scp and rsync for file transfer in Linux CLI - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Secure File Transfer with scp and rsync

📖 Scenario: You work as a system administrator. You need to securely copy files from your local machine to a remote server. You will use scp and rsync commands to transfer files efficiently.

🎯 Goal: Learn how to use scp and rsync commands to transfer files from your local machine to a remote server securely and efficiently.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a sample file to transfer

Set a variable with the remote server address

Use scp to copy the file to the remote server

Use rsync to copy the file to the remote server with progress shown

Display the final confirmation message

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

System administrators and developers often need to transfer files securely between computers. Using scp and rsync helps automate and speed up this process.

💼 Career

Knowing how to use scp and rsync is essential for roles involving server management, backups, deployment, and automation.

1

Create a sample file to transfer

Create a file called sample.txt with the exact content: Hello, this is a test file for transfer.

Linux CLI

# Create the file sample.txt with the required content
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use the echo command with redirection > to create the file.

2

Set the remote server address variable

Create a variable called REMOTE_SERVER and set it to user@192.168.1.100:/home/user/

Linux CLI

echo "Hello, this is a test file for transfer." > sample.txt
# Set the REMOTE_SERVER variable with the exact value
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use = to assign the string to the variable without spaces.

3

Use scp to copy the file to the remote server

Use the scp command to copy sample.txt to the remote server using the REMOTE_SERVER variable.

Linux CLI

echo "Hello, this is a test file for transfer." > sample.txt
REMOTE_SERVER="user@192.168.1.100:/home/user/"
# Use scp to copy sample.txt to the remote server
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use double quotes around $REMOTE_SERVER to expand the variable correctly.

4

Use rsync to copy the file with progress and print confirmation

Use the rsync command with -avh --progress options to copy sample.txt to the remote server using the REMOTE_SERVER variable. Then print Transfer complete! using echo.

Linux CLI

echo "Hello, this is a test file for transfer." > sample.txt
REMOTE_SERVER="user@192.168.1.100:/home/user/"
scp sample.txt "$REMOTE_SERVER"
# Use rsync with -avh --progress to copy sample.txt to the remote server
# Then print 'Transfer complete!'
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use rsync -avh --progress sample.txt "$REMOTE_SERVER" and then echo "Transfer complete!".