I have 6 devices that i rsync to a central location to back them up. Ive been using ssh as the -e option. Problem is i use public key with passphrases, meaning to backup all six i need to go to each device and run the backup script. Since i typically backup /etc, /home, and /root this means entering sudo and the ssh passphrase 3x for each device.

I would much prefer a script that runs on back storage device that can pull the data from each device without having to use ssh (encryption is not necessary since all traffic is either local or going through a vpn connection).

I could then put this script in root’s crontab or make it a systemd service running as root.

But i dont know how i can remote sync without ssh

  • mozz
    12•10 months ago

    Use a restricted account with an un-passphrased key is probably by far the easiest way. You could also use rsyncd, but you’ll have to fool with a whole bunch of stuff. The work involved will probably be a superset of just doing a restricted account for the rsync process to use for rsync-over-ssh.

    Edit: I had totally missed that the issue was passphrase of the key, not password