Why does the following netcat command not time out if the attempt to connect takes longer than 3 seconds (ie: when the port isn't open)? I assumed that the -w flag would be what I needed. OS is OSX 10.9.
nc -v -z -w 3 127.0.0.1 5050
Assuming that worked, I planned to implement like this (unsure if this will work, total bash noob)
nc -v -z -w 3 127.0.0.1 5050 | /dev/null && echo "Online" || echo "Offline"
5 Answers
You need to redirect to /dev/null, not pipe to it. Try the following:
nc -v -z -w 3 127.0.0.1 5050 &> /dev/null && echo "Online" || echo "Offline"
On my machine, port 5050 isn't open, and I get the following:
$ nc -v -z -w 3 localhost 5050 &> /dev/null && echo "Online" || echo "Offline"
Offline
Since Mac OS X 10.8.x, nc has used the -G option to set the timeout for initiating a connection. This is separate from the -w option, which sets the timeout for a connection that has been made but has gone idle.
If you are trying to use nc for port scanning, i.e. nc -v -z 10.0.1.1 1-1023, it will spend over a minute trying to connect to each non-responding port unless you add a -G timeout value:
nc -v -z -G 1 10.0.1.1 1-1023
That's one second per port scanned — much more useful.
Nc: nc is usually installed already , however on some systems such as Mac OS X, the command hangs on unreachable systems without the -G option. If that does not work use the Workaround.
nc -v -z -w 3 127.0.0.1 22 &> /dev/null && echo "Online" || echo "Offline"
Mac OSX:
nc -z -G 3 127.0.0.1 22 &> /dev/null && echo "Online" || echo "Offline"
Alternative workaround option:
bash -c '(sleep 3; kill $$) & exec nc -z 127.0.0.1 22' &> /dev/null
echo $?
0
bash -c '(sleep 3; kill $$) & exec nc -z 1.2.3.4 22' &> /dev/null
echo $?
143
(examples illustrate connecting to port 22 ssh over a good and bad host example, use the $? to determine if it reached the host with the sleep time of 3 seconds)
Alternatively For Mac Users (mainly) etc, you can use the command in the script like so :
# -- use NMAP, if not avail. go with nc --
if command -v nmap | grep -iq nmap ; then
nmap ${ip} -PN -p ${ssh_port} | grep -iq "open"
res=$?
elif command -v nc | grep -iq nc ; then
# -- run command if fails to complete in 3 secs assume host unreachable --
( nc -z ${ip} ${ssh_port} ) & pid=$!
( sleep 3 && kill -HUP $pid ) 2>/dev/null & watcher=$!
if wait $pid 2>/dev/null; then
pkill -HUP -P $watcher
wait $watcher
# -- command finished (we have connection) --
res=0
else
# -- command failed (no connection) --
res=1
fi
else
echo "Error: You must have NC or NMAP installed"
fi
if [[ ${res} -lt 1 ]] ;then
success=1
echo "testing => $ip SUCCESS connection over port ${ssh_port}"
break;
else
echo "testing => $ip FAILED connection over port ${ssh_port}"
fi
There is an old bug report about this on debian () and still having the same behavior in Debian GNU/Linux 7.7 (wheezy)
I found a "solution" to this: installing the openbsd version of nc:
apt-get install netcat-openbsd
On Mac OS X (10.14.6) the -w 3 parameter is somehow ignored.
The workaround I found is: timeout 3 nc -vz 10.18.50.134 23
