How to Securely Transfer Files via rsync and SSH on Linux

Last modified: July 2, 2022

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1. Securely Download From a Server

rsync -avHe ssh user@server:/path/to/file /home/user/path/to/file

user: The username of the remote user through which you’ll be logging into the target (remote) server.
server: The hostname or IP address of the target (remote) server.
/path/to/file: The path to the file that needs to be downloaded from the target (remote) server. Besides, file is the file name.
/home/user/path/to/file: The local path where you would like to store the file that is downloaded from the target (remote) server. File is the file name.

Example:

rsync -avHe ssh [email protected]:/home/adam/testfile1 /home/localuser/testfile1

rsync -avHPe "ssh -pPORTNUMBER" user@server:/path/to/file /home/user/path/to/file

PORTNUMBER: The destination (remote) server’s SSH port number.
user: The remote user’s username, which you will use to log into the target server (which is remote).
server: the target (remote) server’s hostname or IP address.
/path/to/file: the location of the file on the target (remote) server, where file is the name of the file.
/home/user/path/to/file: the local path, where file is the file name, and file is the file that you want to download from the target (remote) server.

Example:

rsync -avHPe "ssh -p1337" [email protected]:/home/adam/testfile1 /home/localuser/testfile1

rsync -avH /home/user/path/to/file -e ssh user@server:/path/to/file

/home/user/path/to/file: the local path, where file is the file name, where file will be uploaded to the target (remote) server.
user: The remote user’s username, which you will use to log into the target server (which is remote).
server: the target (remote) server’s hostname or IP address.
/path/to/file: the remote path, where file is the file name, for the file that will be uploaded to the target (remote) server.

rsync -avH /home/localuser/testfile1 -e ssh [email protected]:/home/adam/testfile1

rsync -avHPe "ssh -pPORTNUMBER" /home/user/path/to/file -e ssh user@server:/path/to/file

PORTNUMBER: The port number for SSH on the target (remote) server.
/home/user/path/to/file: The local path where the file that will be uploaded to the target (remote) server exists, where file is the file name.
user: The username of the remote user through which you’ll be logging into the target (remote) server.
server: The hostname or IP address of the target (remote) server.
/path/to/file: The remote path for the file that will be uploaded to the target (remote) server, where file is the file name.

Example:

rsync -avHPe "ssh -pPORTNUMBER" /home/localuser/testfile1 -e ssh [email protected]:/home/adam/testfile1

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