Novell LINUX ENTERPRISE SERVER 10 - INSTALLATION AND ADMINISTRATION 11-05-2007, Installation Manual

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39.4 Introduction to rsync
rsync is useful when large amounts of data need to be transmitted regularly while not
changing too much. This is, for example, often the case when creating backups. Another
application concerns staging servers. These are servers that store complete directory
trees of Web servers that are regularly mirrored onto a Web server in a DMZ.
39.4.1 Configuration and Operation
rsync can be operated in two different modes. It can be used to archive or copy data.
To accomplish this, only a remote shell, like ssh, is required on the target system.
However, rsync can also be used as a daemon to provide directories to the network.
The basic mode of operation of rsync does not require any special configuration. rsync
directly allows mirroring complete directories onto another system. As an example, the
following command creates a backup of the home directory of tux on a backup server
named sun:
rsync -baz -e ssh /home/tux/ tux@sun:backup
The following command is used to play the directory back:
rsync -az -e ssh tux@sun:backup /home/tux/
Up to this point, the handling does not differ much from that of a regular copying tool,
like scp.
rsync should be operated in “rsync” mode to make all its features fully available. This
is done by starting the rsyncd daemon on one of the systems. Configure it in the file
/etc/rsyncd.conf
. For example, to make the directory
/srv/ftp
available with
rsync, use the following configuration:
File Synchronization 733