Assuem I want to transfer large amounts of stuff from one server to another (through Internet).

Which method should I prefer:

ftp or rsync ?

What are the Pros and Cons?

Which is faster?

Which is more stable?

Goran

At 03 May 2008 12:52:33 GMT goran@lycos.com (Goran Ivanic) wrote:

>
> Assuem I want to transfer large amounts of stuff from one server to another (through Internet).
>
> Which method should I prefer:
>
> ftp or rsync ?
>
> What are the Pros and Cons?
>
> Which is faster?
>
> Which is more stable?

Ftp is not secure. I would not use it to transfer large amounts of stuff
from one server to another, unless what you are doing is something like
mirroring a ftp site. If you are planing to provide a mirror to a ftp
site, you should talk to the sysadmin of the site you are mirroring.
They probably have a rsync server in place for this purpose.

Otherwise...

Using rsync over ssh (rsunc -e ssh ...) or using tar over ssh (tar czvf -
-C sourcedir files | ssh othermachine tar xzvf - -C destdir) are both
good options. I'd use the tar/ssh route if this is a new / first time
transfer. Using rsync is better if it is an update (some random subset
of files need to be transfered).

>
> Goran
>

--
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In comp.os.linux.misc Goran Ivanic <goran@lycos.com> wrote:
> Assume I want to transfer large amounts of stuff from one server to
> another (through Internet).

Either you do or you don't. It's hard enough understanding people's
questions without having unnecessary assumptions thrown about.


> Which method should I prefer:
> ftp or rsync ?

Your preference is entirely up to you. Personally, if it really was
"large amounts of stuff", I'd consider sending a tape through the post.


> What are the Pros and Cons?
> Which is faster?
> Which is more stable?

I think you probably ought to go and do your own homework, don't you?
Chris

On May 4, 7:09 pm, Chris Davies <chris-use...@roaima.co.uk> wrote:
> In comp.os.linux.misc Goran Ivanic <go...@lycos.com> wrote:
>
> > Assume I want to transfer large amounts of stuff from one server to
> > another (through Internet).
>
> Either you do or you don't. It's hard enough understanding people's
> questions without having unnecessary assumptions thrown about.
>
> > Which method should I prefer:
> > ftp or rsync ?
>


I would rather go for rsync, it gives you a lot more functionality
over ftp,,,you may customize and do stuff like files to retain or
not...


> Your preference is entirely up to you. Personally, if it really was
> "large amounts of stuff", I'd consider sending a tape through the post.
>
> > What are the Pros and Cons?
> > Which is faster?
> > Which is more stable?
>
> I think you probably ought to go and do your own homework, don't you?
> Chris

There's really no reason to prefer ftp over rsync, except maybe that most
browser have ftp support but not always rsync.

If you are going to have many simultaneous transfers, you may not want to do
it over ssh as it will be too CPU intensive over a fat pipe.
--
Guillaume Dargaud
http://www.gdargaud.net/Antarctica/