I have a cwrsync server on a Windows Server 2003 machine and a cwrsync client on another Windows Server 2003 machine, on a local network behind a DSL router, working fine with and without SSH. However when I try to do it over the Internet, I run into troubles. The remote system is using Server 2008 if that makes any difference. I used the Secure Channel Wizard to make a batch file to sync in both instances, and it works on the local network. But not over the 'net.
I thought it might be to do with the names of the systems, as the name of the system that cwrsync server is set up on is not resolvable outside this network, so I added a DNS entry for the domain to point to the network so it was resolvable outside the network as well as inside (it just points to the gateway outside), and it made no difference. Port 22 is forwarded and I can use putty to get an ssh terminal from both inside and outside the network.
What happens is rsync gives me an error:
rsync: failed to connect to [pc.domain.tld]: Connection timed out (116)
rsync error: error in socket IO (code 10) at clientserver.c(124) [sender=3.0.6]
So does that mean that the ssh is being established and is working fine and rsync on the other side is sending back an error? Or is it an error from the local rsync? Or what?
While implementing this, I've learned a bit about ssh, pki and rsync, but it's been a massive pain every step of the way.
Can anyone help?
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Hi,
this might be related to the the known_hosts file.
The "key" to that file is the hostname as entered in the connection attempt, so if you have an entry for the "short" hostname there, but none (or a wrong one) for the FQDN, the connection attempt could well fail.
What happens when you try a "normal" ssh connection to either of the two hostname versions?
wmp
It is not making the known_hosts file because it tells me it "could not create directory /home/[windowsaccountname]
I have it working without the hosts file now though and I am using the FQDN. It turns out that another program that I had installed on the client before I decided to try cwrsync was interfering with it, but also it needs to communicate on port 873, which I did not open up through the ADSL firewall. I thought I might just try opening it and see what happens, and it worked. Why does it need to do this? I thought everything was shoved down the SSH on port 22?
Port 873 is used to communicate with an rsync server running at the target, which would mean not involving ssh at all, you use rsync's own transport instead.
To use this method, the server must be started at the target machine (its config is usually in /etc/rsyncd.conf), and the client must use a double colon (::) to separate the hostname from the path. Do you run it this way?
Btw., you can choose a port different from 873 by configuring "port" in /etc/rsyncd.conf or by using the "--port" commandline option of rsyncd.
So it seems that your problem is actually related to ssh and not rsync, because (if I got you right) it works in client/server mode (port 873 opened, of course), and not with ssh transport.
Yes, that's how I run it. It's how the "wizards" set it up for me.
This is the batch file that the cwrsync client "Secure Channel Wizard" made:
@ECHO OFF
SET SECHAW_IDENTITY="C:\cwrsyn
SET
SET SECHAW_LOCALPORT=9119
SET SECHAW_SERVER=[host].[doma
S
SET SECHAW_USER=SvcwRsync
SET SECHAW_CMD="C:\Program Files\cwRsync\bin\rsync.ex
SET SECHAW_TUNNEL=ssh -i "C:\cwrsync testing\SvcCWRSYNC.key" -L 9119:127.0.0.1:873 SvccwRsync@[host].[domain]
"C:\Program Files\cwRsync\bin\sechaw.e
pause
Now that's interesting.
You obviously use the rsync client/server communication via port 873, which basically doesn't use ssh, but you establish a ssh tunnel nevertheless to pipe the rsync data through it. Whysoever.
This setup is used by a command "sechaw.exe".
Ok, and since I don't know this thing at all, I fear I can't tell you more.
ssh, to make it complete, should work when you give it the location of the key file ("-i"), which is non-standard.
Try ssh -i "C:\cwrsync testing\SvcCWRSYNC.key" SvccwRsync@[host].[domain]
If port 22 is open, it should work, but I don't believe so, since there must be some reason not to let rsync itself use ssh.
Now, to come back to your original question, all your problems were related to the blocked port 873, and not to any kind of name resolution.
wmp
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by: spectra-qestPosted on 2009-09-07 at 17:12:35ID: 25277973
I got it working.
Sort of.
It works, but I have to put an entry in the hosts file. I think that rsync doesn't like the full dns name of the machine, rather it just wants the hostname. It won't work if I use the FQDN of the computer. So I had to put an entry for the hostname of the machine in the hosts file, which isn't exactly ideal. Does anyone know how to get it to work with the FQDN of the rsync server?