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 and
136 of not being able to follow symbolic links outside of the new root path
137 when reading. For writing when "use chroot" is false, for security reasons
138 symlinks may only be relative paths pointing to other files within the
139 root path, and leading slashes are removed from absolute paths. The
140 default for "use chroot" is true.
142 dit(bf(max connections)) The "max connections" option allows you to
143 specify the maximum number of simultaneous connections you will allow
144 to this module of your rsync server. Any clients connecting when the
145 maximum has been reached will receive a message telling them to try
146 later. The default is 0 which means no limit.
148 dit(bf(lock file)) The "lock file" option specifies the file to use to
149 support the "max connections" option. The rsync server uses record
150 locking on this file to ensure that the max connections limit is not
151 exceeded. The default is tt(/var/run/rsyncd.lock).
153 dit(bf(read only)) The "read only" option determines whether clients
154 will be able to upload files or not. If "read only" is true then any
155 attempted uploads will fail. If "read only" is false then uploads will
156 be possible if file permissions on the server allow them. The default
157 is for all modules to be read only.
159 dit(bf(list)) The "list" option determines if this module should be
160 listed when the client asks for a listing of available modules. By
161 setting this to false you can create hidden modules. The default is
162 for modules to be listable.
164 dit(bf(uid)) The "uid" option specifies the user name or user id that
165 file transfers to and from that module should take place as when the daemon
166 was run as root. In combination with the "gid" option this determines what
167 file permissions are available. The default is the user "nobody".
169 dit(bf(gid)) The "gid" option specifies the group name or group id that
170 file transfers to and from that module should take place as when the daemon
171 was run as root. This complements the "uid" option. The default is the
174 dit(bf(exclude)) The "exclude" option allows you to specify a space
175 separated list of patterns to add to the exclude list. This is
176 equivalent to the client specifying these patterns with the --exclude
177 option except that the exclude list is not passed to the client and
178 thus only apply on the server. Only one "exclude" option may be
179 specified, but you can use "-" and "+" before patterns to specify
182 Note that this option is not designed with strong security in
183 mind, it is quite possible that a client may find a way to bypass this
184 exclude list. If you want to absolutely ensure that certain files
185 cannot be accessed then use the uid/gid options in combination with
188 dit(bf(exclude from)) The "exclude from" option specifies a filename
189 on the server that contains exclude patterns, one per line. This is
190 equivalent to the client specifying the --exclude-from option with a
191 equivalent file except that the resulting exclude patterns are not
192 passed to the client and thus only apply on the server. See also the
193 note about security for the exclude option above.
195 dit(bf(include)) The "include" option allows you to specify a space
196 separated list of patterns which rsync should not exclude. This is
197 equivalent to the client specifying these patterns with the --include
198 option. This is useful as it allows you to build up quite complex
199 exclude/include rules. Only one "include" option may be specified, but you
200 can use "+" and "-" before patterns to switch include/exclude.
202 See the section of exclude patterns in the rsync man page for information
203 on the syntax of this option.
205 dit(bf(include from)) The "include from" option specifies a filename
206 on the server that contains include patterns, one per line. This is
207 equivalent to the client specifying the --include-from option with a
210 dit(bf(auth users)) The "auth users" option specifies a comma
211 and space separated list of usernames that will be allowed to connect
212 to this module. The usernames do not need to exist on the local
213 system. If "auth users" is set then the client will be challenged to
214 supply a username and password to connect to the module. A challenge
215 response authentication protocol is used for this exchange. The plain
216 text usernames are passwords are stored in the file specified by the
217 "secrets file" option. The default is for all users to be able to
218 connect without a password (this is called "anonymous rsync").
220 dit(bf(secrets file)) The "secrets file" option specifies the name of
221 a file that contains the username:password pairs used for
222 authenticating this module. This file is only consulted if the "auth
223 users" option is specified. The file is line based and contains
224 username:password pairs separated by a single colon. Any line starting
225 with a hash (#) is considered a comment and is skipped. The passwords
226 can contain any characters but be warned that many operating systems
227 limit the length of passwords that can be typed at the client end, so
228 you may find that passwords longer than 8 characters don't work.
230 There is no default for the "secrets file" option, you must choose a name
231 (such as tt(/etc/rsyncd.secrets)). The file must normally not be readable
232 by "other"; see "strict modes".
234 dit(bf(strict modes)) The "strict modes" option determines whether or not
235 the permissions on the secrets file will be checked. If "strict modes" is
236 true, then the secrets file must not be readable by any user id other
237 than the one that the rsync daemon is running under. If "strict modes" is
238 false, the check is not performed. The default is true. This option
239 was added to accommodate rsync running on the Windows operating system.
241 dit(bf(hosts allow)) The "hosts allow" option allows you to specify a
242 list of patterns that are matched against a connecting clients
243 hostname and IP address. If none of the patterns match then the
244 connection is rejected.
246 Each pattern can be in one of five forms:
249 it() a dotted decimal IP address. In this case the incoming machines
250 IP address must match exactly.
252 it() a address/mask in the form a.b.c.d/n were n is the number of
253 one bits in in the netmask. All IP addresses which match the masked
254 IP address will be allowed in.
256 it() a address/mask in the form a.b.c.d/e.f.g.h where e.f.g.h is a
257 netmask in dotted decimal notation. All IP addresses which match the masked
258 IP address will be allowed in.
260 it() a hostname. The hostname as determined by a reverse lookup will
261 be matched (case insensitive) against the pattern. Only an exact
264 it() a hostname pattern using wildcards. These are matched using the
265 same rules as normal unix filename matching. If the pattern matches
266 then the client is allowed in.
269 You can also combine "hosts allow" with a separate "hosts deny"
270 option. If both options are specified then the "hosts allow" option s
271 checked first and a match results in the client being able to
272 connect. The "hosts deny" option is then checked and a match means
273 that the host is rejected. If the host does not match either the
274 "hosts allow" or the "hosts deny" patterns then it is allowed to
277 The default is no "hosts allow" option, which means all hosts can connect.
279 dit(bf(hosts deny)) The "hosts deny" option allows you to specify a
280 list of patterns that are matched against a connecting clients
281 hostname and IP address. If the pattern matches then the connection is
282 rejected. See the "hosts allow" option for more information.
284 The default is no "hosts deny" option, which means all hosts can connect.
286 dit(bf(ignore errors)) The "ignore errors" option tells rsyncd to
287 ignore IO errors on the server when deciding whether to run the delete
288 phase of the transfer. Normally rsync skips the --delete step if any
289 IO errors have occurred in order to prevent disasterous deletion due
290 to a temporary resource shortage or other IO error. In some cases this
291 test is counter productive so you can use this option to turn off this
294 dit(bf(ignore nonreadable)) This tells the rsync server to completely
295 ignore files that are not readable by the user. This is useful for
296 public archives that may have some non-readable files among the
297 directories, and the sysadmin doesn't want those files to be seen at all.
299 dit(bf(transfer logging)) The "transfer logging" option enables per-file
300 logging of downloads and uploads in a format somewhat similar to that
301 used by ftp daemons. If you want to customize the log formats look at
302 the log format option.
304 dit(bf(log format)) The "log format" option allows you to specify the
305 format used for logging file transfers when transfer logging is
306 enabled. The format is a text string containing embedded single
307 character escape sequences prefixed with a percent (%) character.
309 The prefixes that are understood are:
312 it() %h for the remote host name
313 it() %a for the remote IP address
314 it() %l for the length of the file in bytes
315 it() %p for the process id of this rsync session
316 it() %o for the operation, which is either "send" or "recv"
317 it() %f for the filename
318 it() %P for the module path
319 it() %m for the module name
320 it() %t for the current date time
321 it() %u for the authenticated username (or the null string)
322 it() %b for the number of bytes actually transferred
323 it() %c when sending files this gives the number of checksum bytes
324 received for this file
327 The default log format is "%o %h [%a] %m (%u) %f %l", and a "%t [%p] "
328 is always added to the beginning when using the "log file" option.
330 A perl script called rsyncstats to summarize this format is included
331 in the rsync source code distribution.
333 dit(bf(timeout)) The "timeout" option allows you to override the
334 clients choice for IO timeout for this module. Using this option you
335 can ensure that rsync won't wait on a dead client forever. The timeout
336 is specified in seconds. A value of zero means no timeout and is the
337 default. A good choice for anonymous rsync servers may be 600 (giving
338 a 10 minute timeout).
340 dit(bf(refuse options)) The "refuse options" option allows you to
341 specify a space separated list of rsync command line options that will
342 be refused by your rsync server. The full names of the options must be
343 used (i.e., you must use "checksum" not "c" to disable checksumming).
344 When an option is refused, the server prints an error message and exits.
345 To prevent all compression, you can use "dont compress = *" (see below)
346 instead of "refuse options = compress" to avoid returning an error to a
347 client that requests compression.
349 dit(bf(dont compress)) The "dont compress" option allows you to select
350 filenames based on wildcard patterns that should not be compressed
351 during transfer. Compression is expensive in terms of CPU usage so it
352 is usually good to not try to compress files that won't compress well,
353 such as already compressed files.
355 The "dont compress" option takes a space separated list of
356 case-insensitive wildcard patterns. Any source filename matching one
357 of the patterns will not be compressed during transfer.
359 The default setting is verb(*.gz *.tgz *.zip *.z *.rpm *.deb *.iso *.bz2 *.tbz)
363 manpagesection(AUTHENTICATION STRENGTH)
365 The authentication protocol used in rsync is a 128 bit MD4 based
366 challenge response system. Although I believe that no one has ever
367 demonstrated a brute-force break of this sort of system you should
368 realize that this is not a "military strength" authentication system.
369 It should be good enough for most purposes but if you want really top
370 quality security then I recommend that you run rsync over ssh.
372 Also note that the rsync server protocol does not currently provide any
373 encryption of the data that is transferred over the link. Only
374 authentication is provided. Use ssh as the transport if you want
377 Future versions of rsync may support SSL for better authentication and
378 encryption, but that is still being investigated.
380 manpagesection(EXAMPLES)
382 A simple rsyncd.conf file that allow anonymous rsync to a ftp area at
383 tt(/home/ftp) would be:
388 comment = ftp export area
392 A more sophisticated example would be:
397 max connections = 4 nl()
398 syslog facility = local5 nl()
399 pid file = /etc/rsyncd.pid
403 comment = whole ftp area (approx 6.1 GB)
406 path = /var/ftp/pub/samba
407 comment = Samba ftp area (approx 300 MB)
410 path = /var/ftp/pub/rsync
411 comment = rsync ftp area (approx 6 MB)
414 path = /public_html/samba
415 comment = Samba WWW pages (approx 240 MB)
419 comment = CVS repository (requires authentication)
420 auth users = tridge, susan
421 secrets file = /etc/rsyncd.secrets
424 The /etc/rsyncd.secrets file would look something like this:
441 The rsync server does not send all types of error messages to the
442 client. this means a client may be mystified as to why a transfer
443 failed. The error will have been logged by syslog on the server.
445 Please report bugs! The rsync bug tracking system is online at
446 url(http://rsync.samba.org/)(http://rsync.samba.org/)
448 manpagesection(VERSION)
449 This man page is current for version 2.0 of rsync
451 manpagesection(CREDITS)
453 rsync is distributed under the GNU public license. See the file
456 The primary ftp site for rsync is
457 url(ftp://rsync.samba.org/pub/rsync)(ftp://rsync.samba.org/pub/rsync).
459 A WEB site is available at
460 url(http://rsync.samba.org/)(http://rsync.samba.org/)
462 We would be delighted to hear from you if you like this program.
464 This program uses the zlib compression library written by Jean-loup
465 Gailly and Mark Adler.
467 manpagesection(THANKS)
469 Thanks to Warren Stanley for his original idea and patch for the rsync
470 server. Thanks to Karsten Thygesen for his many suggestions and
475 rsync was written by Andrew Tridgell and Paul Mackerras. They may be
476 contacted via email at tridge@samba.org and
477 Paul.Mackerras@cs.anu.edu.au