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Rsync: Preserve / Copy Hard Links ( Backup
Rsnapshot Directory Tree )
by Vivek Gite on March 26, 2012 last updated September 8, 2015
in Backup & Recovery, CentOS, Debian / Ubuntu, FreeBSD, Linux, RedHat and Friends, Suse,
UNIX

Im using rsnapshot filesystem snapshot utility to make incremental snapshots of local and
remote filesystems for 10 production servers running on RHEL 5.x system. The rsnapshot
commands makes extensive use of hard links, so if the file doesnt change, the next snapshot is
simply a hard link to the exact same file. How do I use the rsync command to copy my the entire
snapshot directory /raid6/rsnapshot/ (around 4TB) to a remote server for mirroring purpose?
The rsync command can preserve hard links and make the exact copy of /raid6/rsnapshot/
directory to a remote server using the following syntax. This is useful for making offsite backups
or copy existing backups to a usb hard disk:
rsync -az -H --delete --numeric-ids /path/to/source server2:/path/to/dest/

OR
rsync -az -H --delete --numeric-ids /path/to/source 192.168.1.5:/path/to/dest/

OR
rsync -az -H --delete --progress --numeric-ids /path/to/source
192.168.1.5:/path/to/dest/

Where,
1. -a : Archive mode (i.e. recurse into directories, and preserve symlinks, file permissions,
file modification times, file group, file owner, device files & special files)
2. -z : Compress file data during the transfer
3. -H : Preserve hard links (i.e. copy hard links as hard links)

4. --delete : Delete extraneous files from the receiving side (ones that arent on the
sending side), but only for the directories that are being synchronized i.e. keep exact
replica of your /raid6/rsnapshot directory.
5. --numeric-ids : Transfer numeric group and user IDs rather than using user and group
names and mapping them at both ends.
6. --progress : Show progress during transfer.
In short type the following command as root user:
# rsync -az -H --delete --numeric-ids /raid6/rsanpshot backupserver2:/backups/

Smaller size directories can be dumped to usb 2.0/3.0 or eSata external hard drives using the
same syntax. First, mount usb hard drive:
# mount /dev/sdXY /mnt/usbdisk

Use the rsync as follows:

# rsync -az -H --delete --numeric-ids /raid6/rsanpshot /mnt/usbdisk/