iblocksync incrementally syncs raw disk images. It uses separate server processes for serving (i.e. reading) the source image and receiving (i.e. writing) the target image, allowing one to transparently read from and write to remote systems through SSH connections. Naturally it also supports syncing images on the local machine. iblocksync furthermore allows wrapping its remote processes, allowing one to do custom tasks before and after syncing, e.g. creating and removing LVM snapshots.
You can install iblocksync just regularily using distutils and the provided setup.py. It doesn't depend on any external modules, just Python core modules.
Please note that you must install iblocksync on the local system as well as all remote systems.
iblocksync works with Python 3 only. It was tested with Python 3.4 under Debian Jessie, however, it should work with any other distribution. If not, please don't hesitate to open a new Issue on GitHub.
$ iblocksync --help
usage: iblocksync [OPTION]... SOURCE TARGET
Incrementally syncs a raw disk image from SOURCE to TARGET.
Arguments:
SOURCE Path to the raw disk image to sync (i.e. the source
image). You can either specify a absolute path
('/path/to/image'), a relative path ('path/to/image'),
a scp remote path ('user@host:/path/to/image', 'user@'
being optional), or URL-style SSH paths
('ssh://user@host:port/path/to/image', both 'user@'
and ':port' being optional). URL-style paths are
absolute by default, however, you can use
'ssh://user@host:port/./path/to/image' to make them
relative. You can also specify paths relative to
user's ('~/path/to/image') or other's home directory
('~other/path/to/image')
TARGET Path to the raw disk image to sync to (i.e. the target
image). You can specify the same path syntax as for
the source image (see above)
Application options:
-a HASH_ALGO, --algo HASH_ALGO
Gives the hash algorithm to work with. The following
hash algorithms are supported: 'adler32', 'sha1',
'sha224', 'sha256', 'sha512', 'sha384', 'md5',
'crc32'. Defaults to 'sha1'
-b BLOCK_SIZE, --block BLOCK_SIZE
Gives the block size to work with. A suffix of B for
bytes, K for kilobytes (1,024 bytes), M for megabytes
(1,024 * 1,024 bytes), G for gigabytes, T for
terabytes, P for petabytes or E for exabytes is
optional. Use kB/MB/GB/TB/PB/EB for base-10 units (1
kB = 1,000 bytes, 1 MB = 1,000 * 1,000 bytes, ...).
Defaults to 1M (1,048,576 bytes)
-p PROGRESS, --progress PROGRESS
Shows a simple progress bar. The progress bar is
disabled when verbosity was increased twice. The
following progress bar styles are supported: 'none',
'dot', 'full'. Defaults to 'full'
-f, --force Ignore warnings, never prompt
-v, --verbose Explain what is being done (increase verbosity)
Help options:
--help Display this help and exit
--version Output version information and exit
You can manipulate the way how iblocksync communicates with its remote
processes using env variables. Pass the 'IBLOCKSYNC_SOURCE_EXEC' env variable
to overwrite the command iblocksync executes on the source system (defaults to
'iblocksync-serve'). If your source image is on a remote system, you can also
overwrite the command iblocksync uses to establish the connection using the
'IBLOCKSYNC_SOURCE_RSH' env variable (defaults to 'ssh'). This for example
allows you to pass an identity file to ssh ('ssh -i ~/.ssh/id_dsa'). The same
options apply to the target system: Set 'IBLOCKSYNC_TARGET_EXEC' (defaults to
'iblocksync-receive') and/or 'IBLOCKSYNC_TARGET_RSH' (defaults to 'ssh')
respectively.
Copyright (C) 2017-2022 Daniel Rudolf http://www.daniel-rudolf.de/
This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, version 3 of the License only.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.