This procedure has been tested on ESXi 4.0 only
First I was unable to upload files through rsync running in server mode !!! Only downloads are working ! rsync can also be started using a remote shell like ssh using -e option. Used this way, rsync can be used to download and upload. Anyway the use of the ssh layer and its encryption increase CPU load.
rsync can be started standalone or via inetd. standalone fails then I used inetd to start rsync.
You can find the rsync binary and some configuration files here rsync-esxi.zip.
Because VMware refresh its directories at every reboot, you need to put your files in one of your datastore. I will call it /vmfs/volumes/datastore1. We will put all our files into the misc sub-directory this way:
/vmfs/volumes/datastore1 `-- misc |-- etc | |-- rsyncd.conf | |-- rsyncd.secrets `-- sbin `-- rsync
You need to restrict access to the rsyncd.secrets file, and be sure rsync binary is runnable.
# chmod 600 /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/misc/etc/rsyncd.secrets # chmod a+rx /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/misc/sbin/rsync
Edit rsyncd.conf and rsyncd.secret to meet your need. You can create sections and limit access to some users only.
secrets file = /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/misc/etc/rsyncd.secrets log file = /var/log/rsyncd.log use chroot = no read only = yes list = yes uid = 0 gid = 0 [root] comment = root directory path = / auth users = rsync hosts allow = * list = true read only = true
store your rsync's users in rsyncd.secrets. When used via inetd, you don't need to restart any services when you modify these two files. /etc/inetd.conf
rsync:secret
Then add this line at end of your /etc/inetd.conf.
rsync stream tcp nowait root /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/misc/sbin/rsync --config=/vmfs/volumes/datastore1/misc/etc/rsyncd.conf --daemon
To restart inetd follow this procedure :
~ # ps | grep inetd 3834250 3834250 busybox inetd ~ # kill 3834250 ~ # inetd
To access your file from rsync use the command:
# rsync rsync://rsync@your_host:/root/etc/hosts myesxhostsfile
To use rsync via SSH, you must setup --rsync-path because rsync is not in the expected location.
# rsync -e ssh --rsync-path=/vmfs/volumes/datastore1/misc/sbin/rsync root@your_host:/etc/hosts myesxhostsfile
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