1 mailto(rsync-bugs@samba.org)
2 manpage(rsyncd.conf)(5)(28 Jul 2005)()()
3 manpagename(rsyncd.conf)(configuration file for rsync in daemon mode)
10 The rsyncd.conf file is the runtime configuration file for rsync when
11 run as an rsync daemon.
13 The rsyncd.conf file controls authentication, access, logging and
16 manpagesection(FILE FORMAT)
18 The file consists of modules and parameters. A module begins with the
19 name of the module in square brackets and continues until the next
20 module begins. Modules contain parameters of the form 'name = value'.
22 The file is line-based -- that is, each newline-terminated line represents
23 either a comment, a module name or a parameter.
25 Only the first equals sign in a parameter is significant. Whitespace before
26 or after the first equals sign is discarded. Leading, trailing and internal
27 whitespace in module and parameter names is irrelevant. Leading and
28 trailing whitespace in a parameter value is discarded. Internal whitespace
29 within a parameter value is retained verbatim.
31 Any line beginning with a hash (#) is ignored, as are lines containing
34 Any line ending in a \ is "continued" on the next line in the
35 customary UNIX fashion.
37 The values following the equals sign in parameters are all either a string
38 (no quotes needed) or a boolean, which may be given as yes/no, 0/1 or
39 true/false. Case is not significant in boolean values, but is preserved
42 manpagesection(LAUNCHING THE RSYNC DAEMON)
44 The rsync daemon is launched by specifying the bf(--daemon) option to
47 The daemon must run with root privileges if you wish to use chroot, to
48 bind to a port numbered under 1024 (as is the default 873), or to set
49 file ownership. Otherwise, it must just have permission to read and
50 write the appropriate data, log, and lock files.
52 You can launch it either via inetd, as a stand-alone daemon, or from
53 an rsync client via a remote shell. If run as a stand-alone daemon then
54 just run the command "bf(rsync --daemon)" from a suitable startup script.
56 When run via inetd you should add a line like this to /etc/services:
60 and a single line something like this to /etc/inetd.conf:
62 verb( rsync stream tcp nowait root /usr/bin/rsync rsyncd --daemon)
64 Replace "/usr/bin/rsync" with the path to where you have rsync installed on
65 your system. You will then need to send inetd a HUP signal to tell it to
66 reread its config file.
68 Note that you should bf(not) send the rsync daemon a HUP signal to force
69 it to reread the tt(rsyncd.conf) file. The file is re-read on each client
72 manpagesection(GLOBAL OPTIONS)
74 The first parameters in the file (before a [module] header) are the
77 You may also include any module parameters in the global part of the
78 config file in which case the supplied value will override the
79 default for that parameter.
82 dit(bf(motd file)) The "motd file" option allows you to specify a
83 "message of the day" to display to clients on each connect. This
84 usually contains site information and any legal notices. The default
87 dit(bf(log file)) The "log file" option tells the rsync daemon to log
88 messages to that file rather than using syslog. This is particularly
89 useful on systems (such as AIX) where syslog() doesn't work for
90 chrooted programs. If the daemon fails to open to specified file, it
91 will fall back to using syslog and output an error about the failure.
92 (Note that a failure to open the specified log file used to be a fatal
95 dit(bf(pid file)) The "pid file" option tells the rsync daemon to write
96 its process ID to that file.
98 dit(bf(syslog facility)) The "syslog facility" option allows you to
99 specify the syslog facility name to use when logging messages from the
100 rsync daemon. You may use any standard syslog facility name which is
101 defined on your system. Common names are auth, authpriv, cron, daemon,
102 ftp, kern, lpr, mail, news, security, syslog, user, uucp, local0,
103 local1, local2, local3, local4, local5, local6 and local7. The default
106 dit(bf(port)) You can override the default port the daemon will listen on
107 by specifying this value (defaults to 873). This is ignored if the daemon
108 is being run by inetd, and is superseded by the bf(--port) command-line option.
110 dit(bf(address)) You can override the default IP address the daemon
111 will listen on by specifying this value. This is ignored if the daemon is
112 being run by inetd, and is superseded by the bf(--address) command-line option.
114 dit(bf(socket options)) This option can provide endless fun for people
115 who like to tune their systems to the utmost degree. You can set all
116 sorts of socket options which may make transfers faster (or
117 slower!). Read the man page for the setsockopt() system call for
118 details on some of the options you may be able to set. By default no
119 special socket options are set.
124 manpagesection(MODULE OPTIONS)
126 After the global options you should define a number of modules, each
127 module exports a directory tree as a symbolic name. Modules are
128 exported by specifying a module name in square brackets [module]
129 followed by the options for that module.
133 dit(bf(comment)) The "comment" option specifies a description string
134 that is displayed next to the module name when clients obtain a list
135 of available modules. The default is no comment.
137 dit(bf(path)) The "path" option specifies the directory in the daemon's
138 filesystem to make available in this module. You must specify this option
139 for each module in tt(rsyncd.conf).
141 dit(bf(use chroot)) If "use chroot" is true, the rsync daemon will chroot
142 to the "path" before starting the file transfer with the client. This has
143 the advantage of extra protection against possible implementation security
144 holes, but it has the disadvantages of requiring super-user privileges,
145 of not being able to follow symbolic links that are either absolute or outside
146 of the new root path, and of complicating the preservation of usernames and groups
147 (see below). When "use chroot" is false, for security reasons,
148 symlinks may only be relative paths pointing to other files within the root
149 path, and leading slashes are removed from most absolute paths (options
150 such as bf(--backup-dir), bf(--compare-dest), etc. interpret an absolute path as
151 rooted in the module's "path" dir, just as if chroot was specified).
152 The default for "use chroot" is true.
154 In order to preserve usernames and groupnames, rsync needs to be able to
155 use the standard library functions for looking up names and IDs (i.e.
156 getpwuid(), getgrgid(), getpwname(), and getgrnam()). This means a
157 process in the chroot namespace will need to have access to the resources
158 used by these library functions (traditionally /etc/passwd and
159 /etc/group). If these resources are not available, rsync will only be
160 able to copy the IDs, just as if the bf(--numeric-ids) option had been
163 Note that you are free to setup user/group information in the chroot area
164 differently from your normal system. For example, you could abbreviate
165 the list of users and groups. Also, you can protect this information from
166 being downloaded/uploaded by adding an exclude rule to the rsyncd.conf file
167 (e.g. "exclude = /etc/**"). Note that having the exclusion affect uploads
168 is a relatively new feature in rsync, so make sure your daemon is
169 at least 2.6.3 to effect this. Also note that it is safest to exclude a
170 directory and all its contents combining the rule "/some/dir/" with the
171 rule "/some/dir/**" just to be sure that rsync will not allow deeper
172 access to some of the excluded files inside the directory (rsync tries to
173 do this automatically, but you might as well specify both to be extra
176 dit(bf(max connections)) The "max connections" option allows you to
177 specify the maximum number of simultaneous connections you will allow.
178 Any clients connecting when the maximum has been reached will receive a
179 message telling them to try later. The default is 0 which means no limit.
180 See also the "lock file" option.
182 dit(bf(max verbosity)) The "max verbosity" option allows you to control
183 the maximum amount of verbose information that you'll allow the daemon to
184 generate (since the information goes into the log file). The default is 1,
185 which allows the client to request one level of verbosity.
187 dit(bf(lock file)) The "lock file" option specifies the file to use to
188 support the "max connections" option. The rsync daemon uses record
189 locking on this file to ensure that the max connections limit is not
190 exceeded for the modules sharing the lock file.
191 The default is tt(/var/run/rsyncd.lock).
193 dit(bf(read only)) The "read only" option determines whether clients
194 will be able to upload files or not. If "read only" is true then any
195 attempted uploads will fail. If "read only" is false then uploads will
196 be possible if file permissions on the daemon side allow them. The default
197 is for all modules to be read only.
199 dit(bf(write only)) The "write only" option determines whether clients
200 will be able to download files or not. If "write only" is true then any
201 attempted downloads will fail. If "write only" is false then downloads
202 will be possible if file permissions on the daemon side allow them. The
203 default is for this option to be disabled.
205 dit(bf(list)) The "list" option determines if this module should be
206 listed when the client asks for a listing of available modules. By
207 setting this to false you can create hidden modules. The default is
208 for modules to be listable.
210 dit(bf(uid)) The "uid" option specifies the user name or user ID that
211 file transfers to and from that module should take place as when the daemon
212 was run as root. In combination with the "gid" option this determines what
213 file permissions are available. The default is uid -2, which is normally
216 dit(bf(gid)) The "gid" option specifies the group name or group ID that
217 file transfers to and from that module should take place as when the daemon
218 was run as root. This complements the "uid" option. The default is gid -2,
219 which is normally the group "nobody".
221 dit(bf(filter)) The "filter" option allows you to specify a space-separated
222 list of filter rules that the daemon will not allow to be read or written.
223 This is only superficially equivalent to the client specifying these
224 patterns with the bf(--filter) option. Only one "filter" option may be
225 specified, but it may contain as many rules as you like, including
226 merge-file rules. Note that per-directory merge-file rules do not provide
227 as much protection as global rules, but they can be used to make bf(--delete)
228 work better when a client downloads the daemon's files (if the per-dir
229 merge files are included in the transfer).
231 dit(bf(exclude)) The "exclude" option allows you to specify a
232 space-separated list of patterns that the daemon will not allow to be read
233 or written. This is only superficially equivalent to the client
234 specifying these patterns with the bf(--exclude) option. Only one "exclude"
235 option may be specified, but you can use "-" and "+" before patterns to
236 specify exclude/include.
238 Because this exclude list is not passed to the client it only applies on
239 the daemon: that is, it excludes files received by a client when receiving
240 from a daemon and files deleted on a daemon when sending to a daemon, but
241 it doesn't exclude files from being deleted on a client when receiving
244 dit(bf(exclude from)) The "exclude from" option specifies a filename
245 on the daemon that contains exclude patterns, one per line.
246 This is only superficially equivalent
247 to the client specifying the bf(--exclude-from) option with an equivalent file.
248 See the "exclude" option above.
250 dit(bf(include)) The "include" option allows you to specify a
251 space-separated list of patterns which rsync should not exclude. This is
252 only superficially equivalent to the client specifying these patterns with
253 the bf(--include) option because it applies only on the daemon. This is
254 useful as it allows you to build up quite complex exclude/include rules.
255 Only one "include" option may be specified, but you can use "+" and "-"
256 before patterns to switch include/exclude. See the "exclude" option
259 dit(bf(include from)) The "include from" option specifies a filename
260 on the daemon that contains include patterns, one per line. This is
261 only superficially equivalent to the client specifying the
262 bf(--include-from) option with a equivalent file.
263 See the "exclude" option above.
265 dit(bf(auth users)) The "auth users" option specifies a comma and
266 space-separated list of usernames that will be allowed to connect to
267 this module. The usernames do not need to exist on the local
268 system. The usernames may also contain shell wildcard characters. If
269 "auth users" is set then the client will be challenged to supply a
270 username and password to connect to the module. A challenge response
271 authentication protocol is used for this exchange. The plain text
272 usernames and passwords are stored in the file specified by the
273 "secrets file" option. The default is for all users to be able to
274 connect without a password (this is called "anonymous rsync").
276 See also the "CONNECTING TO AN RSYNC DAEMON OVER A REMOTE SHELL
277 PROGRAM" section in rsync(1) for information on how handle an
278 rsyncd.conf-level username that differs from the remote-shell-level
279 username when using a remote shell to connect to an rsync daemon.
281 dit(bf(secrets file)) The "secrets file" option specifies the name of
282 a file that contains the username:password pairs used for
283 authenticating this module. This file is only consulted if the "auth
284 users" option is specified. The file is line based and contains
285 username:password pairs separated by a single colon. Any line starting
286 with a hash (#) is considered a comment and is skipped. The passwords
287 can contain any characters but be warned that many operating systems
288 limit the length of passwords that can be typed at the client end, so
289 you may find that passwords longer than 8 characters don't work.
291 There is no default for the "secrets file" option, you must choose a name
292 (such as tt(/etc/rsyncd.secrets)). The file must normally not be readable
293 by "other"; see "strict modes".
295 dit(bf(strict modes)) The "strict modes" option determines whether or not
296 the permissions on the secrets file will be checked. If "strict modes" is
297 true, then the secrets file must not be readable by any user ID other
298 than the one that the rsync daemon is running under. If "strict modes" is
299 false, the check is not performed. The default is true. This option
300 was added to accommodate rsync running on the Windows operating system.
302 dit(bf(hosts allow)) The "hosts allow" option allows you to specify a
303 list of patterns that are matched against a connecting clients
304 hostname and IP address. If none of the patterns match then the
305 connection is rejected.
307 Each pattern can be in one of five forms:
310 it() a dotted decimal IPv4 address of the form a.b.c.d, or an IPv6 address
311 of the form a:b:c::d:e:f. In this case the incoming machine's IP address
313 it() an address/mask in the form ipaddr/n where ipaddr is the IP address
314 and n is the number of one bits in the netmask. All IP addresses which
315 match the masked IP address will be allowed in.
316 it() an address/mask in the form ipaddr/maskaddr where ipaddr is the
317 IP address and maskaddr is the netmask in dotted decimal notation for IPv4,
318 or similar for IPv6, e.g. ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:: instead of /64. All IP
319 addresses which match the masked IP address will be allowed in.
320 it() a hostname. The hostname as determined by a reverse lookup will
321 be matched (case insensitive) against the pattern. Only an exact
323 it() a hostname pattern using wildcards. These are matched using the
324 same rules as normal unix filename matching. If the pattern matches
325 then the client is allowed in.
328 Note IPv6 link-local addresses can have a scope in the address specification:
331 tt( fe80::1%link1)nl()
332 tt( fe80::%link1/64)nl()
333 tt( fe80::%link1/ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff::)nl()
336 You can also combine "hosts allow" with a separate "hosts deny"
337 option. If both options are specified then the "hosts allow" option s
338 checked first and a match results in the client being able to
339 connect. The "hosts deny" option is then checked and a match means
340 that the host is rejected. If the host does not match either the
341 "hosts allow" or the "hosts deny" patterns then it is allowed to
344 The default is no "hosts allow" option, which means all hosts can connect.
346 dit(bf(hosts deny)) The "hosts deny" option allows you to specify a
347 list of patterns that are matched against a connecting clients
348 hostname and IP address. If the pattern matches then the connection is
349 rejected. See the "hosts allow" option for more information.
351 The default is no "hosts deny" option, which means all hosts can connect.
353 dit(bf(ignore errors)) The "ignore errors" option tells rsyncd to
354 ignore I/O errors on the daemon when deciding whether to run the delete
355 phase of the transfer. Normally rsync skips the bf(--delete) step if any
356 I/O errors have occurred in order to prevent disastrous deletion due
357 to a temporary resource shortage or other I/O error. In some cases this
358 test is counter productive so you can use this option to turn off this
361 dit(bf(ignore nonreadable)) This tells the rsync daemon to completely
362 ignore files that are not readable by the user. This is useful for
363 public archives that may have some non-readable files among the
364 directories, and the sysadmin doesn't want those files to be seen at all.
366 dit(bf(transfer logging)) The "transfer logging" option enables per-file
367 logging of downloads and uploads in a format somewhat similar to that
368 used by ftp daemons. The daemon always logs the transfer at the end, so
369 if a transfer is aborted, no mention will be made in the log file.
371 If you want to customize the log lines, see the "log format" option.
373 dit(bf(log format)) The "log format" option allows you to specify the
374 format used for logging file transfers when transfer logging is enabled.
375 The format is a text string containing embedded single-character escape
376 sequences prefixed with a percent (%) character. An optional numeric
377 field width may also be specified between the percent and the escape
378 letter (e.g. "%-50n %8l %07p").
380 The default log format is "%o %h [%a] %m (%u) %f %l", and a "%t [%p] "
381 is always prefixed when using the "log file" option.
382 (A perl script that will summarize this default log format is included
383 in the rsync source code distribution in the "support" subdirectory:
386 The single-character escapes that are understood are as follows:
389 it() %h for the remote host name
390 it() %a for the remote IP address
391 it() %l for the length of the file in bytes
392 it() %p for the process ID of this rsync session
393 it() %o for the operation, which is "send", "recv", or "del."
394 (the latter includes the trailing period)
395 it() %f for the filename (long form on sender; no trailing "/")
396 it() %n for the filename (short form; trailing "/" on dir)
397 it() %L either the string " -> SYMLINK", or " => HARDLINK" or an
398 empty string (where bf(SYMLINK) or bf(HARDLINK) is a filename)
399 it() %P for the module path
400 it() %m for the module name
401 it() %t for the current date time
402 it() %u for the authenticated username (or the null string)
403 it() %b for the number of bytes actually transferred
404 it() %c when sending files this gives the number of checksum bytes
405 received for this file
406 it() %i an itemized list of what is being updated
409 For a list of what the characters mean that are output by "%i", see the
410 bf(--itemize-changes) option in the rsync manpage.
412 Note that some of the logged output changes when talking with older
413 rsync versions. For instance, deleted files were only output as verbose
414 messages prior to rsync 2.6.4.
416 dit(bf(timeout)) The "timeout" option allows you to override the
417 clients choice for I/O timeout for this module. Using this option you
418 can ensure that rsync won't wait on a dead client forever. The timeout
419 is specified in seconds. A value of zero means no timeout and is the
420 default. A good choice for anonymous rsync daemons may be 600 (giving
421 a 10 minute timeout).
423 dit(bf(refuse options)) The "refuse options" option allows you to
424 specify a space-separated list of rsync command line options that will
425 be refused by your rsync daemon.
426 You may specify the full option name, its one-letter abbreviation, or a
427 wild-card string that matches multiple options.
428 For example, this would refuse bf(--checksum) (bf(-c)) and all the various
431 quote(tt( refuse options = c delete))
433 The reason the above refuses all delete options is that the options imply
434 bf(--delete), and implied options are refused just like explicit options.
435 As an additional safety feature, the refusal of "delete" also refuses
436 bf(remove-sent-files) when the daemon is the sender; if you want the latter
437 without the former, instead refuse "delete-*" -- that refuses all the
438 delete modes without affecting bf(--remove-sent-files).
440 When an option is refused, the daemon prints an error message and exits.
441 To prevent all compression, you can use "dont compress = *" (see below)
442 instead of "refuse options = compress" to avoid returning an error to a
443 client that requests compression.
445 dit(bf(dont compress)) The "dont compress" option allows you to select
446 filenames based on wildcard patterns that should not be compressed
447 during transfer. Compression is expensive in terms of CPU usage so it
448 is usually good to not try to compress files that won't compress well,
449 such as already compressed files.
451 The "dont compress" option takes a space-separated list of
452 case-insensitive wildcard patterns. Any source filename matching one
453 of the patterns will not be compressed during transfer.
455 The default setting is tt(*.gz *.tgz *.zip *.z *.rpm *.deb *.iso *.bz2 *.tbz)
457 dit(bf(pre-xfer exec), bf(post-xfer exec)) You may specify a command to be run
458 before and/or after the transfer. If the bf(pre-xfer exec) command fails, the
459 transfer is aborted before it begins.
461 The following environment variables will be set, though some are
462 specific to the pre-xfer or the post-xfer environment:
465 it() bf(RSYNC_MODULE_NAME): The name of the module being accessed.
466 it() bf(RSYNC_MODULE_PATH): The path configured for the module.
467 it() bf(RSYNC_HOST_ADDR): The accessing host's IP address.
468 it() bf(RSYNC_HOST_NAME): The accessing host's name.
469 it() bf(RSYNC_USER_NAME): The accessing user's name (empty if no user).
470 it() bf(RSYNC_REQUEST): (pre-xfer only) The module/path info specified
471 by the user (note that the user can specify multiple source files,
472 so the request can be something like "mod/path1 mod/path2", etc.).
473 it() bf(RSYNC_ARG#): (pre-xfer only) The pre-request arguments are set
474 in these numbered values. RSYNC_ARG0 is always "rsyncd", and the last
475 value contains a single period.
476 it() bf(RSYNC_EXIT_STATUS): (post-xfer only) rsync's exit value. This will be 0 for a
477 successful run, a positive value for an error that rsync returned
478 (e.g. 23=partial xfer), or a -1 if rsync failed to exit properly.
479 it() bf(RSYNC_RAW_STATUS): (post-xfer only) the raw exit value from waitpid().
482 Even though the commands can be associated with a particular module, they
483 are run using the permissions of the user that started the daemon (not the
484 module's uid/gid setting) without any chroot restrictions.
488 manpagesection(AUTHENTICATION STRENGTH)
490 The authentication protocol used in rsync is a 128 bit MD4 based
491 challenge response system. This is fairly weak protection, though (with
492 at least one brute-force hash-finding algorithm publicly available), so
493 if you want really top-quality security, then I recommend that you run
494 rsync over ssh. (Yes, a future version of rsync will switch over to a
495 stronger hashing method.)
497 Also note that the rsync daemon protocol does not currently provide any
498 encryption of the data that is transferred over the connection. Only
499 authentication is provided. Use ssh as the transport if you want
502 Future versions of rsync may support SSL for better authentication and
503 encryption, but that is still being investigated.
505 manpagesection(EXAMPLES)
507 A simple rsyncd.conf file that allow anonymous rsync to a ftp area at
508 tt(/home/ftp) would be:
513 comment = ftp export area
516 A more sophisticated example would be:
523 syslog facility = local5
524 pid file = /var/run/rsyncd.pid
528 comment = whole ftp area (approx 6.1 GB)
531 path = /var/ftp/pub/samba
532 comment = Samba ftp area (approx 300 MB)
535 path = /var/ftp/pub/rsync
536 comment = rsync ftp area (approx 6 MB)
539 path = /public_html/samba
540 comment = Samba WWW pages (approx 240 MB)
544 comment = CVS repository (requires authentication)
545 auth users = tridge, susan
546 secrets file = /etc/rsyncd.secrets
549 The /etc/rsyncd.secrets file would look something like this:
552 tt(tridge:mypass)nl()
553 tt(susan:herpass)nl()
558 /etc/rsyncd.conf or rsyncd.conf
568 Please report bugs! The rsync bug tracking system is online at
569 url(http://rsync.samba.org/)(http://rsync.samba.org/)
571 manpagesection(VERSION)
573 This man page is current for version 2.6.6 of rsync.
575 manpagesection(CREDITS)
577 rsync is distributed under the GNU public license. See the file
580 The primary ftp site for rsync is
581 url(ftp://rsync.samba.org/pub/rsync)(ftp://rsync.samba.org/pub/rsync).
583 A WEB site is available at
584 url(http://rsync.samba.org/)(http://rsync.samba.org/)
586 We would be delighted to hear from you if you like this program.
588 This program uses the zlib compression library written by Jean-loup
589 Gailly and Mark Adler.
591 manpagesection(THANKS)
593 Thanks to Warren Stanley for his original idea and patch for the rsync
594 daemon. Thanks to Karsten Thygesen for his many suggestions and
599 rsync was written by Andrew Tridgell and Paul Mackerras.
600 Many people have later contributed to it.
602 Mailing lists for support and development are available at
603 url(http://lists.samba.org)(lists.samba.org)