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Home > Support > HOWTO List > Linux > RSync

Working With Linux

Backups with RSync

RSync is a useful tool. It facilitates directory replication across servers. It will compare a source directory and a target directory and 'sync' them up. It is implemented to run quickly and to use minimal bandwidth.

The syntax goes something like this:


EXCLUDE=" --exclude *.tmp \
--exclude *.temp"

rsync --archive -vv --rsh=ssh $EXCLUDE $USER@$HOST:/etc/ $BACKUPPATH/$HOST/etc

This code will 'pull' a backup from a remote host (source) to the local machine (destination). It will use SSH (-e ssh) so the remote machine does not have to be running an rsync daemon. It will be very verbose (-vv). It will ignore any files ending in tmp or temp. Swap the last two args to 'push' a backup from the local machine to the remote machine.

An example: rsync --archive -vv --rsh=ssh datadir yourbackupserver:/home/backups/

'Man' tells us that the '-archive' option is the same as '-rlptgoD' or:

-r recursive
--links (recreate sym)
--perms
--owner destination owner = source owner
--group ditto group
--devices transfer char and block devices
--times transfer modification times

There are many other options available. e.g. --delete will delete any files on the receiving side that aren't on the sending side. You'll probably want to tack on a --compress option for compression; and a --sparse option to efficiently handle sparse files and --stats --progress to show you something interesting while a big job runs. --ignore-existing will leave existing files as is.

Idea: Put the rsync command in your crontab to perform regular backups.

Idea: Keep multiple 'generations' of your site by using different destination directories (e.g. backups1, backups2). If space is an issue, cycle through the directories every so many days or months.

Idea: Use 'ssh authorized keys' so backups can be performed via SSH without password prompting. E.g. see: automated rsync backup howto.

Idea: Back up your PC to your Linux server. Get an offsite backup of your Windows PC. Grab the rsync application by doing a http://www.cygwin.com install. Then 'push' a backup to your Linux VPS.