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Create a Hard Link on an SFTP Server

Demonstrates the Chilkat SFtp.HardLink method, which creates a hard link to an existing remote file. The first argument is the existing file and the second is the new link path. It uses the OpenSSH hardlink@openssh.com extension and succeeds only when the server supports it.

Background: A hard link is a second name for the same file data, not a pointer to a path: both names are equal, the data persists until the last name is removed, and there is no "original" to break. Unlike a symbolic link it cannot span filesystems and cannot target a directory. Because it depends on a non-standard OpenSSH extension, expect it to fail against servers that do not implement it.

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Add-Type -Path "C:\chilkat\ChilkatDotNet47-x64\ChilkatDotNet47.dll"

$success = $false

#  Demonstrates the SFtp.HardLink method, which creates a hard link to an existing remote file.
#  The 1st argument is the existing file and the 2nd is the new link path.

$sftp = New-Object Chilkat.SFtp

#  Connect, authenticate, and initialize the SFTP subsystem.
$port = 22
$success = $sftp.Connect("sftp.example.com",$port)
if ($success -eq $false) {
    $($sftp.LastErrorText)
    exit
}

#  Normally you would not hard-code the password in source.  You should instead obtain it
#  from an interactive prompt, environment variable, or a secrets vault.
$password = "mySshPassword"

$success = $sftp.AuthenticatePw("mySshLogin",$password)
if ($success -eq $false) {
    $($sftp.LastErrorText)
    exit
}

$success = $sftp.InitializeSftp()
if ($success -eq $false) {
    $($sftp.LastErrorText)
    exit
}

#  Create a hard link.  This uses the OpenSSH hardlink@openssh.com extension and succeeds only
#  when the server supports it.
$success = $sftp.HardLink("subdir/data.bin","subdir/data_backup.bin")
if ($success -eq $false) {
    $($sftp.LastErrorText)
    exit
}

$("Hard link created.")

$sftp.Disconnect()