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I need to have a certain directory synchronized across multiple linux machines, so that changes on one machine are either pushed to the other copies or easily polled. I'm ok with having one master and the others as slave.

I thought about rsync, heard about unison, and I am sure there are other tools, but I've never tried using any for syncing more than two machines.

I'm looking for something that is super easy to install and configure.

I'm also looking to stay behind our firewall, without using third-party sites.

Uri
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7 Answers7

5

rsync will do. Easiness of install is subjective, it deppends of your skills :)

geek
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2

What about DropBox?

Styrke
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Google had a summer of code project called TSync that looks to be a good replacement for Unison. ( http://sourceforge.net/projects/tsyncd/ ) It doesn't seem to have a lot of documentation and following though so I've always been nervous about using it within a business environment.

user41169
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Csync2 is a tool designed to synchronize configuration files among multiple servers. It has various strategies for handling conflicts, can keep backups of changed files, and has a very flexible configuration. I've used it in a number of situations and I've been happy with it.

larsks
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Unison is a good file synchronizer which works for both Windows and Linux. Contrary to rsync, unison can synchronize in both ways (csync can do that, too, by the way, but it's kind of harder to setup as far as I can remember).

From what I've heard, iFolder is a good replacement for DropBox/SpiderOak, but I haven't tried it personally.

If you choose rsync, there's several ways to call it:

  • From cron, on a regular basis (e.g. once every 10 minutes or once every 1 hour)
  • From incron, reacting on events (e.g. everytime a file is modified or created in a directory).

You can also combine the two methods to be sure: - Fire from incron to be sure to copy the modified file. You can even use scp directly sinc e you know the file that changed, so it'll be more efficient - Call rsync from a cron to fix copies that might have failed, or apply a --delete option to remove files that are not on the other side.

raphink
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Have you considered using something like NFS?

chris
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Setup a FREENAS?

FreeNAS™ is an Open Source Storage Platform based on FreeBSD and supports sharing across Windows, Apple, and UNIX-like systems. FreeNAS™ 8 includes ZFS, which supports high storage capacities and integrates file systems and volume management into a single piece of software.