Should I use rsync compression over a gigabit LAN

compressionfile-transferlocal-area-networknetworkingrsync

I normally use rsync's -z option to enable compression when transferring files over the internet. However, if I am on my own (idle) gigabit LAN, do I still want compression? Or will it be faster without it? What factors does this depend on? (I haven't done any benchmarks yet).

So basically, is it faster to: compress + transfer + decompress, or just transfer uncompressed?

If your network connection is slow, it's obviously better to compress… but how about if everything is running on a gigabit ethernet network?

Best Answer

During an rsync transfer are you CPU bound, or is your link saturated.

If your link is saturated, but your CPU is idle, then compress.
If your CPU is maxed, and your link isn't, then do not compress.

Related Solutions

How to Use Rsync Over FTP

You don't. rsync can't do that for you, it is a protocol of its own and doesn't work over FTP.

You might, however, want to try csync. IIRC it provides rsync-like behaviour over HTTP. I can't comment on whether it works over FTP, you'll have to try it.

Linux – rsync – Exclude files that are over a certain size

There is a max-size option:

--max-size=SIZE         don't transfer any file larger than SIZE

So:

# rsync -rv --max-size=1.5m root@tss01:/tmp/dm

Will send only files less than 1.5m.

Regarding sizes from man: The suffixes are as follows: "K" (or "KiB") is a kibibyte (1024), "M" (or "MiB") is a mebibyte (1024*1024), and "G" (or "GiB") is a gibibyte (1024*1024*1024). If you want the multiplier to be 1000 instead of 1024, use "KB", "MB", or "GB". (Note: lower-case is also accepted for all values.) Finally, if the suffix ends in either "+1" or "-1", the value will be offset by one byte in the indicated direction*

Best Answer

Related Solutions

How to Use Rsync Over FTP

Linux – rsync – Exclude files that are over a certain size

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