File copy between two servers programatically

Question

Here's what I'm trying to do:

1. I need to automate process of copying files from server A to server B. I ideally would like to have a script that is invoked by a cron job periodically on server B.
2. The files I need to copy are executables and so I need to make sure that no bits are lost during copying.

I have come across command line solutions but I need a programmatic solution. How could I go about doing this?

Answer 1

rsync, scp. Either one will work, and either are trivial to use "programmatically".

For instance, here's a shell script to copy some files from server-01 to server-02:

(this assumes that key auth is already configured between these servers)

#!/bin/sh

scp -R /path/to/files user@server-01:/path/to/destination

...and an rsync example:

#!/bin/sh

rsync -az /path/to/files user@server-01:/path/to/destination

Answer 2

You'll want to use rsync to copy the files. There is a good write up here on how to configure ssh, rsync and cron.

Answer 3

I like scp/rsync over ssh but also consider serving the files up via http and using wget/curl.