<\/span><\/p>\nFirst idea to check whether a server is Debian Lenny or Squeeze was to login and cat \/etc\/debian_version<\/code>. However, if you haven't accessed that machine before, and your ssh keys are not there, you can't do that. In our case, we have to file a request for it, and it can take time. Wondering if there was a quicker way, I came up with this trick:<\/p>\n\r\n#!\/bin\/sh\r\n#\r\n# Tells the Debian version reading the OpenSSH banner\r\n# Requires OpenSSH to be running and ssh port to be open.\r\n#\r\n# Usage: $0 <hostname>\r\n#\r\n# Cosimo, 23\/11\/2011\r\n\r\nHOST=$1\r\n\r\nif [ "x$HOST" = "x" ]; then\r\n echo "Usage: $0 <hostname>"\r\nfi\r\n\r\nOPENSSH_BANNER=$(echo "n" | nc ${HOST} 22 | head -1)\r\n\r\n#echo "OPENSSH_BANNER=$OPENSSH_BANNER"\r\n\r\nIS_SQUEEZE=$(echo $OPENSSH_BANNER | egrep '^SSH-.*OpenSSH_5.*Debian-6')\r\nIS_LENNY=$(echo $OPENSSH_BANNER | egrep '^SSH-.*OpenSSH_5.*Debian-5')\r\nIS_ETCH=$(echo $OPENSSH_BANNER | egrep '^SSH-.*OpenSSH_4.*Debian-9')\r\n\r\n# SSH-2.0-OpenSSH_5.1p1 Debian-5\r\n# SSH-2.0-OpenSSH_4.3p2 Debian-9etch3\r\n# SSH-2.0-OpenSSH_5.5p1 Debian-6+squeeze1\r\n\r\n#echo "Squeeze: $IS_SQUEEZE"\r\n#echo "Lenny: $IS_LENNY"\r\n#echo "Etch: $IS_ETCH"\r\n\r\nif [ "x$IS_SQUEEZE" != "x" ]; then\r\n echo "$HOST is Debian 6.x (squeeze)"\r\n exit 0\r\nfi\r\n\r\nif [ "x$IS_LENNY" != "x" ]; then\r\n echo "$HOST is Debian 5.x (lenny)"\r\n exit 0\r\nfi\r\n\r\nif [ "x$IS_ETCH" != "x" ]; then\r\n echo "$HOST is Debian 4.x (etch)"\r\n exit 0\r\nfi\r\n\r\necho "I don't know what $HOST is."\r\necho "Here's the openssh banner: '$OPENSSH_BANNER'"\r\n\r\nexit 1\r\n<\/pre>\n