diff --git a/vmtp/instance.py b/vmtp/instance.py
index d302f09..1d3a8d7 100644
--- a/vmtp/instance.py
+++ b/vmtp/instance.py
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@
 import os
 import re
 import stat
-import subprocess
 
 import monitor
 from netaddr import IPAddress
@@ -243,28 +242,14 @@ class Instance(object):
             self.buginf('tool %s already present - skipping install',
                         tool_name)
             return True
-        # scp over the tool binary
         # first chmod the local copy since git does not keep the permission
         os.chmod(source, stat.S_IRWXU | stat.S_IRWXG | stat.S_IRWXO)
 
-        # scp to the target
-        scp_opts = '-o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no'
-        scp_cmd = 'scp -i %s %s %s %s@%s:%s' % (self.config.private_key_file,
-                                                scp_opts,
-                                                source,
-                                                self.ssh_access.username,
-                                                self.ssh_access.host,
-                                                dest)
+        # scp over the tool binary
         self.buginf('Copying %s to target...', tool_name)
-        self.buginf(scp_cmd)
-        devnull = open(os.devnull, 'wb')
-        rc = subprocess.call(scp_cmd, shell=True,
-                             stdout=devnull, stderr=devnull)
-        if rc:
-            self.display('Copy to target failed rc=%d', rc)
-            self.display(scp_cmd)
-            return False
-        return True
+        rc = self.ssh.put_file_to_host(source, dest)
+
+        return True if rc else False
 
     def get_cmd_duration(self):
         '''Get the duration of the client run
diff --git a/vmtp/sshutils.py b/vmtp/sshutils.py
index 61abea5..719dcd0 100644
--- a/vmtp/sshutils.py
+++ b/vmtp/sshutils.py
@@ -413,14 +413,28 @@ class SSH(object):
     def get_file_from_host(self, from_path, to_path):
         '''
         A wrapper api on top of paramiko scp module, to scp
-        a local file to the host.
+        a remote file to the local.
         '''
         sshcon = self._get_client()
         scpcon = scp.SCPClient(sshcon.get_transport())
         try:
             scpcon.get(from_path, to_path)
         except scp.SCPException as exp:
-            print ("Send failed: [%s]", exp)
+            print "Receive failed: [%s]" % exp
+            return 0
+        return 1
+
+    def put_file_to_host(self, from_path, to_path):
+        '''
+        A wrapper api on top of paramiko scp module, to scp
+        a local file to the remote.
+        '''
+        sshcon = self._get_client()
+        scpcon = scp.SCPClient(sshcon.get_transport())
+        try:
+            scpcon.put(from_path, remote_path=to_path)
+        except scp.SCPException as exp:
+            print "Send failed: [%s]" % exp
             return 0
         return 1