Rsync Tricks
scp and rsync are the two popular commands for copying files between devices. You can use it for copy, synchronize or backups.
scp
scp is good to use but if the connection between a server and a client disconnect in the middle you have to start copying over again. It doesn’t synchronize This is the command for using scp
scp -r src/location server:destination/location
rsync
rsync is very power full software For copying, synchronizing and backups files by commands line.
Advantages
- Copy files to other device.
- Synchronization.
- Encryption while transferring files.
Checkout this wonderful article Linux rsync command with practical examples
Syntax:
rsync -options source destination
Basic usage:
rsync -azv src/location username@server:destination/location
Options: –progress: View progress while synchronization –delete: Delete on destination if not in source -e ssh: Over SSH
Tricks: Non-interactive password authentication with SSH:
sshpass -p 'password' rsync -avz --progress sshpass.tar.gz [email protected]:/tmp/
Include and exclude options
rsync -avz --include 'P*' --exclude '*' user@server:src/location /dest/location
Use rsync with cron job to automatically backup your files.
$ contab -e
To backups every 1 hour, type this line. Check cron configuration for more details
0 * * * * /usr/bin/rsync --delete -azv src/location username@server:destination/location > /dev/null
Optional: You could first make a comprised file with a date before backup
0 * * * * cd src/location ; /bin/tar -czvf name_of_comprised_file-`/bin/date +%a`.tar.gz src/folder > /dev/null
Reference: