scp, sftp and rsync

scp, sftp and rsync

scp, sftp and rsync Instead of FTP

FTP sends passwords and files in clear text and needs extra ports for data. SSH already does its job with your keys and ~/.ssh/config aliases, so a web server needs no FTP daemon.

File transfer options for a web server
Tool	Encrypted	Best at	Watch out for
FTP	No	Nothing today	Clear-text passwords
FTPS	TLS	Old hosting panels	Certificates, extra ports
scp	SSH	One file or a few	Recopies whole files
sftp	SSH	Scripted file work	No delta transfers
rsync 13,872	SSH	Deploys and backups	A misplaced --delete

Since OpenSSH 9.0 23,707 , scp speaks the SFTP protocol underneath (scp -v logs command sftp), and scp -O restores the legacy protocol for very old servers. sftp -b file runs a batch of put, ls and rm commands unattended. rsync sends only what changed. -a preserves permissions and times, -z compresses, -i itemizes each change, and --delete removes server files gone locally, so preview with --dry-run first.

Previewing and running an rsync deploy, then syncing one changeShell

rsync -azi --delete --exclude-from=site/.rsync-exclude --dry-run site/ web1:site/
rsync -az --delete --exclude-from=site/.rsync-exclude site/ web1:site/
echo 'body{margin:0;font-family:sans-serif}' > site/public/css/app.css
rsync -azi --delete --exclude-from=site/.rsync-exclude --stats site/ web1:site/ \
  | grep -E '^<|speedup'

Output

created directory site
cd+++++++++ ./
<f+++++++++ .rsync-exclude
cd+++++++++ public/
<f+++++++++ public/hero.jpg
...
<f.st...... public/css/app.css
total size is 200,083  speedup is 482.13

The exclude file lists .git/, .env and storage/logs/, so secrets and logs never leave your machine. Mind the trailing slash: site/ copies the directory's contents, while site would create site/site on the server. On Windows, WinSCP 14,725 and FileZilla 4,598 speak SFTP with the same keys.

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