Linux Command Utility [/code]rsync[/code] is a very robust, fast content copy command which can be used within the same linux host and over a connected network between 2 linux hosts. It is a special program which has intelligence in terms of not copying data repetitively if the destination has the same copy as source based on file checksum calculations.
We shall explore some of the practical rsync command features and demonstrate them
Syntax of command
$ rsync [OPTIONS] /source/path/ /dest/path/
Running rsync on the same host?
[vamshi@linuxcent ~]$ rsync -avx newfile.txt /tmp/ sending incremental file list newfile.txt sent 133 bytes received 35 bytes 336.00 bytes/sec total size is 21 speedup is 0.12
Running rsync between two hosts in a network
$ rsync [OPTIONS] host:/source/path/ /dest/path/
Run rsync in Dry-run mode by using [/code]-n[/code] option
$ rsync -avn Source_host:/source/path Destination_host:/dest/path
This generally runs over the SSH protocol and you are required to enter the login credentials appropriately.
How to invoke SSH remote shell in rsync?
In case you are using a SSH keys then you have to invoke the remote shell to authenticate to the remote server with your private keypair. This is Demonstrated as follows:
$ rsync -avxn --rsh="ssh -i ~/.ssh/vamshi_id_rsa" vamshi@<Your.Source.IP.DNS>:"/<Source_Path>" "/<Destination_Path>"
For more information about the SSH key setup, Please refer to our SSH keys section
How to persist Hard links on the system using rsync. Following is the Demonstration
Flag : -H. Using this option enables to preserve the HardLinks over the destination copy of the data.
$ rsync -avHx /path/to/source/ /path/to/destination/
The most practical example of working with rsync comes in replicating mission critical data or transferring Database dumps within the DB servers etc.,
How to exclude certain directories in rsync in linux ?
using --exclude filter option is demonstrated as follows:
$ rsync -avx /source/path/to/backup-v31/ /dest/databackups/backup-v31/ --exclude="DontTouchMyData/"
Using the delete option, enables us to delete the directories from the source upon completion of the operation.
Note: This operation has the same effects as the mv command on linux but performed over the network between source and destination hosts.
$ rsync -avx --delete /source/path/to/backup-v31/ /dest/databackups/backup-v31/ --exclude="data/" --exclude="data/board" --exclude="cache/apt" --exclude="opt"
Redirect the rsync output to a file by appending output redirection symbol to a file on current location
$rsync -avx --delete /source/path/to/backup-v31/ /dest/databackups/backup-v31/ --exclude="data/" --exclude="data/board" --exclude="cache/apt" --exclude="opt" >>/tmp/rsync.log
What is rsync command Linux?
rsync or remote synchronization is a software utility for Unix-Like systems that efficiently sync files and directories between two hosts or machines. … Copying/syncing to/from another host over any remote shell like ssh, rsh.
How do I use rsync in Linux?
Syntax of rsync command:
- -v, u2013verbose Verbose output.
- -q, u2013quiet suppress message output.
- -a, u2013archive archive files and directory while synchronizing ( -a equal to following options -rlptgoD)
- -r, u2013recursive sync files and directories recursively.
- -b, u2013backup take the backup during synchronization.
What is rsync in bash?
rsync is a fast and versatile command-line utility for synchronizing files and directories between two locations over a remote shell, or from/to a remote Rsync daemon. … Rsync can be used for mirroring data, incremental backups, copying files between systems, and as a replacement for scp , sftp , and cp commands.
How do I transfer files using rsync?
You can use SecureShell (SSH) or Remote Sync (Rsync) to transfer files to a remote server. Secure Copy (SCP) uses SSH to copy only the files or directories that you select. On first use, Rsync copies all files and directories and then it copies only the files and directories that you have changed.
What is rsync command do?
Rsync is typically used for synchronizing files and directories between two different systems. For example, if the command rsync local-file user@remote-host:remote-file is run, rsync will use SSH to connect as user to remote-host.
Why do we use rsync?
Syntax of rsync command:
- -v, u2013verbose Verbose output.
- -q, u2013quiet suppress message output.
- -a, u2013archive archive files and directory while synchronizing ( -a equal to following options -rlptgoD)
- -r, u2013recursive sync files and directories recursively.
- -b, u2013backup take the backup during synchronization.
What is rsync in RHEL?
Rsync can be used to quickly move large amounts of data to both local and remote destinations. For this reason, rsync is often used to copy data, make backups, migrate hosts, and bridge the gap between site staging and production environments.
How does rsync work in Linux?
An rsync process operates by communicating with another rsync process, a sender and a receiver. At startup, an rsync client connects to a peer process. If the transfer is local (that is, between file systems mounted on the same host) the peer can be created with fork, after setting up suitable pipes for the connection.
How do I rsync a file in Linux?
Copy a single file locally If you want to copy a file from one location to another within your system, you can do so by typing rsync followed by the source file name and the destination directory. Note: Instead of u201c/home/tin/file1. txtu201d, we can also type u201cfile1u201d as we are currently working in the home directory.
How do I use rsync?
You can use secure shell (SSH) or Remote Sync (Rsync) to transfer files to a remote server. Secure Copy (SCP) uses SSH to copy only the files or directories that you select. On first use, Rsync copies all files and directories and then it copies only the files and directories that you have changed.