[SOLVED] rsync having trouble creating directories

mfoley · 08-14-2017, 11:54 AM

I seems to be having rsync issues lately ... I have the following:

Code:

$ rsync -rtv --delete --partial /mnt/localBackup/Acronis/workstations/ bu6500.mydom.org:/mnt/OHPRSbackup/Acronis/workstations/
sending incremental file list
rsync: mkdir "/mnt/OHPRSbackup/Acronis/workstations" failed: No such file or directory (2)
rsync error: error in file IO (code 11) at main.c(657) [Receiver=3.1.2]

It seems that rsync cannot create the target directory path "/mnt/OHPRSbackup/Acronis/workstations", even though that user can create the path:

Code:

$ ssh bu6500.mydom.org mkdir -p /mnt/OHPRSbackup/Acronis/workstations

$ ssh bu6500.mydom.org ls -l /mnt/OHPRSbackup/Acronis
total 4
drwxr-xr-x 2 ohprs ohprs 4096 Aug 14 12:50 workstations

What am I doing wrong that rsync cannot create this directory?

ponce · 08-14-2017, 12:26 PM

you have to use rsync via ssh adding the option "-e ssh".

mfoley · 08-14-2017, 04:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ponce

you have to use rsync via ssh adding the option "-e ssh".

Sorry I don't see where I'd use that and the man page isn't enlightening me. Can you give me an example?

I tried the following and it doesn't work:

Code:

rsync -rtv --bwlimit=400m --delete --partial -e ssh /mnt/localBackup/Acronis/workstations/ bu6500.ohprs.org:/mnt/OHPRSbackup/Acronis/workstations/
sending incremental file list
rsync: mkdir "/mnt/OHPRSbackup/Acronis/workstations" failed: No such file or directory (2)
rsync error: error in file IO (code 11) at main.c(657) [Receiver=3.1.2]

ponce · 08-14-2017, 04:26 PM

Code:

rsync -avP --delete-after -e ssh /mnt/localBackup/Acronis/workstations/ foo@bu6500.ohprs.org:/mnt/OHPRSbackup/Acronis/workstations

where foo is a valid user on the remote host with write permissions in the "workstations" directory (if it's the same user on the local host you don't need to specify it).
note that the source directory ends with a slash and is backupped in the remote one with the same name but the destination ends without a slash.

mfoley · 08-14-2017, 07:55 PM

That's the odd thing. Yes, it's the same user on local as remote. And the user has the id_rsa.pub public key set. Note that in my OP the remote mkdir works OK, w/o my having to enter a password, `ssh bu6500.mydom.org mkdir -p /mnt/OHPRSbackup/Acronis/workstations`. But, trying your suggestion gives the same error:

Code:

$ rsync -rtva --delete --partial /mnt/localBackup/Acronis/workstations/ bu6500.mydom.org:/mnt/OHPRSbackup/Acronis/workstations
sending incremental file list
rsync: mkdir "/mnt/OHPRSbackup/Acronis/workstations" failed: No such file or directory (2)
rsync error: error in file IO (code 11) at main.c(657) [Receiver=3.1.2]

No, the directory on the target machine does not exist. I'm expecting rsync to create directories that don't exist. It does work that way if doing local rsync's. I can have a completely empty target directory and `rsync -r` creates directories and copies files.

I don't get it. I'd hate to have to anticipate what directories and subdirectories have to pre-exist on the target.

after more experimentation ...

OK, so maybe at least the specified target directory has to exist? I.e. /mnt/OHPRS/backup/Acronis/workstations. rsync will then create subdirectories. When I created this directory on the target host (as the same user), then ran rsync, it started working.

bassmadrigal · 08-14-2017, 09:12 PM

rsync will likely create any directories that it is syncing, but it likely needs the target directory to exist before it can start syncing. Just like how you need to have a folder created before you can mount a drive to it.

Granted, this is coming from someone who has basically no rsync experience, but I do know from using a lot of other programs over the years that you likely need the target directory to exist before running the command. After that, rsync should create any subdirectories from the remote source it is syncing.

jlinkels · 08-14-2017, 09:31 PM

It does not create the directory on the target if you end your source with a backslash.

So if you have this on the source:

Code:

/s/1/file1
/s/1/file2
/s/1/file3

and this on the destination:

Code:

/d/1/

This command will run fine:

Code:

rsync -a /s/1/ /d/1/

But if your destination is:

Code:

/d/

The rsync will not create /d/1/ for you running:

Code:

rsync -a /s/1/ /d/1/

But, if you run this command:

Code:

rsync -a /s/1 /d/

it will create /d/1/ for you

The mistake you make is that you refer to a directory in the destination which does not exist yet. Rsync does not create directories which are specified in the destination path. However, you can force the creation of the directory by omitting the last slash in the source path and omitting the lowest level directory in the destination path.

jlinkels

mfoley · 08-15-2017, 10:53 AM

jlinkels: Thanks for that. I see that the target directory specified in the rsync command needs to exist, then it can create sub-directies. I've made a note of this in my backup script.