Copy Data using Rsync to Sync Local and Remote Directories

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The rsync tool is a *nix command that can be used on macOS, Ubuntu (Debian) and CEntOS (RHEL) systems to “remote sync” two directories either on a local or remote computer system.

rsync -rvahP -e 'ssh -p 12345' /path/to/source username@servername.domain:/path/to/destination

A selection of common option flag descriptions:

-r, --recursive             recurse into directories to include all subdirectories and files
-v, --verbose               Increase verbosity
-a, --archive               archive mode equals -rlptgoD (no -H,-A,-X)
-h, human-readable          human-readable number formatting

Other Useful Commands:

-b, --backup                take the backup during synchronization
-e, -–rsh=COMMAND           indicate the remote shell to use in rsync
-g, --group                 preserve group
-l, --links                 copy symlinks as symlinks during the sync
-n, --dry-run               perform trial run without synchronization
-p, --perms                 preserve permissions
-o, --owner                 preserve owner (super-user only)
-q, --quiet                 suppress message output
-t, --times                 preserve times
-u, --update                don’t copy the files if destination files are newer
-z, --compress              compress file data during the transfer

-P, --progress                  show progress of the sync during transfer

Further reading may be found here:

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