Thinking of replicating data? Rsync comes as a lifesaver tool while syncing data.

Sometimes, it may not work properly and gives Rsync timeout server not responding error message.

Mostly, this error happens due to a bad ssh configuration in the server due to syntax error.

At Bobcares, we often get requests to fix rsync timeout errors as part of our Server Management Services.

Today, let’s get into the details and see how our Support Engineers fix Rsync timeout errors.

Why use the Rsync command?

It is quite understandable from the name itself that the rsync command is used to sync (or copy) files and directories locally and remotely.

Have you ever thought what makes Rsync popular than commands like cp?

One of the main advantages is that it will only sync or copy the changes from source to the destination instead of copying the whole file.

Consequently, the command ultimately reduces the amount of data sent over a network. The main usages of Rsync command include,

1. Day to day backup
2. Mirroring
3. Restoration activities

Also, a Rsync command does not require root or sudo privileges. That’s why it’s one of the top backup tools that our Dedicated Engineers use in customer’s servers.

How we fix common rsync errors

At Bobcares, where we have more than a decade of expertise in managing servers, we see many customers face problems while running the Rsync command.

Now let’s see the major reasons for rsync errors and how our Support Engineers fix the top errors.

1. Bad SSH configuration

It’s often common to have a rsync timeout error when managing backups on a server. Most of the customers become panic when they get such errors while executing the rsync command. One typical example of rsync timeout error is:

[sender] io timeout after 30 seconds -- exiting
rsync error: timeout in data send/receive (code 30) at io.c(140) [sender=3.0.9]
[sender] _exit_cleanup(code=30, file=io.c, line=140): about to call exit(30)

Normally, a bad ssh setting in the server may lead to rsync timeout errors.

So, our Support Engineers check whether the ssh options for the server is set up correctly or not. Usually, many customers may forget to activate TCPKeepAlive yes in the ssh configuration file. So, we add the following parameters in the  /etc/ssh/sshd_config file.

TCPKeepAlive yes
ClientAliveInterval 30
ClientAliveCountMax 3

These SSH settings correct the problem and make rsync work fine.

2. Incorrect syntax

Similarly, as the name suggests, Rsync timeout is a time when server writing for connection if host unreachable.

One of our customers had a problem while executing the command rsync. He tried to sync the files contained in a samba share located on a Ubuntu 12.04LTS machine to a remote repository contained on an Ubuntu Server. He couldn’t send large directories of files to a remote server via rsync.

On checking, our Support Engineers found that the command he used to sync the data was incorrect. He just used the command as below.

rsync -avHPe "ssh -p2223 /home/abc/site_html/*" root@95.xx.xx.121:/home/remote/directory.

He misplaced an “ in the command. So, we corrected as,

rsync -avHPe "ssh -p2223" /home/abc/site_html/* root@95.xx.xx.121:/home/remote/directory.

This is how we fixed the error.

3. Enabling compression

In some cases, when the directory to rsync is quite large, the whole process can fail with a timeout error. This particularly happens with slow connections as well.

As a fix for this problem, our Dedicated Engineers could reduce transfer time by using the option -z which will compress during transport. Moreover, we add the flag –partial so that an interrupted transfer will keep any partially synced file. Also, rsync continue from the point where it stopped.

[Need assistance to fix rsync errors? We’ll help you.]

Conclusion

In short, the incorrect ssh configuration in the server or the syntax error in rysnc command may lead to a rsync timeout server not responding error. Today, we saw the various reasons for rysnc errors and how our Support Engineers fix them.