1 mailto(rsync-bugs@samba.org)
2 manpage(rsyncd.conf)(5)(12 Feb 1999)()()
3 manpagename(rsyncd.conf)(configuration file for rsync server)
10 The rsyncd.conf file is the runtime configuration file for rsync when
11 run with the --daemon option. When run in this way rsync becomes a
12 rsync server listening on TCP port 873. Connections from rsync clients
13 are accepted for either anonymous or authenticated rsync sessions.
15 The rsyncd.conf file controls authentication, access, logging and
18 manpagesection(FILE FORMAT)
20 The file consists of modules and parameters. A module begins with the
21 name of the module in square brackets and continues until the next
22 module begins. Modules contain parameters of the form 'name = value'.
24 The file is line-based - that is, each newline-terminated line represents
25 either a comment, a module name or a parameter.
27 Only the first equals sign in a parameter is significant. Whitespace before
28 or after the first equals sign is discarded. Leading, trailing and internal
29 whitespace in module and parameter names is irrelevant. Leading and
30 trailing whitespace in a parameter value is discarded. Internal whitespace
31 within a parameter value is retained verbatim.
33 Any line beginning with a hash (#) is ignored, as are lines containing
36 Any line ending in a \ is "continued" on the next line in the
37 customary UNIX fashion.
39 The values following the equals sign in parameters are all either a string
40 (no quotes needed) or a boolean, which may be given as yes/no, 0/1 or
41 true/false. Case is not significant in boolean values, but is preserved
44 manpagesection(LAUNCHING THE RSYNC DAEMON)
46 The rsync daemon is launched by specifying the --daemon option to
49 The daemon must run with root privileges if you wish to use chroot, to
50 bind to a port numbered under 1024 (as is the default 873), or to set
51 file ownership. Otherwise, it must just have permission to read and
52 write the appropriate data, log, and lock files.
54 You can launch it either via inetd or as a stand-alone daemon. If run
55 as a daemon then just run the command "rsync --daemon" from a suitable
58 When run via inetd you should add a line like this to /etc/services:
62 and a single line something like this to /etc/inetd.conf:
64 quote(rsync stream tcp nowait root /usr/bin/rsync rsyncd --daemon)
66 Replace "/usr/bin/rsync" with the path to where you have rsync installed on
67 your system. You will then need to send inetd a HUP signal to tell it to
68 reread its config file.
70 Note that you should not send the rsync server a HUP signal to force
71 it to reread the tt(/etc/rsyncd.conf). The file is re-read on each client
74 manpagesection(GLOBAL OPTIONS)
76 The first parameters in the file (before a [module] header) are the
79 You may also include any module parameters in the global part of the
80 config file in which case the supplied value will override the
81 default for that parameter.
84 dit(bf(motd file)) The "motd file" option allows you to specify a
85 "message of the day" to display to clients on each connect. This
86 usually contains site information and any legal notices. The default
89 dit(bf(log file)) The "log file" option tells the rsync daemon to log
90 messages to that file rather than using syslog. This is particularly
91 useful on systems (such as AIX) where syslog() doesn't work for
94 dit(bf(pid file)) The "pid file" option tells the rsync daemon to write
95 its process id to that file.
97 dit(bf(syslog facility)) The "syslog facility" option allows you to
98 specify the syslog facility name to use when logging messages from the
99 rsync server. You may use any standard syslog facility name which is
100 defined on your system. Common names are auth, authpriv, cron, daemon,
101 ftp, kern, lpr, mail, news, security, syslog, user, uucp, local0,
102 local1, local2, local3, local4, local5, local6 and local7. The default
105 dit(bf(socket options)) This option can provide endless fun for people
106 who like to tune their systems to the utmost degree. You can set all
107 sorts of socket options which may make transfers faster (or
108 slower!). Read the man page for the setsockopt() system call for
109 details on some of the options you may be able to set. By default no
110 special socket options are set.
115 manpagesection(MODULE OPTIONS)
117 After the global options you should define a number of modules, each
118 module exports a directory tree as a symbolic name. Modules are
119 exported by specifying a module name in square brackets [module]
120 followed by the options for that module.
124 dit(bf(comment)) The "comment" option specifies a description string
125 that is displayed next to the module name when clients obtain a list
126 of available modules. The default is no comment.
128 dit(bf(path)) The "path" option specifies the directory in the servers
129 filesystem to make available in this module. You must specify this option
130 for each module in tt(/etc/rsyncd.conf).
132 dit(bf(use chroot)) If "use chroot" is true, the rsync server will chroot
133 to the "path" before starting the file transfer with the client. This has
134 the advantage of extra protection against possible implementation security
135 holes, but it has the disadvantages of requiring super-user privileges,
136 of not being able to follow symbolic links outside of the new root path
137 when reading, and of implying the --numeric-ids option because /etc/passwd
138 becomes inaccessible. When "use chroot" is false, for security reasons
139 symlinks may only be relative paths pointing to other files within the root
140 path, and leading slashes are removed from absolute paths. The default for
141 "use chroot" is true.
143 dit(bf(max connections)) The "max connections" option allows you to
144 specify the maximum number of simultaneous connections you will allow.
145 Any clients connecting when the maximum has been reached will receive a
146 message telling them to try later. The default is 0 which means no limit.
147 See also the "lock file" option.
149 dit(bf(lock file)) The "lock file" option specifies the file to use to
150 support the "max connections" option. The rsync server uses record
151 locking on this file to ensure that the max connections limit is not
152 exceeded for the modules sharing the lock file.
153 The default is tt(/var/run/rsyncd.lock).
155 dit(bf(read only)) The "read only" option determines whether clients
156 will be able to upload files or not. If "read only" is true then any
157 attempted uploads will fail. If "read only" is false then uploads will
158 be possible if file permissions on the server allow them. The default
159 is for all modules to be read only.
161 dit(bf(list)) The "list" option determines if this module should be
162 listed when the client asks for a listing of available modules. By
163 setting this to false you can create hidden modules. The default is
164 for modules to be listable.
166 dit(bf(uid)) The "uid" option specifies the user name or user id that
167 file transfers to and from that module should take place as when the daemon
168 was run as root. In combination with the "gid" option this determines what
169 file permissions are available. The default is uid -2, which is normally
172 dit(bf(gid)) The "gid" option specifies the group name or group id that
173 file transfers to and from that module should take place as when the daemon
174 was run as root. This complements the "uid" option. The default is gid -2,
175 which is normally the group "nobody".
177 dit(bf(exclude)) The "exclude" option allows you to specify a space
178 separated list of patterns to add to the exclude list. This is equivalent
179 to the client specifying these patterns with the --exclude option, except
180 that the exclude list is not passed to the client and thus only applies on
181 the server: that is, it excludes files received by a client when receiving
182 from a server and files deleted on a server when sending to a server, but
183 it doesn't exclude files sent from a client when sending to a server or
184 files deleted on a client when receiving from a server.
185 Only one "exclude" option may be specified, but
186 you can use "-" and "+" before patterns to specify exclude/include.
188 Note that this option is not designed with strong security in
189 mind, it is quite possible that a client may find a way to bypass this
190 exclude list. If you want to absolutely ensure that certain files
191 cannot be accessed then use the uid/gid options in combination with
194 dit(bf(exclude from)) The "exclude from" option specifies a filename
195 on the server that contains exclude patterns, one per line. This is
196 equivalent to the client specifying the --exclude-from option with a
197 equivalent file except that it applies only on the server. See also
198 the "exclude" option above.
200 dit(bf(include)) The "include" option allows you to specify a space
201 separated list of patterns which rsync should not exclude. This is
202 equivalent to the client specifying these patterns with the --include
203 option except that it applies only on the server. This is useful as it
204 allows you to build up quite complex exclude/include rules. Only one
205 "include" option may be specified, but you can use "+" and "-" before
206 patterns to switch include/exclude. See also the "exclude" option above.
208 dit(bf(include from)) The "include from" option specifies a filename
209 on the server that contains include patterns, one per line. This is
210 equivalent to the client specifying the --include-from option with a
211 equivalent file except that it applies only on the server. See also
212 the "exclude" option above.
214 dit(bf(auth users)) The "auth users" option specifies a comma and
215 space separated list of usernames that will be allowed to connect to
216 this module. The usernames do not need to exist on the local
217 system. The usernames may also contain shell wildcard characters. If
218 "auth users" is set then the client will be challenged to supply a
219 username and password to connect to the module. A challenge response
220 authentication protocol is used for this exchange. The plain text
221 usernames are passwords are stored in the file specified by the
222 "secrets file" option. The default is for all users to be able to
223 connect without a password (this is called "anonymous rsync").
225 See also the bf(CONNECTING TO AN RSYNC SERVER OVER A REMOTE SHELL
226 PROGRAM) section in rsync(1) for information on how handle an
227 rsyncd.conf-level username that differs from the remote-shell-level
228 username when using a remote shell to connect to a rsync server.
230 dit(bf(secrets file)) The "secrets file" option specifies the name of
231 a file that contains the username:password pairs used for
232 authenticating this module. This file is only consulted if the "auth
233 users" option is specified. The file is line based and contains
234 username:password pairs separated by a single colon. Any line starting
235 with a hash (#) is considered a comment and is skipped. The passwords
236 can contain any characters but be warned that many operating systems
237 limit the length of passwords that can be typed at the client end, so
238 you may find that passwords longer than 8 characters don't work.
240 There is no default for the "secrets file" option, you must choose a name
241 (such as tt(/etc/rsyncd.secrets)). The file must normally not be readable
242 by "other"; see "strict modes".
244 dit(bf(strict modes)) The "strict modes" option determines whether or not
245 the permissions on the secrets file will be checked. If "strict modes" is
246 true, then the secrets file must not be readable by any user id other
247 than the one that the rsync daemon is running under. If "strict modes" is
248 false, the check is not performed. The default is true. This option
249 was added to accommodate rsync running on the Windows operating system.
251 dit(bf(hosts allow)) The "hosts allow" option allows you to specify a
252 list of patterns that are matched against a connecting clients
253 hostname and IP address. If none of the patterns match then the
254 connection is rejected.
256 Each pattern can be in one of five forms:
259 it() a dotted decimal IP address. In this case the incoming machines
260 IP address must match exactly.
262 it() a address/mask in the form a.b.c.d/n were n is the number of
263 one bits in in the netmask. All IP addresses which match the masked
264 IP address will be allowed in.
266 it() a address/mask in the form a.b.c.d/e.f.g.h where e.f.g.h is a
267 netmask in dotted decimal notation. All IP addresses which match the masked
268 IP address will be allowed in.
270 it() a hostname. The hostname as determined by a reverse lookup will
271 be matched (case insensitive) against the pattern. Only an exact
274 it() a hostname pattern using wildcards. These are matched using the
275 same rules as normal unix filename matching. If the pattern matches
276 then the client is allowed in.
279 You can also combine "hosts allow" with a separate "hosts deny"
280 option. If both options are specified then the "hosts allow" option s
281 checked first and a match results in the client being able to
282 connect. The "hosts deny" option is then checked and a match means
283 that the host is rejected. If the host does not match either the
284 "hosts allow" or the "hosts deny" patterns then it is allowed to
287 The default is no "hosts allow" option, which means all hosts can connect.
289 dit(bf(hosts deny)) The "hosts deny" option allows you to specify a
290 list of patterns that are matched against a connecting clients
291 hostname and IP address. If the pattern matches then the connection is
292 rejected. See the "hosts allow" option for more information.
294 The default is no "hosts deny" option, which means all hosts can connect.
296 dit(bf(ignore errors)) The "ignore errors" option tells rsyncd to
297 ignore IO errors on the server when deciding whether to run the delete
298 phase of the transfer. Normally rsync skips the --delete step if any
299 IO errors have occurred in order to prevent disasterous deletion due
300 to a temporary resource shortage or other IO error. In some cases this
301 test is counter productive so you can use this option to turn off this
304 dit(bf(ignore nonreadable)) This tells the rsync server to completely
305 ignore files that are not readable by the user. This is useful for
306 public archives that may have some non-readable files among the
307 directories, and the sysadmin doesn't want those files to be seen at all.
309 dit(bf(transfer logging)) The "transfer logging" option enables per-file
310 logging of downloads and uploads in a format somewhat similar to that
311 used by ftp daemons. If you want to customize the log formats look at
312 the log format option.
314 dit(bf(log format)) The "log format" option allows you to specify the
315 format used for logging file transfers when transfer logging is
316 enabled. The format is a text string containing embedded single
317 character escape sequences prefixed with a percent (%) character.
319 The prefixes that are understood are:
322 it() %h for the remote host name
323 it() %a for the remote IP address
324 it() %l for the length of the file in bytes
325 it() %p for the process id of this rsync session
326 it() %o for the operation, which is either "send" or "recv"
327 it() %f for the filename
328 it() %P for the module path
329 it() %m for the module name
330 it() %t for the current date time
331 it() %u for the authenticated username (or the null string)
332 it() %b for the number of bytes actually transferred
333 it() %c when sending files this gives the number of checksum bytes
334 received for this file
337 The default log format is "%o %h [%a] %m (%u) %f %l", and a "%t [%p] "
338 is always added to the beginning when using the "log file" option.
340 A perl script called rsyncstats to summarize this format is included
341 in the rsync source code distribution.
343 dit(bf(timeout)) The "timeout" option allows you to override the
344 clients choice for IO timeout for this module. Using this option you
345 can ensure that rsync won't wait on a dead client forever. The timeout
346 is specified in seconds. A value of zero means no timeout and is the
347 default. A good choice for anonymous rsync servers may be 600 (giving
348 a 10 minute timeout).
350 dit(bf(refuse options)) The "refuse options" option allows you to
351 specify a space separated list of rsync command line options that will
352 be refused by your rsync server. The full names of the options must be
353 used (i.e., you must use "checksum" not "c" to disable checksumming).
354 When an option is refused, the server prints an error message and exits.
355 To prevent all compression, you can use "dont compress = *" (see below)
356 instead of "refuse options = compress" to avoid returning an error to a
357 client that requests compression.
359 dit(bf(dont compress)) The "dont compress" option allows you to select
360 filenames based on wildcard patterns that should not be compressed
361 during transfer. Compression is expensive in terms of CPU usage so it
362 is usually good to not try to compress files that won't compress well,
363 such as already compressed files.
365 The "dont compress" option takes a space separated list of
366 case-insensitive wildcard patterns. Any source filename matching one
367 of the patterns will not be compressed during transfer.
369 The default setting is verb(*.gz *.tgz *.zip *.z *.rpm *.deb *.iso *.bz2 *.tbz)
373 manpagesection(AUTHENTICATION STRENGTH)
375 The authentication protocol used in rsync is a 128 bit MD4 based
376 challenge response system. Although I believe that no one has ever
377 demonstrated a brute-force break of this sort of system you should
378 realize that this is not a "military strength" authentication system.
379 It should be good enough for most purposes but if you want really top
380 quality security then I recommend that you run rsync over ssh.
382 Also note that the rsync server protocol does not currently provide any
383 encryption of the data that is transferred over the link. Only
384 authentication is provided. Use ssh as the transport if you want
387 Future versions of rsync may support SSL for better authentication and
388 encryption, but that is still being investigated.
390 manpagesection(EXAMPLES)
392 A simple rsyncd.conf file that allow anonymous rsync to a ftp area at
393 tt(/home/ftp) would be:
398 comment = ftp export area
402 A more sophisticated example would be:
407 max connections = 4 nl()
408 syslog facility = local5 nl()
409 pid file = /var/run/rsyncd.pid
413 comment = whole ftp area (approx 6.1 GB)
416 path = /var/ftp/pub/samba
417 comment = Samba ftp area (approx 300 MB)
420 path = /var/ftp/pub/rsync
421 comment = rsync ftp area (approx 6 MB)
424 path = /public_html/samba
425 comment = Samba WWW pages (approx 240 MB)
429 comment = CVS repository (requires authentication)
430 auth users = tridge, susan
431 secrets file = /etc/rsyncd.secrets
434 The /etc/rsyncd.secrets file would look something like this:
451 The rsync server does not send all types of error messages to the
452 client. this means a client may be mystified as to why a transfer
453 failed. The error will have been logged by syslog on the server.
455 Please report bugs! The rsync bug tracking system is online at
456 url(http://rsync.samba.org/)(http://rsync.samba.org/)
458 manpagesection(VERSION)
459 This man page is current for version 2.0 of rsync
461 manpagesection(CREDITS)
463 rsync is distributed under the GNU public license. See the file
466 The primary ftp site for rsync is
467 url(ftp://rsync.samba.org/pub/rsync)(ftp://rsync.samba.org/pub/rsync).
469 A WEB site is available at
470 url(http://rsync.samba.org/)(http://rsync.samba.org/)
472 We would be delighted to hear from you if you like this program.
474 This program uses the zlib compression library written by Jean-loup
475 Gailly and Mark Adler.
477 manpagesection(THANKS)
479 Thanks to Warren Stanley for his original idea and patch for the rsync
480 server. Thanks to Karsten Thygesen for his many suggestions and
485 rsync was written by Andrew Tridgell and Paul Mackerras. They may be
486 contacted via email at tridge@samba.org and
487 Paul.Mackerras@cs.anu.edu.au