How do you synchronise huge sparse files (VM disk images) between machines?

Posted by chrisdew on Server Fault See other posts from Server Fault or by chrisdew
Published on 2009-09-17T16:59:56Z Indexed on 2012/10/06 15:40 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 228

Filed under:

linux

|

rsync

|

kvm-virtualization

Is there a command, such as rsync, which can synchronise huge, sparse, files from one linux server to another?

It is very important that the destination file remains sparse. It may be longer (but not bigger) than the drive which contains it. Only changed blocks should be sent across the wire.

I have tried rsync, but got no joy. groups.google.com/group/mailing.unix.rsync/browse_thread/thread/94f39271980513d3

If I write a programme to do this, am I just reinventing the wheel? http://www.finalcog.com/synchronise-block-devices

Thanks,

Chris.

© Server Fault or respective owner

Related posts about linux

apt-get install and update fail

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
I've got a problem with apt-get update and apt-get install ... commands . every time update or installing fails and errors are : Get:1 http://dl.google.com stable Release.gpg [198B] Ign http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable/main Translation-en_US Get:2 http://dl… >>> More
kernel module compiling error

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
sh@ubuntu:/home/ccpp/helloworld$ make gcc-4.6 -O2 -DMODULE -D_KERNEL_ -W -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -isystem /lib/modules/`uname -r`/build/include -c -o hello-1.o hello-1.c hello-1.c:4:0: warning: "MODULE" redefined [enabled by default] <command-line>:0:0: note: this is… >>> More
Build-Essentials installation failing

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
I am having trouble accessing the several critical header files that show to be a part of the build process. The "Ubuntu Software Center" shows "Build Essentials" as installed: Next I did the following two commands, which did not improve the problem: ~$ sudo apt-get install build-essential [sudo]… >>> More
Updating Debian kernel

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
I'm trying to update my Debian machine to 2.6.32-46 (which is the new stable). However, after doing apt-get update my apt-cache search linux-image shows me: linux-headers-2.6.32-5-486 - Header files for Linux 2.6.32-5-486 linux-headers-2.6.32-5-686-bigmem - Header files for Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem linux-headers-2… >>> More
Serial connection over a single USB cable (Windows to linux, or linux to linux)

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I'm helping out with a project for an embedded device that only has USB and no serial. This device is running Linux. These days, when we need to connect to a serial port on a device we typically use a USB to serial adapter (on something like a phone system or a load balancing device, etc). I would… >>> More

Related posts about rsync

Rsync: how to mount truecrypt on-the-fly on the receiving side?

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
The short version: how can I keep an rsync backup on a truecrypt volume? The hard part is to mount/unmount this volume on the fly when it is needed for rsync. Details This is my current backup configuration (which works fairly well for the most part): backup source is on Win7 64 bit, destination… >>> More
Two Questions on for Rsync - rsync by date and by file name

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Hi, I have two questions with respect to rsync: 1: I have a bunch of files which are incremented by day of the year. Ex: file.txt.81, file.txt.82, etc. Now, these files are in different directories: data1/file.txt.81 data1/file.txt.82 data2/file2.txt.81 data2/file2.txt.82 How can I have rsync… >>> More
Cygwin rsync broken

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
I get an error with cygwin rsync trying to transfer files between local - remote host. Any ideas? C:\>rsync user@host:~/file newfile Password: rsync: connection unexpectedly closed (0 bytes received so far) [sender] rsync error: error in rsync protocol data stream (code 12) at io.c(601) [sender= 3… >>> More
macport selfupdate not working

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
macbookpro:~ eistrati$ port -v MacPorts 2.1.2 macbookpro:~ eistrati$ xcodebuild -version Xcode 4.5.2 Build version 4G2008a macbookpro:~ eistrati$ sudo port -d selfupdate DEBUG: Copying /Users/eistrati/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dt.Xcode.plist to /opt/local/var/macports/home/Library/Preferences DEBUG:… >>> More
Rsync from godaddy to OS X

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
I would like to use rsync to backup my website to my local computer (OS X). I started of with this guide and got pretty far. I use the following rsync-line: rsync -PzrlptgD --del --delete-excluded -r --rsync-path=~/bin/rsync user@server:~/ /local/backup/folder/ I wanted to use the -a option (same… >>> More