Get file system structure of hosts on the same LAN

Question

Is it possible for a JAVA application to get the file system directory structure of another host on the same LAN?

For example:

Machines A and B are on the same LAN. A is the localhost and B is the remote host. Is it possible for a JAVA application executing on A to get the directory structure (essentially a 'ls -R') of B?

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered May 04 '12 at 16:33

Yes, although you'd have to use something like SSH to open a remote terminal session to execute the ls command. There's no way to natively do that with just Java without opening a socket and machine B somehow cooperating with the request. (That would be a huge security hole if you could...)

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:20

1

One way to do this is by issuing the ls -R command over the ssh protocol.

For ssh library recommendations, see SSH library for Java

edited May 23 '17 at 12:20

Community

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answered May 04 '12 at 16:33

NPE

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thanks. If I use ssh, will the target host also need to grant permission? – czchlong May 04 '12 at 16:36
@czchlong: Yes. Whatever solution you choose, it will require some cooperation from the target system. – NPE May 04 '12 at 16:38
lol...that begs the question...is there a way to prevent the target host from having to grant permission? XP – czchlong May 04 '12 at 19:15
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@czchlong: Not if the target host is half-secure. – NPE May 04 '12 at 19:26

Get file system structure of hosts on the same LAN

2 Answers2