✅Push or Pull over SSH using rsync

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Here is the final extended guide with cron job automation and example output logs added:

Includes: SSH Key Authentication · Non-root Usage · Cron Job Automation · Example Output

🔐 SSH Key Authentication Setup

  1. Generate SSH key (if not created yet): ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096
  2. Copy the key to the remote server: ssh-copy-id -i ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub backupuser@server.domain.com -p 5200
  3. Verify login without password: ssh -p 5200 backupuser@server.domain.com

✅ PUSH (Local ➝ Remote)

Root + password auth:

rsync -avp --progress -e "ssh -p 22" /home/storage root@server.domain.com:/home/vzdump

Non-root + SSH key auth:

rsync -avp --progress -e "ssh -i ~/.ssh/id_rsa -p 5200" /home/storage backupuser@server.domain.com:/home/backupuser/vzdump

✅ PULL (Remote ➝ Local)

Root + password auth:

rsync -avp --progress -e "ssh -p 5200" root@server.domain.com:/home/cpaneluser1/backups/test /home/cpaneluser1

Non-root + SSH key auth:

rsync -avp --progress -e "ssh -i ~/.ssh/id_rsa -p 5200" backupuser@server.domain.com:/home/backupuser/backups/test /home/localuser/backups/

📌 Real-World Example

Transfer from remote backup server to local server using a non-root SSH key:

rsync -avp --progress -e "ssh -i ~/.ssh/id_rsa -p 5200" backupuser@server.domain.com:/home/backupuser/backups/test /home/localuser/backups/

⏱️ Automate with Cron Job

To run a scheduled daily backup at 2:30 AM, edit the crontab:

crontab -e

Add:

30 2 * * * rsync -az --delete -e "ssh -i /home/localuser/.ssh/id_rsa -p 5200" backupuser@server.domain.com:/home/backupuser/backups/ /home/localuser/backups/ >> /home/localuser/logs/rsync-backup.log 2>&1

🔹 --delete removes files locally that no longer exist remotely (optional).
🔹 Log file will be stored in /home/localuser/logs/rsync-backup.log.

🧾 Example Output (from manual run)

receiving incremental file list
test/
test/file1.tar.gz
          1,024,000 100%   11.50MB/s    0:00:00 (xfr#1, to-chk=2/3)
test/file2.sql
            256,000 100%   10.24MB/s    0:00:00 (xfr#2, to-chk=1/3)

sent 123 bytes  received 1,280,456 bytes  213,456.67 bytes/sec
total size is 1,280,000  speedup is 1.00

🔒 Best Practices

  • Always use non-root users for routine transfers.
  • Store SSH keys with 600 permissions: chmod 600 ~/.ssh/id_rsa
  • Set ownership and file permissions post-transfer: chown -R localuser:localuser /home/localuser/backups/ chmod -R 700 /home/localuser/backups/
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