rsync

Task : Copy file from a local computer to a remote server

Copy file from /www/backup.tar.gz to a remote server called openbsd.nixcraft.in
$ rsync -v -e ssh /www/backup.tar.gz jerry@openbsd.nixcraft.in:~Output:

Password:
sent 19099 bytes  received 36 bytes  1093.43 bytes/sec
total size is 19014  speedup is 0.99

Please note that symbol ~ indicate the users home directory (/home/jerry).

Task : Copy file from a remote server to a local computer

Copy file /home/jerry/webroot.txt from a remote server openbsd.nixcraft.in to a local computer /tmp directory:
$ rsync -v -e ssh jerry@openbsd.nixcraft.in:~/webroot.txt /tmp
Password

Task: Synchronize a local directory with a remote directory

$ rsync -r -a -v -e "ssh -l jerry" --delete openbsd.nixcraft.in:/webroot/ /local/webroot

Task: Synchronize a remote directory with a local directory

$ rsync -r -a -v -e "ssh -l jerry" --delete /local/webroot openbsd.nixcraft.in:/webroot

Task: Synchronize a local directory with a remote rsync server

$ rsync -r -a -v --delete rsync://rsync.nixcraft.in/cvs /home/cvs

Task: Mirror a directory between my "old" and "new" web server/ftp

You can mirror a directory between my "old" (my.old.server.com) and "new" web server with the command (assuming that ssh keys are set for password less authentication)
$ rsync -zavrR --delete --links --rsh="ssh -l vivek" my.old.server.com:/home/lighttpd /home/lighttpd


http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/linux-use-rsync-transfer-mirror-files-directories.html