Drop Down MenusCSS Drop Down MenuPure CSS Dropdown Menu

How to Sync Files/Directories Using Rsync

we will be discussing about how to sync files using rsync with non-standard SSH port. You might wonder why do we need to use non-standard SSH port? It is because of security reasons. Everybody knows 22 is the SSH default port.
So, It is mandatory to change your SSH default port number to something different which is very hard to guess. In such cases, how will you sync your files/folders with your Remote server? No worries, It is not that difficult. Here we will see how to sync files and folders using rsync with non-standard SSH port.
As you might know, rsync, also known as Remote Sync, is a fast, versatile, and powerful tool that can be used to copy and sync files/directories from local to local, or local to remote hosts. For more details about rsync, check man pages:
# man rsync
Or refer our previous guide from the link below.
  1. Rsync:  Practical Examples of Rsync Command in Linux

Change SSH Port to Non-standard Port

As we all know, By default rsync uses default SSH port 22 to sync files over local to remote hosts and vice versa. We should change our remote server’s SSH port to tighten the security.
To do this, open and edit the SSH configuration /etc/ssh/sshd_config file:
# vi /etc/ssh/sshd_config 
Find the following line. Uncomment and change the port number of your choice. I recommend you to choose any number which is very hard to guess.
Make sure you are using a unique number which is not used by existing services. Check this netstat article to know which services are running on which TCP/UDP ports.
For example, here I use port number 1431.
[...]
Port 1431
[...]
Save and close the file.
In RPM based systems such as RHELCentOS, and Scientific Linux 7, you need to allow the new port through your firewall or router.
# firewall-cmd --add-port 1431/tcp
# firewall-cmd --add-port 1431/tcp --permanent
On RHEL/CentOS/Scientific Linux 6 and above, you should also update selinux permissions to allow the port.
# iptables -A RH-Firewall-1-INPUT -m state --state NEW -m tcp -p tcp --dport 1431 -j ACCEPT
# semanage port -a -t ssh_port_t -p tcp 1431
Finally, restart SSH service to take effect the changes.
# systemctl restart sshd        [On SystemD]
OR
# service sshd restart          [On SysVinit]
Now let us see how to sync files using rsync with non-standard port.

How to Rsync with non-standard SSH Port

Run the following command from the terminal to sync files/folders using Rsync with non-standard ssh port.
Syntax:
# rsync -arvz -e 'ssh -p <port-number>' --progress --delete user@remote-server:/path/to/remote/folder /path/to/local/folder
For the purpose of this tutorial, I will be using two systems.

Remote System Details:

IP Address: 192.168.1.103
User name: tecmint
Sync folder: /backup1

Local System Details:

Operating System: Ubuntu 14.04 Desktop
IP Address: 192.168.1.100
Sync folder: /home/sk/backup2
Let us sync the contents of remote server’s /backup1 folder to my local system’s folder /home/sk/backup2/.
$ sudo rsync -arvz -e 'ssh -p 1431' --progress --delete tecmint@192.168.1.103:/backup1 /home/sk/backup2
Sample Output
tecmint@192.168.1.103's password: 
receiving incremental file list
backup1/
backup1/linux-headers-4.3.0-040300-generic_4.3.0-040300.201511020949_amd64.deb
752,876 100%   13.30MB/s    0:00:00 (xfr#1, to-chk=2/4)
backup1/linux-headers-4.3.0-040300_4.3.0-040300.201511020949_all.deb
9,676,510 100%   12.50MB/s    0:00:00 (xfr#2, to-chk=1/4)
backup1/linux-image-4.3.0-040300-generic_4.3.0-040300.201511020949_amd64.deb
56,563,302 100%   11.26MB/s    0:00:04 (xfr#3, to-chk=0/4)
sent 85 bytes  received 66,979,455 bytes  7,050,477.89 bytes/sec
total size is 66,992,688  speedup is 1.00.
Let us check the contents of /backup1/ folder in the remote server.
$ sudo ls -l /backup1/
Sample Output
total 65428
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  9676510 Dec  9 13:44 linux-headers-4.3.0-040300_4.3.0-040300.201511020949_all.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   752876 Dec  9 13:44 linux-headers-4.3.0-040300-generic_4.3.0-040300.201511020949_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 56563302 Dec  9 13:44 linux-image-4.3.0-040300-generic_4.3.0-040300.201511020949_amd64.deb
Now, let us check the contents of /backup2/ folder of local system.
$ ls /home/sk/backup2/
Sample Output
backup1
As you see in the above output, the contents of /backup1/ have been successfully copied to my local system’s /home/sk/backup2/ directory.
Verify /backup1/ folder contents:
$ ls /home/sk/backup2/backup1/
Sample Output
linux-headers-4.3.0-040300_4.3.0-040300.201511020949_all.deb            
linux-image-4.3.0-040300-generic_4.3.0-040300.201511020949_amd64.deb
linux-headers-4.3.0-040300-generic_4.3.0-040300.201511020949_amd64.deb
See, both remote and local system’s folders have same files.

Conclusion

Syncing files/folders using Rsync with SSH is not only easy, but also fast and secure method. If you’re behind a firewall that restricts port 22, no worries. Just change the default port and sync files like a pro.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Oracle DBMS SCHEDULER Examples

How to find the server is whether standby (slave) or primary(master) in Postgresql replication ?

7 Steps to configure BDR replication in postgresql

How to Get Table Size, Database Size, Indexes Size, schema Size, Tablespace Size, column Size in PostgreSQL Database

How to Enable/Disable autovacuum on PostgreSQL