To use rsync to sync with a remote system, you only need SSH access configured between your local and remote machines, as well as rsync installed on both systems. This output now demonstrates that the directory itself was transferred, rather than only the files within the directory. You’ll combine the a, n, and v flags in the following command:

The -v flag, which means “verbose”, is also necessary to get the appropriate output. Rsync provides a method for doing this by passing the -n or -dry-run options. The outcome would create a hierarchy like the following: ~/dir2/dir1/Īnother tip is to double-check your arguments before executing an rsync command. Without the trailing slash, dir1, including the directory, would be placed within dir2. This trailing slash signifies the contents of dir1. Please note that there is a trailing slash ( /) at the end of the first argument in the syntax of the the previous two commands and highlighted here: Run the same command as the previous example, this time using the -a flag: It’s more commonly used than -r and is the recommended flag to use.

This flag syncs recursively and preserves symbolic links, special and device files, modification times, groups, owners, and permissions. To sync the contents of dir1 to dir2 on the same system, you will run rsync and use the -r flag, which stands for “recursive” and is necessary for directory syncing:Īnother option is to use the -a flag, which is a combination flag and stands for “archive”. You also have an empty directory called dir2. Outputfile1 file18 file27 file36 file45 file54 file63 file72 file81 file90įile10 file19 file28 file37 file46 file55 file64 file73 file82 file91įile100 file2 file29 file38 file47 file56 file65 file74 file83 file92įile11 file20 file3 file39 file48 file57 file66 file75 file84 file93įile12 file21 file30 file4 file49 file58 file67 file76 file85 file94įile13 file22 file31 file40 file5 file59 file68 file77 file86 file95įile14 file23 file32 file41 file50 file6 file69 file78 file87 file96įile15 file24 file33 file42 file51 file60 file7 file79 file88 file97įile16 file25 file34 file43 file52 file61 file70 file8 file89 file98įile17 file26 file35 file44 file53 file62 file71 file80 file9 file99 There’s now a directory called dir1 with 100 empty files in it.

The syntax for rsync operates similar to other tools, such as ssh, scp, and cp.įirst, change into your home directory by running the following command: Due to its ubiquity on Linux and Unix-like systems and its popularity as a tool for system scripts, it’s included on most Linux distributions by default. Rsync is a very flexible network-enabled syncing tool. This guide was validated on machines running Ubuntu 20.04, although it should generally work with any computers running a Linux-based operating system that have rsync installed. Then, copy each server’s public key to the other server’s authorized_keys file as outlined in Step 2 of that guide. Regardless of what types of machines you use to follow this tutorial, you will need to have created SSH keys on both of them. To set up these servers, follow our Initial Server Setup Guide. If you plan to follow this guide using servers, it would be prudent to set them up with administrative users and to configure a firewall on each of them. These two machines could be virtual private servers, virtual machines, containers, or personal computers as long as they’ve been properly configured. In order to practice using rsync to sync files between a local and remote system, you will need two machines to act as your local computer and your remote machine, respectively. Let DigitalOcean focus on scaling your app. Deploy your frontend applications from GitHub using DigitalOcean App Platform.

Ssh copy files to remote server