- cross-posted to:
- [email protected]
- cross-posted to:
- [email protected]
You might not even like rsync. Yeah it’s old. Yeah it’s slow. But if you’re working with Linux you’re going to need to know it.
In this video I walk through my favorite everyday flags for rsync.
Support the channel:
https://patreon.com/VeronicaExplains
https://ko-fi.com/VeronicaExplains
https://thestopbits.bandcamp.com/
Here’s a companion blog post, where I cover a bit more detail: https://vkc.sh/everyday-rsync
Also, @BreadOnPenguins made an awesome rsync video and you should check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eifQI5uD6VQ
Lastly, I left out all of the ssh setup stuff because I made a video about that and the blog post goes into a smidge more detail. If you want to see a video covering the basics of using SSH, I made one a few years ago and it’s still pretty good: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FKsdbjzBcc
Chapters:
1:18 Invoking rsync
4:05 The --delete flag for rsync
5:30 Compression flag: -z
6:02 Using tmux and rsync together
6:30 but Veronica… why not use (insert shiny object here)
The main things that come to mind are you have to test/monitor 2 seperate actions instead of 1, and restores of single files could be more difficult since you need to login to the backup server, restore the file from a snapshot, then also copy that file back to your PC.
My point is, how often do you actually need to restore from backup? If it’s frequent, consider a dedicated tool for whatever that thing is. If it’s infrequent, it’ll probably easier to just learn how to do it every five years or whatever.
If you like borg/restic/etc, by all means, use it.
My point is that most people probably don’t need it. Snapshots are something you set up once, and you should probably use them even if you’re using something like borg for any files that aren’t covered (e.g. config files on the server). Rsync is also something you set up once, and checking it is the same as any other service.