Re: Using rsync over SSH

[Bill Moseley <moseley@hank.org>]

On Fri, May 28, 2004 at 03:59:53PM +1000, glenn wrote:
> I'm happy to be corected here, but if you use rsync --server --daemon, 
> doesn't that exclude ssh from the equation? 

No, I don't think so.

I have not tried it yet, but according to the rsyncd.conf(5)  man page that's
the command used in single-use key when running rsync *server* over
ssh.  So, the server is not normally running until a ssh connection is
made.

Then, according to rsync(1) to connect from the client you do something
like:

   rsync -av --rsh="ssh -l ssh-user" rsync-user@host::module[/path] local-path

where "ssh-user" is the remote unix user name.  Might even want to use
-i to specify what private key to use (the one that's defined for the
single use on the remote machine).  Using .ssh/config can make that
easier, I suppose.

> In order to use ssh, do you not need 
> rsync -e ssh .......  from the instigating end, which then talks to the
> ssh deamon, not the rsync deamon?

Yes, you need -e (--rsh) to say what remote shell to use.  Then you also
use the double :: to indicate you are using a remote rsync server.

Then when the ssh connection is made on the remote end, the public key
used for authentication also says to run the program rsync in server
mode (instead of say a shell).

And to answer my question about how to set the command for the single-use
key in SSH Corp's version:

In the .ssh2/authorization file you do, for example:

    Key open.pub
    Key rsync.pub
    Options allow-from="trusted.hank.org", command="rsync --server --daemon ."

So if you connect with the private key for open.pub you get normal ssh
access, but if you use the private key for rsync.pub then you can only
run rsync.

The man page on the Sun box for ssh2 doesn't describe those Options, but
they can be found at:

  http://www.ssh.com/documents/32/ssh2_40.html

** Note: this is only from looking at the manual pages -- I've tried
using a simple command="ls" and it works as expected, but I have not
setup the rsync server yet (have to first install rsync).
So the info above might be incorrect.

-- 
Bill Moseley
moseley@hank.org