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manpage(rsyncd.conf)(5)(12 Aug 2004)()()

manpagename(rsyncd.conf)(configuration file for rsync server)

manpagesynopsis()

rsyncd.conf

manpagedescription()

The rsyncd.conf file is the runtime configuration file for rsync when

run as an rsync server.

The rsyncd.conf file controls authentication, access, logging and

available modules.

manpagesection(FILE FORMAT)

The file consists of modules and parameters. A module begins with the

name of the module in square brackets and continues until the next

module begins. Modules contain parameters of the form 'name = value'.

The file is line-based - that is, each newline-terminated line represents

either a comment, a module name or a parameter.

Only the first equals sign in a parameter is significant. Whitespace before

or after the first equals sign is discarded. Leading, trailing and internal

whitespace in module and parameter names is irrelevant. Leading and

trailing whitespace in a parameter value is discarded. Internal whitespace

within a parameter value is retained verbatim.

Any line beginning with a hash (#) is ignored, as are lines containing

only whitespace.

Any line ending in a \ is "continued" on the next line in the

customary UNIX fashion.

The values following the equals sign in parameters are all either a string

(no quotes needed) or a boolean, which may be given as yes/no, 0/1 or

true/false. Case is not significant in boolean values, but is preserved

in string values.

manpagesection(LAUNCHING THE RSYNC DAEMON)

The rsync daemon is launched by specifying the --daemon option to

rsync.

The daemon must run with root privileges if you wish to use chroot, to

bind to a port numbered under 1024 (as is the default 873), or to set

file ownership. Otherwise, it must just have permission to read and

write the appropriate data, log, and lock files.

You can launch it either via inetd, as a stand-alone daemon, or from

an rsync client via a remote shell. If run as a stand-alone daemon then

just run the command "rsync --daemon" from a suitable startup script.

If run from an rsync client via a remote shell (by specifying both the

"-e/--rsh" option and server mode with "::" or "rsync://"), the --daemon

option is automatically passed to the remote side.

When run via inetd you should add a line like this to /etc/services:

quote(rsync 873/tcp)

and a single line something like this to /etc/inetd.conf:

quote(rsync stream tcp nowait root /usr/bin/rsync rsyncd --daemon)

Replace "/usr/bin/rsync" with the path to where you have rsync installed on

your system. You will then need to send inetd a HUP signal to tell it to

reread its config file.

Note that you should not send the rsync server a HUP signal to force

it to reread the tt(rsyncd.conf) file. The file is re-read on each client

connection.

manpagesection(GLOBAL OPTIONS)

The first parameters in the file (before a [module] header) are the

global parameters.

You may also include any module parameters in the global part of the

config file in which case the supplied value will override the

default for that parameter.

startdit()

dit(bf(motd file)) The "motd file" option allows you to specify a

"message of the day" to display to clients on each connect. This

usually contains site information and any legal notices. The default

is no motd file.

dit(bf(log file)) The "log file" option tells the rsync daemon to log

messages to that file rather than using syslog. This is particularly

useful on systems (such as AIX) where syslog() doesn't work for

chrooted programs.

dit(bf(pid file)) The "pid file" option tells the rsync daemon to write

its process ID to that file.

dit(bf(syslog facility)) The "syslog facility" option allows you to

specify the syslog facility name to use when logging messages from the

rsync server. You may use any standard syslog facility name which is

defined on your system. Common names are auth, authpriv, cron, daemon,

ftp, kern, lpr, mail, news, security, syslog, user, uucp, local0,

local1, local2, local3, local4, local5, local6 and local7. The default

is daemon.

dit(bf(socket options)) This option can provide endless fun for people

who like to tune their systems to the utmost degree. You can set all

sorts of socket options which may make transfers faster (or

slower!). Read the man page for the setsockopt() system call for

details on some of the options you may be able to set. By default no

special socket options are set.

enddit()

manpagesection(MODULE OPTIONS)

After the global options you should define a number of modules, each

module exports a directory tree as a symbolic name. Modules are

exported by specifying a module name in square brackets [module]

followed by the options for that module.

startdit()

dit(bf(comment)) The "comment" option specifies a description string

that is displayed next to the module name when clients obtain a list

of available modules. The default is no comment.

dit(bf(path)) The "path" option specifies the directory in the servers

filesystem to make available in this module. You must specify this option

for each module in tt(rsyncd.conf).

dit(bf(use chroot)) If "use chroot" is true, the rsync server will chroot

to the "path" before starting the file transfer with the client. This has

the advantage of extra protection against possible implementation security

holes, but it has the disadvantages of requiring super-user privileges,

of not being able to follow symbolic links that are either absolute or outside

of the new root path, and of complicating the preservation of usernames and groups

(see below). When "use chroot" is false, for security reasons,

symlinks may only be relative paths pointing to other files within the root

path, and leading slashes are removed from most absolute paths (options

such as --backup-dir, --compare-dest, etc. interpret an absolute path as

rooted in the module's "path" dir, just as if chroot was specified).

The default for "use chroot" is true.

In order to preserve usernames and groupnames, rsync needs to be able to

use the standard library functions for looking up names and IDs (i.e.

getpwuid(), getgrgid(), getpwname(), and getgrnam()). This means a

process in the chroot namespace will need to have access to the resources

used by these library functions (traditionally /etc/passwd and

/etc/group). If these resources are not available, rsync will only be

able to copy the IDs, just as if the --numeric-ids option had been

specified.

Note that you are free to setup user/group information in the chroot area

differently from your normal system. For example, you could abbreviate

the list of users and groups. Also, you can protect this information from

being downloaded/uploaded by adding an exclude rule to the rsync.conf file

(e.g. "exclude = /etc/"). Note that having the exclusion affect uploads

is a relatively new feature in rsync, so make sure your server is running

at least 2.6.3 to effect this.

dit(bf(max connections)) The "max connections" option allows you to

specify the maximum number of simultaneous connections you will allow.

Any clients connecting when the maximum has been reached will receive a

message telling them to try later. The default is 0 which means no limit.

See also the "lock file" option.

dit(bf(lock file)) The "lock file" option specifies the file to use to

support the "max connections" option. The rsync server uses record

locking on this file to ensure that the max connections limit is not

exceeded for the modules sharing the lock file.

The default is tt(/var/run/rsyncd.lock).

dit(bf(read only)) The "read only" option determines whether clients

will be able to upload files or not. If "read only" is true then any

attempted uploads will fail. If "read only" is false then uploads will

be possible if file permissions on the server allow them. The default

is for all modules to be read only.

dit(bf(write only)) The "write only" option determines whether clients

will be able to download files or not. If "write only" is true then any

attempted downloads will fail. If "write only" is false then downloads

will be possible if file permissions on the server allow them. The

default is for this option to be disabled.

dit(bf(list)) The "list" option determines if this module should be

listed when the client asks for a listing of available modules. By

setting this to false you can create hidden modules. The default is

for modules to be listable.

dit(bf(uid)) The "uid" option specifies the user name or user ID that

file transfers to and from that module should take place as when the daemon

was run as root. In combination with the "gid" option this determines what

file permissions are available. The default is uid -2, which is normally

the user "nobody".

dit(bf(gid)) The "gid" option specifies the group name or group ID that

file transfers to and from that module should take place as when the daemon

was run as root. This complements the "uid" option. The default is gid -2,

which is normally the group "nobody".

dit(bf(exclude)) The "exclude" option allows you to specify a

space-separated list of patterns that the server will not allow to be read

or written. This is only superficially equivalent to the client

specifying these patterns with the --exclude option. Only one "exclude"

option may be specified, but you can use "-" and "+" before patterns to

specify exclude/include.

Because this exclude list is not passed to the client it only applies on

the server: that is, it excludes files received by a client when receiving

from a server and files deleted on a server when sending to a server, but

it doesn't exclude files from being deleted on a client when receiving

from a server.

dit(bf(exclude from)) The "exclude from" option specifies a filename

on the server that contains exclude patterns, one per line.

This is only superficially equivalent

to the client specifying the --exclude-from option with an equivalent file.

See the "exclude" option above.

dit(bf(include)) The "include" option allows you to specify a

space-separated list of patterns which rsync should not exclude. This is

only superficially equivalent to the client specifying these patterns with

the --include option because it applies only on the server. This is

useful as it allows you to build up quite complex exclude/include rules.

Only one "include" option may be specified, but you can use "+" and "-"

before patterns to switch include/exclude. See the "exclude" option

above.

dit(bf(include from)) The "include from" option specifies a filename

on the server that contains include patterns, one per line. This is

only superficially equivalent to the client specifying the

--include-from option with a equivalent file.

See the "exclude" option above.

dit(bf(auth users)) The "auth users" option specifies a comma and

space-separated list of usernames that will be allowed to connect to

this module. The usernames do not need to exist on the local

system. The usernames may also contain shell wildcard characters. If

"auth users" is set then the client will be challenged to supply a

username and password to connect to the module. A challenge response

authentication protocol is used for this exchange. The plain text

usernames are passwords are stored in the file specified by the

"secrets file" option. The default is for all users to be able to

connect without a password (this is called "anonymous rsync").

See also the bf(CONNECTING TO AN RSYNC SERVER OVER A REMOTE SHELL

PROGRAM) section in rsync(1) for information on how handle an

rsyncd.conf-level username that differs from the remote-shell-level

username when using a remote shell to connect to an rsync server.

dit(bf(secrets file)) The "secrets file" option specifies the name of

a file that contains the username:password pairs used for

authenticating this module. This file is only consulted if the "auth

users" option is specified. The file is line based and contains

username:password pairs separated by a single colon. Any line starting

with a hash (#) is considered a comment and is skipped. The passwords

can contain any characters but be warned that many operating systems

limit the length of passwords that can be typed at the client end, so

you may find that passwords longer than 8 characters don't work.

There is no default for the "secrets file" option, you must choose a name

(such as tt(/etc/rsyncd.secrets)). The file must normally not be readable

by "other"; see "strict modes".

dit(bf(strict modes)) The "strict modes" option determines whether or not

the permissions on the secrets file will be checked. If "strict modes" is

true, then the secrets file must not be readable by any user ID other

than the one that the rsync daemon is running under. If "strict modes" is

false, the check is not performed. The default is true. This option

was added to accommodate rsync running on the Windows operating system.

dit(bf(hosts allow)) The "hosts allow" option allows you to specify a

list of patterns that are matched against a connecting clients

hostname and IP address. If none of the patterns match then the

connection is rejected.

Each pattern can be in one of five forms:

itemize(

it() a dotted decimal IPv4 address of the form a.b.c.d, or an IPv6 address

of the form a:b:c::d:e:f. In this case the incoming machine's IP address

must match exactly.

it() an address/mask in the form ipaddr/n where ipaddr is the IP address

and n is the number of one bits in the netmask. All IP addresses which

match the masked IP address will be allowed in.

it() an address/mask in the form ipaddr/maskaddr where ipaddr is the

IP address and maskaddr is the netmask in dotted decimal notation for IPv4,

or similar for IPv6, e.g. ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:: instead of /64. All IP

addresses which match the masked IP address will be allowed in.

it() a hostname. The hostname as determined by a reverse lookup will

be matched (case insensitive) against the pattern. Only an exact

match is allowed in.

it() a hostname pattern using wildcards. These are matched using the

same rules as normal unix filename matching. If the pattern matches

then the client is allowed in.

)

Note IPv6 link-local addresses can have a scope in the address specification:

quote(fe80::1%link1)

quote(fe80::%link1/64)

quote(fe80::%link1/ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff::)

You can also combine "hosts allow" with a separate "hosts deny"

option. If both options are specified then the "hosts allow" option s

checked first and a match results in the client being able to

connect. The "hosts deny" option is then checked and a match means

that the host is rejected. If the host does not match either the

"hosts allow" or the "hosts deny" patterns then it is allowed to

connect.

The default is no "hosts allow" option, which means all hosts can connect.

dit(bf(hosts deny)) The "hosts deny" option allows you to specify a

list of patterns that are matched against a connecting clients

hostname and IP address. If the pattern matches then the connection is

rejected. See the "hosts allow" option for more information.

The default is no "hosts deny" option, which means all hosts can connect.

dit(bf(ignore errors)) The "ignore errors" option tells rsyncd to

ignore I/O errors on the server when deciding whether to run the delete

phase of the transfer. Normally rsync skips the --delete step if any

I/O errors have occurred in order to prevent disasterous deletion due

to a temporary resource shortage or other I/O error. In some cases this

test is counter productive so you can use this option to turn off this

behaviour.

dit(bf(ignore nonreadable)) This tells the rsync server to completely

ignore files that are not readable by the user. This is useful for

public archives that may have some non-readable files among the

directories, and the sysadmin doesn't want those files to be seen at all.

dit(bf(transfer logging)) The "transfer logging" option enables per-file

logging of downloads and uploads in a format somewhat similar to that

used by ftp daemons. If you want to customize the log formats look at

the log format option.

dit(bf(log format)) The "log format" option allows you to specify the

format used for logging file transfers when transfer logging is

enabled. The format is a text string containing embedded single

character escape sequences prefixed with a percent (%) character.

The prefixes that are understood are:

itemize(

it() %h for the remote host name

it() %a for the remote IP address

it() %l for the length of the file in bytes

it() %p for the process ID of this rsync session

it() %o for the operation, which is either "send" or "recv"

it() %f for the filename

it() %P for the module path

it() %m for the module name

it() %t for the current date time

it() %u for the authenticated username (or the null string)

it() %b for the number of bytes actually transferred

it() %c when sending files this gives the number of checksum bytes

received for this file

)

The default log format is "%o %h [%a] %m (%u) %f %l", and a "%t [%p] "

is always added to the beginning when using the "log file" option.

A perl script called rsyncstats to summarize this format is included

in the rsync source code distribution.

dit(bf(timeout)) The "timeout" option allows you to override the

clients choice for I/O timeout for this module. Using this option you

can ensure that rsync won't wait on a dead client forever. The timeout

is specified in seconds. A value of zero means no timeout and is the

default. A good choice for anonymous rsync servers may be 600 (giving

a 10 minute timeout).

dit(bf(refuse options)) The "refuse options" option allows you to

specify a space-separated list of rsync command line options that will

be refused by your rsync server.

You may specify the full option name, its one-letter abbreviation, or a

wild-card string that matches multiple options.

For example, this would refuse --checksum (-c) and all the options that

start with "delete":

quote(refuse options = c delete*)

When an option is refused, the server prints an error message and exits.

To prevent all compression, you can use "dont compress = *" (see below)

instead of "refuse options = compress" to avoid returning an error to a

client that requests compression.

dit(bf(dont compress)) The "dont compress" option allows you to select

filenames based on wildcard patterns that should not be compressed

during transfer. Compression is expensive in terms of CPU usage so it

is usually good to not try to compress files that won't compress well,

such as already compressed files.

The "dont compress" option takes a space-separated list of

case-insensitive wildcard patterns. Any source filename matching one

of the patterns will not be compressed during transfer.

The default setting is verb(*.gz *.tgz *.zip *.z *.rpm *.deb *.iso *.bz2 *.tbz)

enddit()

manpagesection(AUTHENTICATION STRENGTH)

The authentication protocol used in rsync is a 128 bit MD4 based

challenge response system. Although I believe that no one has ever

demonstrated a brute-force break of this sort of system you should

realize that this is not a "military strength" authentication system.

It should be good enough for most purposes but if you want really top

quality security then I recommend that you run rsync over ssh.

Also note that the rsync server protocol does not currently provide any

encryption of the data that is transferred over the connection. Only

authentication is provided. Use ssh as the transport if you want

encryption.

Future versions of rsync may support SSL for better authentication and

encryption, but that is still being investigated.

manpagesection(RUNNING AN RSYNC SERVER OVER A REMOTE SHELL PROGRAM)

If rsync is run with both the --daemon and --rsh (-e) options, it will

spawn an rsync daemon using a remote shell connection. Several

configuration options will not be available unless the remote user is

root (e.g. chroot, setuid/setgid, etc.). There is no need to configure

inetd or the services map to include the rsync server port if you run an

rsync server only via a remote shell program.

ADVANCED: To run an rsync server out of a single-use ssh key, use the

"command=em(COMMAND)" syntax in the remote user's authorized_keys entry,

where command would be

quote(rsync --server --daemon .)

NOTE: rsync's argument parsing expects the trailing ".", so make sure

that it's there. If you want to use an rsyncd.conf(5)-style

configuration file other than the default, you can added a

--config option to the em(command):

quote(rsync --server --daemon --config=em(file) .)

Note that the "--server" here is the internal option that rsync uses to

run the remote version of rsync that it communicates with, and thus you

should not be using the --server option under normal circumstances.

manpagesection(EXAMPLES)

A simple rsyncd.conf file that allow anonymous rsync to a ftp area at

tt(/home/ftp) would be:

verb(

[ftp]

path = /home/ftp

comment = ftp export area

)

A more sophisticated example would be:

uid = nobody nl()

gid = nobody nl()

use chroot = no nl()

max connections = 4 nl()

syslog facility = local5 nl()

pid file = /var/run/rsyncd.pid

verb([ftp]

path = /var/ftp/pub

comment = whole ftp area (approx 6.1 GB)

[sambaftp]

path = /var/ftp/pub/samba

comment = Samba ftp area (approx 300 MB)

[rsyncftp]

path = /var/ftp/pub/rsync

comment = rsync ftp area (approx 6 MB)

[sambawww]

path = /public_html/samba

comment = Samba WWW pages (approx 240 MB)

[cvs]

path = /data/cvs

comment = CVS repository (requires authentication)

auth users = tridge, susan

secrets file = /etc/rsyncd.secrets

)

The /etc/rsyncd.secrets file would look something like this:

tridge:mypass nl()

susan:herpass

manpagefiles()

/etc/rsyncd.conf or rsyncd.conf

manpageseealso()

rsync(1)

manpagediagnostics()

manpagebugs()

The rsync server does not send all types of error messages to the

client. this means a client may be mystified as to why a transfer

failed. The error will have been logged by syslog on the server.

Please report bugs! The rsync bug tracking system is online at

url(http://rsync.samba.org/)(http://rsync.samba.org/)

manpagesection(VERSION)

This man page is current for version 2.x of rsync.

manpagesection(CREDITS)

rsync is distributed under the GNU public license. See the file

COPYING for details.

The primary ftp site for rsync is

url(ftp://rsync.samba.org/pub/rsync)(ftp://rsync.samba.org/pub/rsync).

A WEB site is available at

url(http://rsync.samba.org/)(http://rsync.samba.org/)

We would be delighted to hear from you if you like this program.

This program uses the zlib compression library written by Jean-loup

Gailly and Mark Adler.

manpagesection(THANKS)

Thanks to Warren Stanley for his original idea and patch for the rsync

server. Thanks to Karsten Thygesen for his many suggestions and

documentation!

manpageauthor()

rsync was written by Andrew Tridgell and Paul Mackerras. They may be

contacted via email at tridge@samba.org and

Paul.Mackerras@cs.anu.edu.au