rsync

rsync is the standard tool for efficient file synchronisation and remote transfers. It only sends changed blocks, making it much faster than scp for large directories.

Basic syntax

rsync [options] SOURCE DESTINATION

Common flags: -a (archive — preserves permissions, timestamps, symlinks), -v (verbose), -z (compress in transit), -P (show progress + partial).

Sync over SSH on a custom port

rsync -azv --progress -e "ssh -p 16969"   /home/user/public_html/mysite.com/   root@45.76.116.182:/home/user/public_html/mysite.com/

Sync using a specific SSH key

rsync -Pav -e "ssh -i $HOME/.ssh/mykey"   username@hostname:/remote/dir/ /local/dir/

Sync using a specific key and port

rsync -Pav -e "ssh -i $HOME/.ssh/mykey -p 2222"   username@hostname:/remote/dir/ /local/dir/

Delete files on destination that no longer exist in source

rsync -av --delete /source/dir/ user@host:/dest/dir/

Dry run (preview what would change)

rsync -av --dry-run /source/ user@host:/dest/

Backup with timestamp

rsync -av --backup --backup-dir=/backup/$(date +%Y-%m-%d) /source/ /dest/

Cron-based nightly sync

0 2 * * * rsync -az -e "ssh -i /root/.ssh/backup_key"   /var/www/ backup@backup-server:/backups/www/ >> /var/log/rsync.log 2>&1

rsync's --exclude and --exclude-from options let you skip specific files, directories, or patterns during sync.

Exclude a single file or directory

rsync -av --exclude 'node_modules' /source/ /dest/
rsync -av --exclude '*.log' /source/ /dest/

Exclude multiple patterns

rsync -av   --exclude 'node_modules'   --exclude '.git'   --exclude '*.log'   --exclude 'tmp/'   /source/ user@host:/dest/

Exclude using a file (--exclude-from)

Create /etc/rsync-exclude.txt:

node_modules/
.git/
*.log
*.tmp
cache/
uploads/videos/

rsync -av --exclude-from='/etc/rsync-exclude.txt' /source/ user@host:/dest/

Exclude a directory but include its contents (use filter rules)

rsync -av   --filter='- /logs/*.gz'   --filter='+ /logs/*.log'   /source/ /dest/

Include only specific file types

# Only sync PHP and HTML files
rsync -av   --include='*.php'   --include='*.html'   --exclude='*'   /source/ user@host:/dest/

Verify before syncing (dry run)

rsync -av --dry-run --exclude-from='exclude.txt' /source/ /dest/