Live Sync with lsyncd
![Dmitri Popov Dmitri Popov](/var/linux_magazin/storage/images/online/blogs/productivity-sauce/275404-17-eng-US/Productivity-Sauce.png)
Productivity Sauce
rsync is an excellent and versatile backup tool, but it does have one drawback: you have to run it manually when you want to back up your data. Sure, you can use cron to create scheduled backups, but even this solution cannot provide seamless live synchronization. If this is what you want, then you need the lsyncd tool, a command-line utility which uses rsync to synchronize (or rather mirror) local directories with a remote machine in real time. To install lsyncd on your machine, download the latest .tar.gz archive from the project's Web site, unpack it, and use the terminal to switch to the resulted directory. Run then the ./configure command followed by make, and make install (the latter command requires root privileges). lsyncd is rather straightforward in use, as it features just one command and a handful of options. The lsyncd command requires only two parameters: the source and the target directory, for example:
lsyncd /path/to/source /path/to/target
This command syncs two local directories, but lsyncd can also mirror a local directory to a folder on a remote machine. For example, the following command syncs the source directory on the local machine with the target directory on a remote machine which has the 192.168.1.7 IP address, connecting to the remote server as the user "monkey":
lsyncd /path/to/source monkey@192.168.1.7:/path/to/target/
In most cases, you have to provide a password to successfully connect to a remote server, so to make the command above work, you have to use the --no-daemon option which prevents the process from running as a daemon:
lsyncd --no-daemon /path/to/source monkey@192.168.1.7:/path/to/target/
Another useful option is --exclude. As the name suggests, it allows you to specify files or directories that you don't want to sync.
Comments
comments powered by DisqusSubscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
![Learn More](https://www.linux-magazine.com/var/linux_magazin/storage/images/media/linux-magazine-eng-us/images/misc/learn-more/834592-1-eng-US/Learn-More_medium.png)
News
-
NVIDIA Released Driver for Upcoming NVIDIA 560 GPU for Linux
Not only has NVIDIA released the driver for its upcoming CPU series, it's the first release that defaults to using open-source GPU kernel modules.
-
OpenMandriva Lx 24.07 Released
If you’re into rolling release Linux distributions, OpenMandriva ROME has a new snapshot with a new kernel.
-
Kernel 6.10 Available for General Usage
Linus Torvalds has released the 6.10 kernel and it includes significant performance increases for Intel Core hybrid systems and more.
-
TUXEDO Computers Releases InfinityBook Pro 14 Gen9 Laptop
Sporting either AMD or Intel CPUs, the TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro 14 is an extremely compact, lightweight, sturdy powerhouse.
-
Google Extends Support for Linux Kernels Used for Android
Because the LTS Linux kernel releases are so important to Android, Google has decided to extend the support period beyond that offered by the kernel development team.
-
Linux Mint 22 Stable Delayed
If you're anxious about getting your hands on the stable release of Linux Mint 22, it looks as if you're going to have to wait a bit longer.
-
Nitrux 3.5.1 Available for Install
The latest version of the immutable, systemd-free distribution includes an updated kernel and NVIDIA driver.
-
Debian 12.6 Released with Plenty of Bug Fixes and Updates
The sixth update to Debian "Bookworm" is all about security mitigations and making adjustments for some "serious problems."
-
Canonical Offers 12-Year LTS for Open Source Docker Images
Canonical is expanding its LTS offering to reach beyond the DEB packages with a new distro-less Docker image.
-
Plasma Desktop 6.1 Released with Several Enhancements
If you're a fan of Plasma Desktop, you should be excited about this new point release.
Live Sync with lsyncd
be it sysadmins or home users. We use tar as a basis for our own backup script,
but I recognize the power of rsync as a basis.
Also, there's so many tools to choose from, and I guess rsync tools can mix,
e.g. you can have lsyncd running, while also having a tool like rsyncBackup or
Rdiff-backup ?
Don't forget to make backups for databases (MySQL for example) with their tools, though,
to keep databases consistent!
Anyway, I like tools based on proven and mature simple Un*x tools like tar and rsync,
cause you'll also have all other Un*x tools to mix with them, e.g. being able to keep a cron
job separate from your backup program itself keeps things manageable.
Mike