Updated: 28 September 2026 · Applies to: Ubuntu 24.04, Debian 12, AlmaLinux 9 and Rocky Linux 9
Parallel SSH (pssh) runs the same command on many servers at once. It is packaged for Ubuntu 24.04, Debian 12, AlmaLinux 9 and Rocky Linux 9 (On AlmaLinux/Rocky, enable EPEL first: dnf install epel-release.).
Install
apt install pssh # commands: parallel-ssh, parallel-scp ... dnf install epel-release && dnf install pssh # commands: pssh, pscp.pssh ...
Create a host list
One server per line, optionally with user and port, in ~/hosts.txt:
root@192.0.2.10 root@192.0.2.11:2222 admin@server3.example.com
Run commands
parallel-ssh -h ~/hosts.txt -i "uptime" # -i shows each server's output parallel-ssh -h ~/hosts.txt -t 60 -i "dnf -y upgrade" # -t: timeout in seconds parallel-scp -h ~/hosts.txt ./config.conf /etc/myapp/ # copy a file to all servers
Use SSH keys: pssh cannot type a password for each server (-A asks once and uses it everywhere).
Tip: For regular management of many servers, Ansible does the same and more (ansible all -i hosts.txt -m ping), and keeps your setup in files you can repeat.
