diff --git a/bin/syncFilesToAllSwarmNodes.sh b/bin/syncFilesToAllSwarmNodes.sh
index 89df4eb..5c88fab 100644
--- a/bin/syncFilesToAllSwarmNodes.sh
+++ b/bin/syncFilesToAllSwarmNodes.sh
@@ -1,9 +1,20 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
+#ensure dig is avail
+command -v dig >/dev/null 2>&1 || { echo >&2 "ERROR: dig is required, but doesn't appear to be installed.  Aborting..."; exit 1; }
+
+#ensure sed is avail
+command -v sed >/dev/null 2>&1 || { echo >&2 "ERROR: sed is required, but doesn't appear to be installed.  Aborting..."; exit 1; }
+
+#ensure awk is avail
+command -v awk >/dev/null 2>&1 || { echo >&2 "ERROR: awk is required, but doesn't appear to be installed.  Aborting..."; exit 1; }
+
+#ensure scp is avail
+command -v scp >/dev/null 2>&1 || { echo >&2 "ERROR: scp is required, but doesn't appear to be installed.  Aborting..."; exit 1; }
+
 #ensure realpath is avail
 command -v realpath >/dev/null 2>&1 || { echo >&2 "ERROR: realpath is required, but doesn't appear to be installed.  Aborting..."; exit 1; }
 
-
 IDfile=`realpath $4`