErrorText
    Exit Sub
End If

'  IMPORTANT: Set a read timeout before receiving until a match.  ReadTimeoutMs defaults to 0,
'  which means no limit -- without it, this call waits forever if the received data never
'  contains a match.
ssh.ReadTimeoutMs = 15000

Dim caseSensitive As Long
caseSensitive = 1

'  The router presents a numbered main menu ending with "Select Menu Number [0-7]: ".
success = ssh.ChannelReceiveUntilMatch(channelNum,"Select Menu Number","utf-8",caseSensitive)
If (success = 0) Then
    Debug.Print ssh.LastErrorText
    Exit Sub
End If

Dim cmdOutput As String
cmdOutput = ssh.GetReceivedText(channelNum,"utf-8")
If (ssh.LastMethodSuccess = 0) Then
    Debug.Print ssh.LastErrorText
    Exit Sub
End If

Debug.Print cmdOutput

'  Choose menu item 4 (Device Console), exactly as if typing it in a terminal.
success = ssh.ChannelSendString(channelNum,"4" & vbLf,"utf-8")
If (success = 0) Then
    Debug.Print ssh.LastErrorText
    Exit Sub
End If

'  The device console prompt is "console>".
success = ssh.ChannelReceiveUntilMatch(channelNum,"console>","utf-8",caseSensitive)
If (success = 0) Then
    Debug.Print ssh.LastErrorText
    Exit Sub
End If

cmdOutput = ssh.GetReceivedText(channelNum,"utf-8")
If (ssh.LastMethodSuccess = 0) Then
    Debug.Print ssh.LastErrorText
    Exit Sub
End If

Debug.Print cmdOutput

'  Send a console command and read its output up to the next prompt.
success = ssh.ChannelSendString(channelNum,"dnslookup host google.com" & vbLf,"utf-8")
If (success = 0) Then
    Debug.Print ssh.LastErrorText
    Exit Sub
End If

success = ssh.ChannelReceiveUntilMatch(channelNum,"console>","utf-8",caseSensitive)
If (success = 0) Then
    Debug.Print ssh.LastErrorText
    Exit Sub
End If

cmdOutput = ssh.GetReceivedText(channelNum,"utf-8")
If (ssh.LastMethodSuccess = 0) Then
    Debug.Print ssh.LastErrorText
    Exit Sub
End If

Debug.Print cmdOutput

'  Additional commands follow the same pattern.
success = ssh.ChannelSendString(channelNum,"dnslookup host microsoft.com" & vbLf,"utf-8")
If (success = 0) Then
    Debug.Print ssh.LastErrorText
    Exit Sub
End If

success = ssh.ChannelReceiveUntilMatch(channelNum,"console>","utf-8",caseSensitive)
If (success = 0) Then
    Debug.Print ssh.LastErrorText
    Exit Sub
End If

cmdOutput = ssh.GetReceivedText(channelNum,"utf-8")
If (ssh.LastMethodSuccess = 0) Then
    Debug.Print ssh.LastErrorText
    Exit Sub
End If

Debug.Print cmdOutput

ssh.Disconnect