SSH to other device than Linux server

[ap0int3d]

Hi,
When connecting to a Linux box, WebSSH automatically starts an SFTP session and a telemetry session along with the SSH tunnel.
If you try to connect to another kind of device (say a Cisco Switch as a not-random-at-all example ;) ), you get the following kind of thing :

Telemetry shows as unavailable and this is fine for me. But I think it would be nicer if the SFTP pane would not open automatically when connecting to an "unsupported" kind of system.

I was wondering if maybe it could be possible to detect if the system you are connecting to supports SFTP and if not, the SFTP connection does not start and the associated pane does not show.

Also please notice that the prompt does not appear automatically in the main pane when connecting to my Cisco switch, I have to hit Enter to get it. Not a big deal but if you happen to find why, this could be nice.

[bifrost0x]

i will have a look how to deal with it - thx a lot for the contribution!

[bifrost0x]

Thanks again for reporting this. I implemented the compatibility changes in PR #118.

The session workspace now adapts to the capabilities that are actually available on the remote system:

• The embedded SFTP pane performs a short, bounded capability probe and only opens automatically after the server confirms that SFTP is usable. Temporary probe failures get a limited retry; unsupported SFTP does not keep producing an unusable pane.
• Telemetry uses guarded POSIX and BusyBox-compatible probes, accepts partial results, and renders only the metrics and diagnostic sections that returned useful data. If expanded diagnostics are unsupported, working base telemetry continues.
• Early SSH output is retained and replayed when the terminal attaches or restores. This preserves prompts from switches and appliances without automatically sending Enter or any other input to the device.

There is deliberately no SCP fallback. Devices without SFTP remain SSH-only, and the standalone SFTP Manager is unchanged.

I also verified the behavior locally against two otherwise identical OpenSSH targets: one with SFTP and one without it. Both provided SSH and metrics, but only the SFTP-capable target was eligible for automatic pane opening.

Maybe you could check against your switch again and provide feedback? :)

[ap0int3d]

Hi,
Thanks for the update.

Let's start with the easy part: the prompt issue is gone. I even now see the banner the switch sends when connecting. Same for Linux hosts. That's perfect !

Now the difficult part. I'll explain with different scenarii to hopefully make things easier to understand.

Scenario 1:
No existing SSH session in WebSSH.
Open an SSH session to my Cisco switch. The SFTP pane does not appear. Great !
Add another SSH session to a Linux hosts. The SFTP pane does not appear. Not as great.
Clicking on the dedicated icon to open the SFTP pane does indeed open the pane but it stays open when you switch back to the Cisco switch tab and gives the same error as in the screenshot in the OP.

Scenario 2: opposite from scenario 1
No existing SSH session in WebSSH.
Open an SSH session to a Linux hosts. The SFTP pane appears. Great !
Add another SSH session to the Cisco switch. The SFTP pane stays open and give the same error as in the screenshot in the OP. Not as great.
Closing the SFTP pane when on the switch also close the SFTP pane for the Linux host.

Please note that in the same WebSSH session (no disconnection of the user from the Web UI), if you close all SSH sessions, it behaves like the it resets the SFTP pane visibility. Then when you open a "new" first SSH session, the SFTP pane will be visible or not depending on the compatibility.

My conclusion based on these observations:
It seems that the SFTP pane visibility is controlled by the first SSH session you open and it stays in the same visibility state for all the subsequent sessions to any other type of hosts unless the user chooses to hide or show the pane with the dedicated button. But in either situation, once the visibility status is set, it stays the same.
In a sense, the SFTP pane visibility seems to be a kind of a global setting instead of being a per-SSH session setting.

[bifrost0x]

thx for the update, i will fix that, but pls give me 2-3 days :)

[bifrost0x]

Thanks for the detailed multi-session scenarios. The follow-up fix has now been merged in PR #120.

The embedded SFTP pane is no longer treated as one global workspace state:

• SFTP capability and open/closed preference are tracked per SSH session.
• Every eligible desktop session is probed independently, regardless of how many other sessions are open.
• Switching to a device without SFTP closes and disables the embedded pane for that session without retargeting it or showing the previous error state.
• Switching back to an SFTP-capable host restores that session's own open/closed preference.
• Temporary probe failures use bounded retries. If the result remains inconclusive, the pane does not auto-open, but a manual attempt is still possible.
• Disconnects and layout changes cancel pending probe retries without incorrectly classifying the device.

The detection is capability-based rather than vendor- or OS-based: WebSSH opens a short-lived SFTP channel and performs a bounded directory read. This applies equally to servers, switches, appliances, and IoT devices. Devices without functional SFTP remain SSH-only; there is still no SCP fallback, and the standalone SFTP Manager is unchanged.

The reported Cisco/Linux session-switch scenarios are covered by regression tests. If possible, please try the same sequence against your switch again and let us know how it behaves.

[ap0int3d]

I tested this new build in multiple situations with different Linux distros and Cisco and Aruba switches. Everything went well. Well done !