bash rsync - ghdrako/doc_snipets GitHub Wiki

Syntax

The rsync utility expressions take the following form:

Local to Local:  rsync [OPTION]... [SRC]... DEST
Local to Remote: rsync [OPTION]... [SRC]... [USER@]HOST:DEST
Remote to Local: rsync [OPTION]... [USER@]HOST:SRC... [DEST]
  • OPTION - The rsync options .
  • SRC - Source directory.
  • DEST - Destination directory.
  • USER - Remote username.
  • HOST - Remote hostname or IP Address.

The most widely used options are:

  • -a, --archive archive mode, which allows copying files recursively and it also preserves symbolic links, file permissions, user & group ownerships, and timestamps. -a option of rsync is equivalent to -rlptgoD options.

    • The -r option is for recursively transferring directories.
    • The -l option is for keeping symlinks.
    • The -p and the -t options are for keeping file permissions and modification times of source files, respectively.
    • The -g and the -o options are necessary for keeping the group and the owner of source files, respectively. The -o option needs root privileges.
    • the -D option is for copying device files and special files such as FIFO files and named sockets. We must have root privileges for transferring device files.

  • z, --compress. This option forces rsync to compresses the data as it is sent to the destination machine. Use this option only if the connection to the remote machine is slow.

  • -P, equivalent to --partial --progress. When this option is used, rsync shows a progress bar during the transfer and keeps the partially transferred files. It is useful when transferring large files over slow or unstable network connections.

  • --delete. When this option is used, rsync deletes extraneous files from the destination location. It is useful for mirroring.

  • -q, --quiet. Use this option if you want to suppress non-error messages.

  • -e. This option allows you to choose a different remote shell. By default, rsync is configured to use ssh.

  • -v option to see the verbose output of the command.

Copy/Sync Files

sync a single file on a local machine from one location to another location. Here in this example, a file name backup.tar needs to be copied or synced to /tmp/backups/ folder.

rsync -zvh backup.tar.gz /tmp/backups/
rsync -a /opt/filename.zip /tmp/
rsync -a /opt/filename.zip /tmp/newfilename.zip

rsync -v tmp/ata*.txt /backup/

Copy/Sync a Directory on Local Computer

rsync -avzh /root/rpmpkgs /tmp/backups/
rsync -a /var/www/domain.com/public_html/ /var/www/domain.com/public_html_backup/ # if dest dir does not exist rsync will create it

It is worth mentioning that rsync gives different treatment to the source directories with a trailing slash (/). If the source directory has a trailing slash, the command will copy only the directory contents to the destination directory. When the trailing slash is omitted, rsync copies the source directory inside the destination directory.

Copy/Sync Files and Directory to or From a Server

rsync -avzh /root/rpmpkgs [email protected]:/root/
rsync -a /opt/media/ remote_user@remote_host_or_ip:/opt/media/

Copy/Sync a Remote Directory to a Local Machine

rsync -avzh [email protected]:/root/rpmpkgs /tmp/myrpms

Rsync Over SSH

Copy a File from a Remote Server to a Local Server with SSH

rsync -avzhe ssh [email protected]:/root/anaconda-ks.cfg /tmp

Copy a File from a Local Server to a Remote Server with SSH

rsync -avzhe ssh backup.tar.gz [email protected]:/backups/

If SSH on the remote host is listening on a port other than the default 22 , specify the port using the -e option:

rsync -a -e "ssh -p 2322" /opt/media/ remote_user@remote_host_or_ip:/opt/media/

When transferring large amounts of data it is recommended to run the rsync command inside a screen session or to use the -P option:

rsync -a -P remote_user@remote_host_or_ip:/opt/media/ /opt/media/

Show progress

rsync -avzhe ssh --progress /root/rpmpkgs [email protected]:/root/rpmpkgs

Use of –include and –exclude Options

rsync -avze ssh --include 'R*' --exclude '*' [email protected]:/var/lib/rpm/ /root/rpm
rsync -az --delete --exclude=.git --exclude=data source destination
rsync -a --exclude=node_modules --exclude=tmp /src_directory/ /dst_directory # exclude the node_modules and tmp directories

The second option is to use the --exclude-from option and specify the files and directories you want to exclude in a file.

rsync -a --exclude=node_modules --exclude=tmp /src_directory/ /dst_directory/

Use of –delete Option

If a file or directory does not exist at the source, but already exists at the destination, you might want to delete that existing file/directory at the target while syncing.

rsync -avz --delete [email protected]:/var/lib/rpm/ /root/rpm/