rsync

rsync is an open source utility that provides fast incremental file transfer.

If you are into Dockerizing everything or you just want to have a better view over the rsync process (e.g., to see it in your cluster visualizer), this repository provides you with a Docker image to run the rsync process.

The provided image is open-source and built from scratch with the goal to enable you to run a stateless and an immutable container, according to the best practices.

Supported architectures:

• the image supports multiple architectures: x86-64 and arm32
• the docker manifest is used for multi-platform awareness
• by simply pulling or running ogivuk/rsync:latest, the correct image for your architecture will be retreived

Tag	Transmission Version and Architecture
:latest	supports both x64 and arm32v7 architectures
:x64	targeted to the x64 architecture
:arm32v7	targeted to the arm32v7 architecture

Usage

Quick Start: one time run, local, no logs

docker run --rm \
    --name=rsync \
    --volume /path/to/source/data:/data/src \
    --volume /path/to/destination/data:/data/dst \
    ogivuk/rsync [OPTIONS] /data/src/ /data/dst/

Replace:

• /path/to/source/data with the source folder to be copied or backed-up
• /path/to/destination/data with the destination folder
• [OPTIONS] with desired rsync optional arguments

Start with All Options Explained

1. First time only: Prepare the setup

   • create a folder, for example ~/rsync, that will be later mounted in the container

     • this folder is intended to hold supporting files such as log files, a list of files to rsync, a file with exclude patterns, etc.
     • the subfolder logs, for example ~/rsync/logs is intended for the log files
     • important note: for Docker Swarm, this directory needs to be available on all nodes in Docker swarm, e.g., via network shared storage

     mkdir -p ~/rsync/logs
     

     • replace ~/rsync with any other desired location

2. Start

   • as a container:

     docker run --rm \
         --name=rsync \
         -e TZ="Europe/Zurich" \
         -e RSYNC_LOG="rsync" \
         -e RSYNC_CRON="* 5 * * *" \
         --volume ~/rsync:/rsync
         --volume /path/to/source/data:/data/src \
         --volume /path/to/destination/data:/data/dst \
         ogivuk/rsync [OPTIONS] /data/src/ /data/dst/
     

     • Replace:
       • ~/rsync/ with a folder created in the step 1. (if another is chosen)
       • /path/to/source/data with the source folder to be copied or backed-up
       • /path/to/destination/data with the destination folder
       • [OPTIONS] with desired rsync optional arguments

   • as a swarm service:

     docker service create \
         --name=rsync \
         -e TZ="Europe/Zurich" \
         -e RSYNC_LOG="rsync" \
         -e RSYNC_CRON="0 5 * * *" \
         --mount type=bind,src=~/rsync,dst=/rsync \
         --mount type=bind,src=/path/to/source/data,dst=/data/src \
         --mount type=bind,src=/path/to/destination/data,dst=/data/dst \
         ogivuk/rsync [OPTIONS] /data/src/ /data/dst/
     

     • Replace:
       • ~/rsync/ with a folder created in the step 1. (if another is chosen)
       • /path/to/source/data with the source folder to be copied or backed-up
       • /path/to/destination/data with the destination folder
       • [OPTIONS] with desired rsync optional arguments

Parameters

Parameter	Function
-e TZ="Europe/Zurich"	Sets the timezone in the container, which is important for the correct timestamping of logs. Replace Europe/Zurich with your own timezone from the list of available timezones.
-e RSYNC_LOG="rsync"	Enables the logging or the rsync output. The provided value will be the prefix for the log file name which is appended with the date and time of the rsync execution, e.g., rsync.20200101-12:34.log.
-e RSYNC_CRON=1	Specifies that the rsync is to be run as a cron job. The provided value needs to be a cron expression describing when to run the rsync job, and this expression will be appended to the crontab.