Rsync error 19 triggers while trying to transfer large number of files between source and destination.

As a part of our Server Management Services, we help our Customers to fix Rsync related errors regularly.

Let us today discuss the possible causes and fixes for this error

What is Rysnc error 19 ?

Rsync error 19 triggers during the transfer of large number of files between source and destination. A typical error message looks like:

rsync error: received SIGUSR1 (code 19) at main.c(1434)

This generally triggers due to the reasons below:

1. Connection of the local rsync with remote rsync fails.

2. The speed of the two host varies

3. Rsync of large files time out while performing a large job

4.A process interfering with rsync process

How to fix Rysnc error 19?

Let us now look at possible solutions for this error.

This error mainly triggers when the local rsync connection is lost with the remote rsync connection. This happens when due to the usage of an outdated rsync version.

Updating the rsync version on the server would help to fix the error message. This could be done with the usage of latest mirror source in the rsync install command. Rsync installs command for various environments are given below.

Ubuntu: apt-get install rsync
Centos: yum install rsync
Macos: brew install rsync

The error code 19 also triggers when the two hosts are of different speed. This generally happens when the destination is slower than the source.

Use of the -W option with rsync would enable a copy of whole files. Likewise, remove -z option used for compression and add –no-compress. Also, use the options –no-checksum and –blocking-io along with rsync command.

Similarly, this error commonly triggers during the transfer of large files in one stretch. The tip here would be to split the large job into separate small jobs. Also, perform data scrubbing on the destination like NAS.

Finally, this error could be triggered the to interference from another process. Thus, it would be a good idea to cross check the process running simultaneously.

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Conclusion

In short, Rsync error 19 triggers while trying to transfer large number of files between source and destination. Today, we saw how our Support Engineers fix this error.