rsync authentication

Chrax · 09-06-2005, 08:40 PM

Hi, I'm running an rsync server, and I want to add user authentication. Can anybody explain to me how to do it, because I seem to be doing something wrong.

Here is the module in rsyncd.conf:

Code:

[chris]
        path = /share/chris
        comment = chris' files
        uid = chris
        gid = chris
        auth users = chris
        secrets file = /etc/rsyncd.secrets

Here's my rsync.secrets file:

Code:

chris:hello

So I run

Code:

$ rsync -Cavz chris@localhost::chris/home

Password: hello
@ERROR: auth failed on module chris
rsync: connection unexpectedly closed (0 bytes received so far) [sender]
rsync error: error in rsync protocol data stream (code 12) at io.c(359)

Note that all of this works if I comment out the auth users line in the rsyncd.conf.

So does anybody see what I'm doing wrong?

Matir · 09-06-2005, 09:12 PM

First off, make sure they're both either rsync.secrets or rsyncd.secrets... you call it by both names here. Could be a typo, could be the root cause of the problem. Secondly, make sure the file is terminated by a newline character.

Chrax · 09-06-2005, 09:17 PM

Yeah, it was just a typo.

And yes, the file is terminated with a newline.

Matir · 09-06-2005, 09:50 PM

What are the permissions on the file?

Chrax · 09-06-2005, 10:29 PM

Hi. I know a lot of people here don't know what they're doing, but I know how to get around and debug most basic Unix problems. Please assume that I've checked the obvious things. What I actually need is someone who's used rsync with authentication, and I need them to tell me if there's anything wrong with my configuration or if they had any similar troubles and how they resolved them.

If it helps, I'm running Ubuntu Hoary Hedgehog and the standard rsync package.

That said,

Code:

$ ls -l /etc/rsyncd.secrets
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 24 2005-09-06 21:17 /etc/rsyncd.secrets

Matir · 09-06-2005, 10:34 PM

I hope you didn't feel I was trying to treat you stupidly or anything like that. It *IS* hard to tell sometimes whether a user has checked those things.

Ironically enough, your problem is in the secrets file permissions. If the file is readable by 'others', then rsync will disallow access unless you have "strict modes" set to false. From the rsyncd.conf man page:

Quote:

There is no default for the "secrets file" option, you must
choose a name (such as /etc/rsyncd.secrets). The file must nor-
mally not be readable by "other"; see "strict modes".

strict modes
The "strict modes" option determines whether or not the permis-
sions on the secrets file will be checked. If "strict modes" is
true, then the secrets file must not be readable by any user id
other than the one that the rsync daemon is running under. If
"strict modes" is false, the check is not performed. The
default is true. This option was added to accommodate rsync
running on the Windows operating system.

Let me know how it goes.

Chrax · 09-06-2005, 11:05 PM

Good call. I had read that, but I missed the part where it said the default was true. That was the problem.

Thanks. It's always nice to have someone say "Stop being stupid and read".

And I know it's hard to tell whether or not someone knows what they're doing. My solution typically is to ask all the simple questions in one go to jog their memory. I just get tired of the back and forth of one obvious question, one obvious answer.

Matir · 09-07-2005, 07:19 AM

I probably should've done that in the first place, but I hadn't gone back to look at the rsyncd.conf man page yet.

I'm glad it worked out for you.