rsync over ssh to esxi

Question

I try to backup esxi via rsync over ssh. I run rsyc but I get error:

# rsync -e ssh -av root@ip.esxi:file.txt .
sh: rsync: not found
rsync: connection unexpectedly closed (0 bytes received so far) [receiver]
rsync error: error in rsync protocol data stream (code 12) at io.c(635) [receiver=3.0.3]

If I connect with ssh/scp everything is fine.

ewwhite · Answer 1 · 2013-10-31T11:08:10.123

The rsync command is not part of the default ESXi installation. ESXi uses a modified version of Busybox to provide a limited subset of Linux commands on the console. That's why rsync isn't available. While it's possible to dump a statically-compiled rsync binary onto an ESXi host, this is not the way to handle backups with VMware.

You can use scp, however.

There are better tools for VMware backups and handling virtual machines, though.

score 6 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 31 '13 at 10:52

6

rsync is not installed, or not installed in a location that is in your $PATH on the remote side

answered Oct 31 '13 at 10:52

Regan

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I not run rsync on esxi but linux server. The remote server (esxi in this case) not need installed rsync but ssh only. – amiad Oct 31 '13 at 12:24
2

yes, it has to be installed on both machines. – Javier Oct 31 '13 at 13:55

Damien Debin · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-10T14:40:21.393

4

You need rsync on your ESXi. You can get a binary here.

edited Dec 10 '13 at 14:40

answered Dec 10 '13 at 08:48

Damien Debin

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The site reqiure username & password. – amiad Dec 10 '13 at 11:32
Sorry, it was a typo in the URL. – Damien Debin Dec 10 '13 at 14:40

nils-holmberg · Answer 4 · 2018-08-27T09:36:38.303

why not mount esxi file systems on a third machine with sshfs and rsync support, like so:

#mount src esxi file system
sshfs root@aaa.bbb.ccc:/vmfs/volumes/ mnt/sshfs/
src="mnt/sshfs/"
vmd="Storage_vmfs5/vm1-data"
#mount dst esxi file system
sshfs root@xxx.yyy.zzz:/datastore-vms/ mnt/tmp/
dst="mnt/tmp/"
#copy vm files
rsync -av --progress --stats --delete --force "$src$vmd" "$dst"
#unmount
fusermount -u $src; fusermount -u $dst

rsync over ssh to esxi

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