rsync or rdist

[peter winterflood]

Herta Van den Eynde wrote:
> On 10/03/2008, Rodrick Brown <rbrown at ballistasec.com> wrote:
>   
>> tar cvfp - . | ssh -c blowfish remote '(cd /storage/archive; tar xvf - )'
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: redhat-list-bounces at redhat.com [mailto:
>> redhat-list-bounces at redhat.com] On Behalf Of Mad Unix
>> Sent: Monday, March 10, 2008 9:29 AM
>> To: General Red Hat Linux discussion list
>> Subject: Re: rsync or rdist
>>
>> any one have acript to do the remote transfer ...
>>
>> On Mon, Mar 10, 2008 at 3:17 PM, Herta Van den Eynde <
>> herta.vandeneynde at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>     
>>> On 10/03/2008, Mad Unix <madunix at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>       
>>>> I need a script transfer archive log files from Production site
>>>> Server1  to DR site Server2 on the same subnet
>>>> i want to sync the files between /arc with /storage/archive on both
>>>> servers ....
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> madunix
>>>>         
>>> AFAIK, rdist copies entire files. rsync only copies the blocks that are
>>> different.
>>>
>>> Note also that you can run rsync through ssh for a more secure transfer.
>>>
>>> Kind regards,
>>>
>>> Herta
>>>
>>> --
>>> "Life on Earth may be expensive,
>>> but it comes with a free ride around the Sun."
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>>>       
>>
>> --
>> madunix
>> --
>>
>>     
> Looks like a complicated way to do what a simple 'scp -pr source target'
> will accomplish.  Or am I missing something?
>
> Rodrick does have a point, though: if you simply want to copy new files from
> server A to server B, a simple copy will be faster than rsync, as you don't
> need the comparison phase.  But scp will be faster than the tar - transfer -
> untar.
>
> Kind regards,
>
> Herta
>
>
>   
well if scp inherits the same limitation of rcp -r then it wont take 
links with it.
tar picks up all links, but does not follow them.

I would always use a variation of the tar command given above for 
complete directory copies, from one system to another, however would add 
the "B" modifier to the example given above to ensure that tar Blocks 
for pipes/network.

However rsync would be a much better option if say a DR host needs to be 
kept in sync with a production, as rsync can be configured to to 
incremental updates, ie only copy changes, and where files are deleted 
on the source delete them at the dest, maintaining a complete mirror of 
two directories across a network.
it could be cron's to run every few mins.

regards peter