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
47 rsync. The daemon must run with root privileges.
49 You can launch it either via inetd or as a stand-alone daemon. If run
50 as a daemon then just run the command "rsync --daemon" from a suitable
53 When run via inetd you should add a line like this to /etc/services:
57 and a single line something like this to /etc/inetd.conf:
59 quote(rsync stream tcp nowait root /usr/bin/rsync rsyncd --daemon)
61 Replace "/usr/bin/rsync" with the path to where you have rsync installed on
62 your system. You will then need to send inetd a HUP signal to tell it to
63 reread its config file.
65 Note that you should not send the rsync server a HUP signal to force
66 it to reread the tt(/etc/rsyncd.conf). The file is re-read on each client
69 manpagesection(GLOBAL OPTIONS)
71 The first parameters in the file (before a [module] header) are the
74 You may also include any module parameters in the global part of the
75 config file in which case the supplied value will override the
76 default for that parameter.
79 dit(bf(motd file)) The "motd file" option allows you to specify a
80 "message of the day" to display to clients on each connect. This
81 usually contains site information and any legal notices. The default
84 dit(bf(log file)) The "log file" option tells the rsync daemon to log
85 messages to that file rather than using syslog. This is particularly
86 useful on systems (such as AIX) where syslog() doesn't work for
89 dit(bf(pid file)) The "pid file" option tells the rsync daemon to write
90 its process id to that file.
92 dit(bf(syslog facility)) The "syslog facility" option allows you to
93 specify the syslog facility name to use when logging messages from the
94 rsync server. You may use any standard syslog facility name which is
95 defined on your system. Common names are auth, authpriv, cron, daemon,
96 ftp, kern, lpr, mail, news, security, syslog, user, uucp, local0,
97 local1, local2, local3, local4, local5, local6 and local7. The default
100 dit(bf(socket options)) This option can provide endless fun for people
101 who like to tune their systems to the utmost degree. You can set all
102 sorts of socket options which may make transfers faster (or
103 slower!). Read the man page for the setsockopt() system call for
104 details on some of the options you may be able to set. By default no
105 special socket options are set.
110 manpagesection(MODULE OPTIONS)
112 After the global options you should define a number of modules, each
113 module exports a directory tree as a symbolic name. Modules are
114 exported by specifying a module name in square brackets [module]
115 followed by the options for that module.
119 dit(bf(comment)) The "comment" option specifies a description string
120 that is displayed next to the module name when clients obtain a list
121 of available modules. The default is no comment.
123 dit(bf(path)) The "path" option specifies the directory in the servers
124 filesystem to make available in this module. You must specify this option
125 for each module in tt(/etc/rsyncd.conf).
127 dit(bf(use chroot)) If "use chroot" is true, the rsync server will chroot
128 to the "path" before starting the file transfer with the client. This has
129 the advantage of extra protection against possible implementation security
130 holes, but it has the disadvantages of requiring super-user privileges and
131 of not being able to follow symbolic links outside of the new root path
132 when reading. For writing when "use chroot" is false, for security reasons
133 symlinks may only be relative paths pointing to other files within the
134 root path, and leading slashes are removed from absolute paths. The
135 default for "use chroot" is true.
137 dit(bf(max connections)) The "max connections" option allows you to
138 specify the maximum number of simultaneous connections you will allow
139 to this module of your rsync server. Any clients connecting when the
140 maximum has been reached will receive a message telling them to try
141 later. The default is 0 which means no limit.
143 dit(bf(lock file)) The "lock file" option specifies the file to use to
144 support the "max connections" option. The rsync server uses record
145 locking on this file to ensure that the max connections limit is not
146 exceeded. The default is tt(/var/run/rsyncd.lock).
148 dit(bf(read only)) The "read only" option determines whether clients
149 will be able to upload files or not. If "read only" is true then any
150 attempted uploads will fail. If "read only" is false then uploads will
151 be possible if file permissions on the server allow them. The default
152 is for all modules to be read only.
154 dit(bf(list)) The "list" option determines if this module should be
155 listed when the client asks for a listing of available modules. By
156 setting this to false you can create hidden modules. The default is
157 for modules to be listable.
159 dit(bf(uid)) The "uid" option specifies the user name or user id that
160 file transfers to and from that module should take place as when the daemon
161 was run as root. In combination with the "gid" option this determines what
162 file permissions are available. The default is the user "nobody".
164 dit(bf(gid)) The "gid" option specifies the group name or group id that
165 file transfers to and from that module should take place as when the daemon
166 was run as root. This complements the "uid" option. The default is the
169 dit(bf(exclude)) The "exclude" option allows you to specify a space
170 separated list of patterns to add to the exclude list. This is
171 equivalent to the client specifying these patterns with the --exclude
172 option except that the exclude list is not passed to the client and
173 thus only apply on the server. Only one "exclude" option may be
174 specified, but you can use "-" and "+" before patterns to specify
177 Note that this option is not designed with strong security in
178 mind, it is quite possible that a client may find a way to bypass this
179 exclude list. If you want to absolutely ensure that certain files
180 cannot be accessed then use the uid/gid options in combination with
183 dit(bf(exclude from)) The "exclude from" option specifies a filename
184 on the server that contains exclude patterns, one per line. This is
185 equivalent to the client specifying the --exclude-from option with a
186 equivalent file except that the resulting exclude patterns are not
187 passed to the client and thus only apply on the server. See also the
188 note about security for the exclude option above.
190 dit(bf(include)) The "include" option allows you to specify a space
191 separated list of patterns which rsync should not exclude. This is
192 equivalent to the client specifying these patterns with the --include
193 option. This is useful as it allows you to build up quite complex
194 exclude/include rules. Only one "include" option may be specified, but you
195 can use "+" and "-" before patterns to switch include/exclude.
197 See the section of exclude patterns in the rsync man page for information
198 on the syntax of this option.
200 dit(bf(include from)) The "include from" option specifies a filename
201 on the server that contains include patterns, one per line. This is
202 equivalent to the client specifying the --include-from option with a
205 dit(bf(auth users)) The "auth users" option specifies a comma
206 and space separated list of usernames that will be allowed to connect
207 to this module. The usernames do not need to exist on the local
208 system. If "auth users" is set then the client will be challenged to
209 supply a username and password to connect to the module. A challenge
210 response authentication protocol is used for this exchange. The plain
211 text usernames are passwords are stored in the file specified by the
212 "secrets file" option. The default is for all users to be able to
213 connect without a password (this is called "anonymous rsync").
215 dit(bf(secrets file)) The "secrets file" option specifies the name of
216 a file that contains the username:password pairs used for
217 authenticating this module. This file is only consulted if the "auth
218 users" option is specified. The file is line based and contains
219 username:password pairs separated by a single colon. Any line starting
220 with a hash (#) is considered a comment and is skipped. The passwords
221 can contain any characters but be warned that many operating systems
222 limit the length of passwords that can be typed at the client end, so
223 you may find that passwords longer than 8 characters don't work.
225 There is no default for the "secrets file" option, you must choose a name
226 (such as tt(/etc/rsyncd.secrets)).
228 dit(bf(strict modes)) The "strict modes" option determines whether or not
229 the permissions on the secrets file will be checked. If "strict modes" is
230 true, then the secrets file must not be readable by any user id other
231 than the one that the rsync daemon is running under. If "strict modes" is
232 false, the check is not performed. The default is true. This option
233 was added to accommodate rsync running on the Windows operating system.
235 dit(bf(hosts allow)) The "hosts allow" option allows you to specify a
236 list of patterns that are matched against a connecting clients
237 hostname and IP address. If none of the patterns match then the
238 connection is rejected.
240 Each pattern can be in one of five forms:
243 it() a dotted decimal IP address. In this case the incoming machines
244 IP address must match exactly.
246 it() a address/mask in the form a.b.c.d/n were n is the number of
247 one bits in in the netmask. All IP addresses which match the masked
248 IP address will be allowed in.
250 it() a address/mask in the form a.b.c.d/e.f.g.h where e.f.g.h is a
251 netmask in dotted decimal notation. All IP addresses which match the masked
252 IP address will be allowed in.
254 it() a hostname. The hostname as determined by a reverse lookup will
255 be matched (case insensitive) against the pattern. Only an exact
258 it() a hostname pattern using wildcards. These are matched using the
259 same rules as normal unix filename matching. If the pattern matches
260 then the client is allowed in.
263 You can also combine "hosts allow" with a separate "hosts deny"
264 option. If both options are specified then the "hosts allow" option s
265 checked first and a match results in the client being able to
266 connect. The "hosts deny" option is then checked and a match means
267 that the host is rejected. If the host does not match either the
268 "hosts allow" or the "hosts deny" patterns then it is allowed to
271 The default is no "hosts allow" option, which means all hosts can connect.
273 dit(bf(hosts deny)) The "hosts deny" option allows you to specify a
274 list of patterns that are matched against a connecting clients
275 hostname and IP address. If the pattern matches then the connection is
276 rejected. See the "hosts allow" option for more information.
278 The default is no "hosts deny" option, which means all hosts can connect.
280 dit(bf(ignore errors)) The "ignore errors" option tells rsyncd to
281 ignore IO errors on the server when deciding whether to run the delete
282 phase of the transfer. Normally rsync skips the --delete step if any
283 IO errors have occurred in order to prevent disasterous deletion due
284 to a temporary resource shortage or other IO error. In some cases this
285 test is counter productive so you can use this option to turn off this
288 dit(bf(ignore nonreadable)) This tells the rsync server to completely
289 ignore files that are not readable by the user. This is useful for
290 public archives that may have some non-readable files among the
291 directories, and the sysadmin doesn't want those files to be seen at all.
293 dit(bf(transfer logging)) The "transfer logging" option enables per-file
294 logging of downloads and uploads in a format somewhat similar to that
295 used by ftp daemons. If you want to customize the log formats look at
296 the log format option.
298 dit(bf(log format)) The "log format" option allows you to specify the
299 format used for logging file transfers when transfer logging is
300 enabled. The format is a text string containing embedded single
301 character escape sequences prefixed with a percent (%) character.
303 The prefixes that are understood are:
306 it() %h for the remote host name
307 it() %a for the remote IP address
308 it() %l for the length of the file in bytes
309 it() %p for the process id of this rsync session
310 it() %o for the operation, which is either "send" or "recv"
311 it() %f for the filename
312 it() %P for the module path
313 it() %m for the module name
314 it() %t for the current date time
315 it() %u for the authenticated username (or the null string)
316 it() %b for the number of bytes actually transferred
317 it() %c when sending files this gives the number of checksum bytes
318 received for this file
321 The default log format is "%o %h [%a] %m (%u) %f %l", and a "%t [%p] "
322 is always added to the beginning when using the "log file" option.
324 A perl script called rsyncstats to summarize this format is included
325 in the rsync source code distribution.
327 dit(bf(timeout)) The "timeout" option allows you to override the
328 clients choice for IO timeout for this module. Using this option you
329 can ensure that rsync won't wait on a dead client forever. The timeout
330 is specified in seconds. A value of zero means no timeout and is the
331 default. A good choice for anonymous rsync servers may be 600 (giving
332 a 10 minute timeout).
334 dit(bf(refuse options)) The "refuse options" option allows you to
335 specify a space separated list of rsync command line options that will
336 be refused by your rsync server. The full names of the options must be
337 used (i.e., you must use "checksum" not "c" to disable checksumming).
338 When an option is refused, the server prints an error message and exits.
339 To prevent all compression, you can use "dont compress = *" (see below)
340 instead of "refuse options = compress" to avoid returning an error to a
341 client that requests compression.
343 dit(bf(dont compress)) The "dont compress" option allows you to select
344 filenames based on wildcard patterns that should not be compressed
345 during transfer. Compression is expensive in terms of CPU usage so it
346 is usually good to not try to compress files that won't compress well,
347 such as already compressed files.
349 The "dont compress" option takes a space separated list of
350 case-insensitive wildcard patterns. Any source filename matching one
351 of the patterns will not be compressed during transfer.
353 The default setting is verb(*.gz *.tgz *.zip *.z *.rpm *.deb *.iso *.bz2 *.tbz)
357 manpagesection(AUTHENTICATION STRENGTH)
359 The authentication protocol used in rsync is a 128 bit MD4 based
360 challenge response system. Although I believe that no one has ever
361 demonstrated a brute-force break of this sort of system you should
362 realize that this is not a "military strength" authentication system.
363 It should be good enough for most purposes but if you want really top
364 quality security then I recommend that you run rsync over ssh.
366 Also note that the rsync server protocol does not currently provide any
367 encryption of the data that is transferred over the link. Only
368 authentication is provided. Use ssh as the transport if you want
371 Future versions of rsync may support SSL for better authentication and
372 encryption, but that is still being investigated.
374 manpagesection(EXAMPLES)
376 A simple rsyncd.conf file that allow anonymous rsync to a ftp area at
377 tt(/home/ftp) would be:
382 comment = ftp export area
386 A more sophisticated example would be:
391 max connections = 4 nl()
392 syslog facility = local5 nl()
393 pid file = /etc/rsyncd.pid
397 comment = whole ftp area (approx 6.1 GB)
400 path = /var/ftp/pub/samba
401 comment = Samba ftp area (approx 300 MB)
404 path = /var/ftp/pub/rsync
405 comment = rsync ftp area (approx 6 MB)
408 path = /public_html/samba
409 comment = Samba WWW pages (approx 240 MB)
413 comment = CVS repository (requires authentication)
414 auth users = tridge, susan
415 secrets file = /etc/rsyncd.secrets
418 The /etc/rsyncd.secrets file would look something like this:
435 The rsync server does not send all types of error messages to the
436 client. this means a client may be mystified as to why a transfer
437 failed. The error will have been logged by syslog on the server.
439 Please report bugs! The rsync bug tracking system is online at
440 url(http://rsync.samba.org/)(http://rsync.samba.org/)
442 manpagesection(VERSION)
443 This man page is current for version 2.0 of rsync
445 manpagesection(CREDITS)
447 rsync is distributed under the GNU public license. See the file
450 The primary ftp site for rsync is
451 url(ftp://rsync.samba.org/pub/rsync)(ftp://rsync.samba.org/pub/rsync).
453 A WEB site is available at
454 url(http://rsync.samba.org/)(http://rsync.samba.org/)
456 We would be delighted to hear from you if you like this program.
458 This program uses the zlib compression library written by Jean-loup
459 Gailly and Mark Adler.
461 manpagesection(THANKS)
463 Thanks to Warren Stanley for his original idea and patch for the rsync
464 server. Thanks to Karsten Thygesen for his many suggestions and
469 rsync was written by Andrew Tridgell and Paul Mackerras. They may be
470 contacted via email at tridge@samba.org and
471 Paul.Mackerras@cs.anu.edu.au