8.0.1-BETA and rsync GUI

[Milhouse]

How are the jobs in the rsync GUI supposed to work - will the job "push" data from the FreeNAS box to the remote host or will the FreeNAS8 box "pull" the data from the remote host?

Unless I'm missing something obvious, how can you tell (or specify) which rsync host is the source and which is the destination?

Adding a "Trial Run" (option -n / --dry-run) checkbox might be a nice addition too.

As would a "Run Now" button (cron jobs would also benefit from a "Run Now" button).

 

[freeflow]

The server recieves data from the client. It just sits there listening for a client to say it wants to send data. The client decides when and what it wants to send to the server.

 

[Milhouse]

The server recieves data from the client. It just sits there listening for a client to say it wants to send data. The client decides when and what it wants to send to the server.

OK, but is it possible to create GUI jobs in FN8.0.1 that act as either server or client?

Let's say I have data on my FN8.0.1 box and want to schedule an rsync back up on the FN8.0.1 box to push the data to a remote storage server - is this possible? Or alternatively, I want to schedule an rsync job on the FN8.0.1 server to pull the data from that storage server on to the FN8.0.1 box? Two very different configurations, yet only one confusing GUI to create them!

The reason why I'm confused is that in the announcement it states:

rsync jobs can now be created via the GUI. Additionally the system can act as an rsync server.

This gives the impression that FN8.0.1 can act as either client or server, but the GUI is not clear on which host is the source and which is the destination - the implication is that the FN8 host is always the client. Obviously, depending on whether the data is to be "pulled" or "pushed" this definition changes (and need I say, it is HUGELY important that you get it right!)

And for FN8.0.1 to act as an rsync server, I must be able to create rsync "modules" for a remote client to push data to, but how do I do this without creating and scheduling an rsync job on the FN8 box?

To me, the GUI seems very muddled and unclear (either that, or I am!) :)

Or maybe the GUI is incomplete (it is a BETA after all)?

 

[freeflow]

In FreeNAS 8 it is split into 2 parts. Under 'System' is the option to set up FreeNAS 8 as a client, and no there doesn't appear to be a way to have a one off rsync job. The Server function is under 'Services' and you still have to go to the 'services.control services' page to actaully switch Rsync on.

 

[Milhouse]

In FreeNAS 8 it is split into 2 parts. Under 'System' is the option to set up FreeNAS 8 as a client, and no there doesn't appear to be a way to have a one off rsync job. The Server function is under 'Services' and you still have to go to the 'services.control services' page to actaully switch Rsync on.

Ah thanks, can't believe I missed the rsyncd node in Services! :o

However... in the System node, when creating an rsync job, am I still being stupid because I don't understand how to create a job that does

Code:

rsync --delete --stats -tiprogl /mnt/share/data backupusr@backup-server::backup-data

instead of

Code:

rsync --delete --stats -tiprogl backupusr@backup-server::backup-data /mnt/share/data

?
In my simplistic world, the first "pushes" data from FN8 to a backup-server, while the second "pulls" data from the backup-server to the FN8 server. Both jobs would execute (ie. be scheduled) on the FN8 server with FN8 as the client in both cases but with data moving in two different directions.

After testing, it's apparent the GUI only allows you to create the first "push" type job, and it doesn't seem possible to "pull" data onto an FN8. All it would take is for the GUI to appreciate that sometimes the FN8 server can be the source of the data, and sometimes it will be the destination and allow the user to choose - currently it always the FN8 server is the source.

Also the lack of a password in the rsync job config prevents rsync working on FN8 when accessing a password protected rsync server... and deleting rsync jobs throws an error "Some error occurred!". :)

 

[freeflow]

The command line version of rsync has a great deal more flexibility than is in the GUI so I suspect that you can't do the above. At the present we seem to be stuck with clients pushing data to servers running the rsync daemon.

 

[tarvr]

Hello. I am also trying to setup rsync between Windows 2008 server and Freenas v8.01 beta2.
I am new to this, but until now no success.
I enabled the rsync in freenas “services” and run this from my windows
rsync.exe -v -rlt --chmod=a=rw,Da+x "/cygdrive/d/testfolder/" "10.0.0.2::freenas/testfolder/
rsync.exe In windows I use the client of “deltacopy”
Can someone help me with this?