Home / server / Questions / 83388
Accepted
Dan
Asked: 2009-11-11 11:51:21 +0800 CST

Using rsync over ssh using public/private key not working

  • 772

I have a script that is in backup.sh file (chmod 775) :

rsync -e 'ssh -p 31234' -avlz --delete --stats --progress --copy-links [email protected]:/home/admin/rsync /home/myname/rsync/foo/

When I call it manually, everything works well (and I don't have to enter my passphrase). But when I call it from cron, it just doesn't work.

I used the same setup on the computer of my coworker (who has the same access than me) and it works well.

What's wrong?

ssh

3 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    I have my passpharseless ssh login setup. I use a command like the following: rsync --delete -auve 'ssh -i /home/red/.ssh/cron_jobs_key' red@othermachine:/source/dir1 /dest/dir2

    The key here is "-i /home/red/.ssh/cron_jobs_key" where I have setup an ssh login without a password. Otherwise, I would have to enter my ssh key when I login to my local machine. I generated this ssh key specifically for cron jobs.

    • 6

  2. Some hints:

    • Check you local email (if you configured it). Cron will email the output of scheduled commands.
    • Make sure rsync is in your PATH. You can check this by running the 'env' command in a cron job or include the env command in your existing script. Ie, add a line: "env > /tmp/env_output.txt" and examine that file afterwards.
    • You can define a PATH variable in the top of your crontab:

    PATH=/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin

    • 2

  3. by mentioning that you dont't have to enter the passphase, I would assume that you are using ssh-agent to enter it once per session.

    This won't work from cron as cron has no access to your SSH_AUTH_SOCK variable because it has been started at machine startup, not within your current session.

    If you want this to work, you'll have to use a passphraseless key, thats probably what your coworker is using.

    • 1