In this article, I show you how to use the scp (secure copy) command without needing to use passwords. I then show you how to use this command in two scripts. One script lets you copy a file to multiple Linux boxes on your network, and the other allows you to back up all of your Linux boxes easily.

If you're a Linux sysadmin, you frequently need to copy files from one Linux box to another. Or, you may need to distribute a file to multiple boxes. You could use FTP, but using scp has many advantages. For instance, scp is much more secure than FTP. scp travels across the LAN/WAN encrypted, while FTP uses clear text, even for passwords.

The link for this article located at LinuxJournal is no longer available.