rsync Cheatsheet

Basic Usage

Basic rsync syntax: rsync [options]

### Local Sync

``yaml # Basic local directory sync (archive mode, preserve permissions and timestamps) rsync -a /path/to/source/ /path/to/destination/

# Show transfer progress rsync -av /data/ /backup/

# Compress for reduced bandwidth rsync -az /data/ /backup/

# Human-readable numbers rsync -ah /data/ /backup/

# Common combined options: archive + compress + progress + human-readable rsync -avzP /data/ /backup/ `

### Incremental Transfer

`yaml # Transfer only differences (rsync default behavior) rsync -av /data/ /backup/

# Delete extraneous files from destination (mirror mode) rsync -av --delete /data/ /backup/

# Remove source files after transfer (move operation) rsync -av --remove-source-files /data/ /backup/ `

### Checking and Validation

`yaml # Dry run (simulate, no actual transfer) rsync -av --dry-run /data/ /backup/

# Use checksum instead of size+time for change detection rsync -avc /data/ /backup/ `

Remote Sync via SSH

Sync files between local and remote hosts over SSH.

### Push to Remote

`yaml # Push local to remote (default SSH) rsync -av /local/data/ user@remote:/remote/backup/

# Specify SSH port rsync -av -e "ssh -p 2222" /local/data/ user@remote:/remote/backup/

# Limit bandwidth (KB/s) rsync -av --bwlimit=1000 /local/data/ user@remote:/remote/backup/ `

### Pull from Remote

`yaml # Pull remote to local rsync -av user@remote:/remote/backup/ /local/data/

# Use SSH key rsync -av -e "ssh -i ~/.ssh/deploy_key" user@remote:/remote/backup/ /local/data/ `

### SSH Advanced Configuration

`yaml # Set SSH connection timeout (seconds) rsync -av -e "ssh -o ConnectTimeout=10" /local/data/ user@remote:/remote/backup/

# Custom SSH compression level rsync -avz -e "ssh -C" /local/data/ user@remote:/remote/backup/ `

Filter Rules

Use include/exclude rules to precisely control what gets synced.

### Exclude Patterns

`yaml # Exclude specific files or directories rsync -av --exclude='*.log' /data/ /backup/

# Exclude multiple patterns rsync -av --exclude='*.log' --exclude='node_modules/' --exclude='.git/' /project/ /backup/

# Include first, then exclude rest (whitelist mode) rsync -av --include='*/' --include='*.py' --exclude='*' /project/ /backup/

# Read exclude rules from a file rsync -av --exclude-from=exclude.txt /data/ /backup/ `

### Include Patterns

`yaml # Include only specific file types rsync -av --include='*/' --include='*.conf' --exclude='*' /etc/ /backup/

# Include a single file rsync -av --include='config.yml' --exclude='*' /project/ /backup/ `

### File List Sync

`yaml # Read file list from a file rsync -av --files-from=filelist.txt /data/ /backup/ `

Advanced Options

### Hardlink Incremental Backup

`yaml # Incremental backup with hardlinks to previous backup rsync -av --link-dest=/backup/prev-backup /data/ /backup/curr-backup/ `

### File Attribute Management

`yaml # Preserve owner and group rsync -av --owner --group /data/ /backup/

# Skip preserving owner rsync -av --no-owner /data/ /backup/

# Set file permissions via chmod mode rsync -av --chmod=Du=rwx,Dgo=rx,Fu=rw,Fgo=r /data/ /backup/ `

### Size and Timeout Limits

`yaml # Only sync files smaller than a size limit rsync -av --max-size=100M /data/ /backup/

# Only sync files larger than a size limit rsync -av --min-size=1K /data/ /backup/

# Set I/O timeout (seconds) rsync -av --timeout=30 /data/ /backup/ `

### rsync Daemon Mode

`yaml # Use rsync daemon protocol (rsync://) rsync -av rsync://rsync.example.com/mirror/ /local/mirror/

# List available daemon modules rsync rsync://rsync.example.com/ `

### rsyncd.conf Configuration

`yaml # /etc/rsyncd.conf example # [backup] # path = /var/backup # comment = Backup Directory # read only = no # auth users = backupuser # secrets file = /etc/rsyncd.secrets

# Connect to a password-protected rsync daemon rsync -av rsync://backupuser@rsync.example.com/backup/ /local/backup/ ``