RSYNC into Yosemite

[Killerbob]

Hi,

I use RSYNC on my ReadyNAS to backup from another NAS. RSYNC logs into the NAS and "sucks" the data over.

Is it possible to RSYNC into a Mac Pro running Yosemite? I hear that there is an RSYNC client in OSX, but can't find any details on how to enable it, etc.

 

[joedec]

Hi,

I use RSYNC on my ReadyNAS to backup from another NAS. RSYNC logs into the NAS and "sucks" the data over.

Is it possible to RSYNC into a Mac Pro running Yosemite? I hear that there is an RSYNC client in OSX, but can't find any details on how to enable it, etc.

Yes rsync ships with Yosemite. The man page is long, at the end refers you to;

http://rsync.samba.org

for more information.

 

[Killerbob]

What I am really looking for is setting up the RSYNC job on the ReadyNAS (I know how to do this), and have it log into the Mac Pro and pull the data. On a ReadyNAS you need to define a user and the RSYNC job uses that to login. How do I enable that in OSX, and is there not an interface?

 

[Weaselboy]

What I am really looking for is setting up the RSYNC job on the ReadyNAS (I know how to do this), and have it log into the Mac Pro and pull the data. On a ReadyNAS you need to define a user and the RSYNC job uses that to login. How do I enable that in OSX, and is there not an interface?

OS X comes with the rsync binary that can be used from the command line in Terminal. The man page on it is here. The binary that ships with OS X is very old and does not properly support OS X metadata, so make sure you update rsync on OS X before you use it.

I don't know of a GUI interface to do what you want by having rsync on the NAS "pull" the data over though. You might be able to share certain folder in OS X and have rsync from the NAS access those folders to pull over data. I'm not familiar at all with ReadyNAS so dunno if that will even work.

You might be able to use SSH from the NAS to come into OS X to run rsync and pull the data across?

I think you would be better off using rsync on the OS X side to "push" the data to the NAS. That is what is more commonly done. Is there some reason you don't want to use this approach?

 

[joedec]

What I am really looking for is setting up the RSYNC job on the ReadyNAS (I know how to do this), and have it log into the Mac Pro and pull the data. On a ReadyNAS you need to define a user and the RSYNC job uses that to login. How do I enable that in OSX, and is there not an interface?

Generally the rsync remote connection is via ssh. Since your Mac is the client, its possible you just enable System Preferences/Sharing/Remote Login, add some arbitrary account or point at an existing one. I assume the account needs privilege enough to read everything.

Weaselboy is right, its pretty old V2.6.9, Apple hasn't updated since 2006. Doesn't mean it won't work but definitely needs to be addressed.

One more thing, here's a site that has good instructions as well as updating rsync.

http://static.afp548.com/mactips/rsync.html

 

[HenryAZ]

You can use the rsync binary that comes with OS X as a service, IOW run it as an rsync daemon. This is how I am using it on Yosemite, and I used this site and its provided plist file to get it going.

I run the daemon on the desktop machine, and connect to it from a laptop, to suck down and sync certain folders. The manual page for rsync will tell you how to make the connection to the daemon (basically two colons in the path instead of one), as well as explain the switches you need to use to accomplish what you want.

You will also need to have ssh set up for the user using the service, using the ssh key method of authentication.

There is also a manual page for rsyncd.conf, which you will have to create.

I wrote a shell script for the rsync job on the laptop, and used Automator to make it a service, so I can run it from within an application, or from the terminal.