Uses

rsync was originally written as a replacement for rcp and scp. As such, it has a similar syntax to its parent programs. Like its predecessors, it still requires a source and a destination to be specified, one of which may be remote. Because of the flexibility, speed and script ability of rsync, it has become a standard Linux utility and is included in all popular Linux distributions. As a result, rsync has been ported to Windows (via Cygwin), Mac OS and GNU/Linux.

Possible uses:

rsync [OPTION] … SRC [SRC] … [USER@]HOST:DEST rsync [OPTION]…[USER@]HOST:SRC[DEST]

One of the earliest applications of rsync was to implement mirroring or backup for multiple Unix clients to a central Unix server using rsync/ssh and standard Unix accounts.

With a scheduling utility such as EnterpriseSCHEDULE or cron , one can schedule automated encrypted rsync based mirroring between multiple hosts and a central server.