Read "perldoc Net::SSH2::Channel". You can combine the stderr and stdout with 'merge', so you can see the remote error messages. If you want to run mutiple commands, you can use "shell" or just create as many channels as you need, like $chan, $chan1, $chan2, etc. and run exec on them in an sequential order. Another option may be to use the SFTP object, if you just want dir listings.