Rsync Help or User Help :o)

[FIA Ranch]

Is WeeWX Rsync buggy or am I!!  Likely me, and I just haven't found the right bug spray to kill it!!  :o)

About ready to just run a crontab job! Yes I understand WeeWX and crontab being/getting out of sync.

I have been fighting this for a couple of days.  So now I am looking for hints.  I have run out!

I apologize for this being a long post!  I hope I have covered all the "have you tried.."

What DOES work.

I can sign into the server, move around, add, delete files, etc.

NOTE:  It is a shared server with a shared IP address.  All of the following have been tried both ways.  Using the domain and the shared IP.

----
fiaranch@weather:~$ ssh fiar...@fiaranch.com (Enter)
Last login: Mon Nov 14 07:52:14 2022 from 166.sub-174-212-228.myvzw.com
fiar...@fiaranch.com [~]# exit (Hit Enter)
logout
Connection to fiaranch.com closed.
fiaranch@weather:~$
----

I can rsync from the command line
-----
fiaranch@weather:~$ rsync -avhze ssh --progress --update --stats  /var/www/html/ --delete fiar...@fiaranch.com:/home3/fiaranch/public_html/weather/
(Hit Enter)
sending incremental file list
./
#FTP.last
         26.05K 100%   23.51MB/s    0:00:00 (xfr#1, to-chk=200/202)
belchertown-dark.min.css
|
|
blah-blah-blah
|
Number of files: 202 (reg: 185, dir: 17)
Number of created files: 0
Number of deleted files: 0
Number of regular files transferred: 57
Total file size: 1.91M bytes
Total transferred file size: 1.15M bytes
Literal data: 280.85K bytes
Matched data: 872.30K bytes
File list size: 0
File list generation time: 0.001 seconds
File list transfer time: 0.000 seconds
Total bytes sent: 171.97K
Total bytes received: 11.16K

sent 171.97K bytes  received 11.16K bytes  73.25K bytes/sec
total size is 1.91M  speedup is 10.44
-----

Immediately run it again......
------
fiaranch@weather:~$ rsync -avhze ssh --progress --update --stats  /var/www/html/ --delete fiar...@fiaranch.com:/home3/fiaranch/public_html/weather/
(Hit Enter)
sending incremental file list
./
#FTP.last
         26.05K 100%   23.51MB/s    0:00:00 (xfr#1, to-chk=200/202)
belchertown-dark.min.css
|
|
blah-blah-blah
|
Number of files: 202 (reg: 185, dir: 17)
Number of created files: 0
Number of deleted files: 0
Number of regular files transferred: 0
Total file size: 1.91M bytes
Total transferred file size: 0 bytes
Literal data: 0 bytes
Matched data: 0 bytes
File list size: 0
File list generation time: 0.001 seconds
File list transfer time: 0.000 seconds
Total bytes sent: 5.31K
Total bytes received: 35

sent 5.31K bytes  received 35 bytes  2.14K bytes/sec
total size is 1.91M  speedup is 357.60
-------

All of the above tells me that the ssh keys are set and working.  Also says that Rsync is working between client and server.

Now we go to WeeWX !!!

Following are the file setups as they currently exist.

First the external files

The .ssh directory
fiaranch@weather:~$ dir ~/.ssh (Hit Enter)

config    id_rsa    known_hosts

Three files - config, key file, known hosts

Config File Content
------
HostName fiaranch.com
IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_rsa
StrictHostKeyChecking no
User fiaranch
ServerAliveInterval 30
ServerAliveCountMax 6
-----
NOTE: The ServerAlive entries are from researching one of the debug errors.  Same with the StrictHost.... That info coming up.

The known_hosts file (without all the key stuff
----
|1|lz75l-----------------------
|1|lMA4Y..................
fiaranch.com
----
NOTE: Added the domain from another research finding

Now the WeeWX config file - Again omitting everything except relevant parts


-----
[[RSYNC]]
        skin = Rsync
        enable = true
        server = fiaranch.com
        user = fiaranch
        path = /home3/fiaranch/public_html/weather/
        HTML_ROOT = /var/www/html
        delete = 1
-------
NOTE:  Yes, HTML_ROOT is a different directory

Now we get to the terminal tail output using - sudo tail -f /var/log/syslog

NOTE:  In the config file all debug options are on. I have left all the timestamps in the list to show it is a fast fail. I added the line breaks and line numbers to make it easier to read and note
--------
1) Nov 14 08:42:30 weather weewx[71342] DEBUG weewx.reportengine: Running report 'RSYNC'

2) Nov 14 08:42:30 weather weewx[71342] DEBUG weewx.reportengine: Found configuration file /etc/weewx/skins/Rsync/skin.conf for report 'RSYNC'

3) Nov 14 08:42:30 weather weewx[71342] DEBUG weewx.reportengine: Cannot read localization file /etc/weewx/skins/Rsync/lang/en.conf for report 'RSYNC': Config file not found: "/etc/weewx/skins/Rsync/lang/en.conf".

4) Nov 14 08:42:30 weather weewx[71342] DEBUG weewx.reportengine: **** Using defaults instead.

5) Nov 14 08:42:30 weather weewx[71342] DEBUG weeutil.rsyncupload: rsyncupload: cmd: [['rsync', '--archive', '--stats', '--delete', '-e', 'ssh', '/var/www/html/', 'fiar...@fiaranch.com:/home3/fiaranch/public_html/weather']]

6) Nov 14 08:42:31 weather weewx[71342] ERROR weeutil.rsyncupload: rsync reported errors. Original command: ['rsync', '--archive', '--stats', '--delete', '-e', 'ssh', '/var/www/html/', 'fiar...@fiaranch.com:/home3/fiaranch/public_html/weather']

7) Nov 14 08:42:31 weather weewx[71342] ERROR weeutil.rsyncupload: **** Host key verification failed.

8) Nov 14 08:42:31 weather weewx[71342] ERROR weeutil.rsyncupload: **** rsync: connection unexpectedly closed (0 bytes received so far) [sender]

9) Nov 14 08:42:31 weather weewx[71342] ERROR weeutil.rsyncupload: **** rsync error: unexplained error (code 255) at io.c(235) [sender=3.1.3]
----------
ERROR NOTES:

Line 5 & 6 do not show the / after 'weather' it IS in the path entry in the config file
Line 5 - The order of options is not the same as the command line run.
Line 7 - Makes no sense since the command line runs fine.
Line 9 - That error code pops regardless of the variations I have tried.  Researching those codes led to the additional entries in the config file.

So there it is!!

I see three things
1) Missing / after 'weather' in the command - Line 5
2) Rsync does not like the command structure or format - Line 6
3) Line 7 - I have no clue

Find me some bug spray that will work!!

Thanks!!!!

[vince]

Two things.  One is you need to do your steps as the account weewx runs as, which is likely root.   While doing your steps from the unprivileged account 'fiaranch' does prove the remote side works and the key works, it has nothing to do with weewx at all.  To get weewx rsync working you need to set up the passwordless ssh for the root account almost certainly.

Second thing is the ERROR message.  It's likely you either have no .ssh/known_hosts entry for your remote system or an old one that doesn't match the remote system's current host key (which is typical if you rebuilt the remote system, os's autogenerate new keys).  That's likely why you're getting the host key verification message.

Shorter answer is - repeat your steps as root, assuming weewx also runs as root.  Sounds like you just tested with the wrong account on your client side.

[FIA Ranch]

Thanks.  Am not a Linux expert, but....

1) fiaranch is an admin account. I understand that is not root.

2) I did all the get, install, etc, under the user account. I hear you saying it runs under root.

3) I will create a key pair under root. Upload the public one to the server.  See if that impacts Line 7.

4) Not seeing how that will impact the Line 6 error. But....... we will see

Thanks. 

[vince]

It's doesn't matter what the fiaranch account is.

Unless you did something special, weewx runs as root so you have to set up passwordless ssh in the 'root' account for weewx's rsync uploader to work.   All your steps looked correct to me.  You just didn't do it under the root account.

Note - do "sudo bash" to open a bash shell as root when you set things up.  You should be able to do "ssh fiaranch.com" and have it log in successfully if you have things right.

FWIW, I have never needed to set delete=1 nor set the ServerWhatever items in .ssh/config in many years of running the rsync uploader, but that isn't relevant to getting you set up.  Just passing it along.

[FIA Ranch]

First.... thank you very much for you time and expertise... I do appreciate it.

I have got things running from root.

Can get in, out, etc with the server.

Can do long Rsync command at the top of this novel from root.

However...... it did not fix the command content/format error. 

My guess is the missing / after the 'weather' directory???  But it did get in, and no key issues reported.  Here is the tail.  Same as previous regarding the command error.

Nov 14 16:26:27 weather weewx[80341] DEBUG weewx.reportengine: **** Using defaults instead.
Nov 14 16:26:27 weather weewx[80341] DEBUG weeutil.rsyncupload: rsyncupload: cmd: [['rsync', '--archive', '--stats', '--delete', '-e', 'ssh -p 2222', '/var/www/html/', 'fiar...@fiaranch.com:/home3/fiaranch/public_html/weather']]
Nov 14 16:26:28 weather weewx[80341] ERROR weeutil.rsyncupload: rsync reported errors. Original command: ['rsync', '--archive', '--stats', '--delete', '-e', 'ssh -p 2222', '/var/www/html/', 'fiar...@fiaranch.com:/home3/fiaranch/public_html/weather']
Nov 14 16:26:28 weather weewx[80341] ERROR weeutil.rsyncupload: **** Permission denied, please try again.
Nov 14 16:26:28 weather weewx[80341] ERROR weeutil.rsyncupload: **** Received disconnect from 108.167.172.147 port 2222:2: Too many authentication failures
Nov 14 16:26:28 weather weewx[80341] ERROR weeutil.rsyncupload: **** Disconnected from 108.167.172.147 port 2222
Nov 14 16:26:28 weather weewx[80341] ERROR weeutil.rsyncupload: **** rsync: connection unexpectedly closed (0 bytes received so far) [sender]
Nov 14 16:26:28 weather weewx[80341] ERROR weeutil.rsyncupload: **** rsync error: error in rsync protocol data stream (code 12) at io.c(235) [sender=3.1.3]

I tried one thing.... went into the config and added a second / after the directory "weather//" think it might pick up the first one.  No deal....

Any thoughts / ideas on that one??

Again, thanks for you time.

Have a good evening/day/morning, or whatever it is in your corner of the world. Early evening high in the Rockies and I am outa here until tomorrow.

David

[vince]

path = the absolute path to where you want things to go.  The parent directory must already be there and be writable.  I do not provide a trailing slash nor a HTML_ROOT item.  Here's mine.

    [[RSYNC]]
        skin = Rsync
        enable = true

        server = 1.2.3.4
        user = remoteaccounthere
        path = /home/remoteaccounthere/public_html/weewx
        log_success = true 
        log_failure = true

        delete = 0

You're getting permission denied errors so I'm not certain the account you're logging into on the remote side has permission to log in on the remote side.   The port 2222 looks odd to me.  It should be 22.  I have no idea where that 2222 is coming from.  My syslog does not show a -p flag.

The only thing I can think of is 'perhaps' you are specifying a port number in your /root/.ssh/config for your remote host, but that's just a guess.

[gszla...@gmail.com]

Technical support at the web host was required to set things up.

1. Vince is correct. WeeWX runs as root and RSA generation must be done as root.

2. slahes matter. If you are missing a slash, rsync will not work. Note the preceding and trailing slash in HTML_ROOT

3 Port numbers are important. Some web hosts change the default port 22 to something else. See example below. Call them to verify.

4. no .ssh config was needed in my case.

After many days of hair pulling, this worked for me. Web hosts can be different. If it still doesn't work it is worth calling them..

In my case I had tto ry a number of times until I found a "senior" tech who knew his stuff.

enable = true
        server = my_domain_name.com or or the IP address of the web host
        port = 2002
        user = remote_user_name   # user name at web host
        path = public_html/belchertown # example target path on web host
       HTML_ROOT = /var/www/html/weewx/belchertown/ # source path on your home computer

[Greg Troxel]

"gszla...@gmail.com" <gszla...@gmail.com> writes:

> 1. Vince is correct. WeeWX runs as root and RSA generation must be done as
> root.

I was sure Vince was correct to start with :-) but I think running weewx
as root is the wrong thing to do. I run it as a non-root user, and
really there should be a dedicated weewx user that has permissions to do
what it needs (read the serial port, write the db, access credentials
for upload) and no more.

But this is really "how best to configure weewx on operating system X",
which is orthogonal to "how should I made weewx on system X already
configured as Y work".

[cric...@pobox.com]

A couple of points about the trailing slashes.  A trailing slash means copy the contents of the directory.  The --archive

means copy everything below the specified directory.  Not including a trailing slash means copy this directory and with

--archive, everything below it.  It's not a matter of rsync not working because of the slashes, it just does two similar, but

different things.  The man pages for rsync are pretty good.

As for the ssh keys, I'm pretty sure you can just copy the ~fiaranch/.ssh/id_rsa to ~root/.ssh.  No need to create root-specific

key pair and copy the public server's .ssh directory.  Oh, one other thing that's really important:

The .ssh directory permissions are critical.  The directory itself must be chmod 0700.  The files inside it should be chmod 0600.

This is true for all the .ssh directories on both ends of the connection.

My setup is a little different; I rsync to another local machine that runs a web server.  Then I've got a separate script for

publishing the weewx (and a few other sites) to a public host, since the various href's need to be updated.

[John Kline]

A trailing slash means copy the contents of the directory.

Note that WeeWX code will add the slash if it is a directory.  See code snippet below.

        # If the source path ends with a slash, rsync interprets

        # that as a request to copy all the directory's *contents*,

        # whereas if it doesn't, it copies the entire directory.

        # We want the former, so make it end with a slash.

        # Note: Don't add the slash if local_root isn't a directory

        if self.local_root.endswith(os.sep) or not os.path.isdir(self.local_root):

            rsynclocalspec = self.local_root

        else:

            rsynclocalspec = self.local_root + os.sep

On Nov 15, 2022, at 7:33 AM, cric...@pobox.com <cric...@pobox.com> wrote:

A couple of points about the trailing slashes.  A trailing slash means copy the contents of the directory.  The --archive

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[FIA Ranch]

Okay...... Thanks all for the thoughts and comments.

For the sake of anyone fighting this same issue somewhere in the future, let me get this refocused, clarified, up to date.

Baseline Info
------
1) Host Machine is a hosting company
2) The host machine is a shared Linux based machine
3) I own the domain and rent the hosting
4) In the absolute path... home3/fiaranch/........ - everything under and past 'fiaranch' I have full control of

5) Client Machine is mine and is a private machine to be used and abused as I see fit. :o)

Users Question - Closed
With regards to this issue with WeeWX, all activity will be with my root hat on.

SSH Keys Issue - Closed
Thanks to Vince I learned that user and root keys are independant.  Now both root and user have their own keys and they have been tested.

SSH Port Question - Closed
The hosting company states two ports as follows:
SSH - 22
SSH Shared/Reseller Servers - 2222
NOTE - Command line Rsync actually works with both


Question of "/" placement - Closed

Thank you cric...@pobox.com for the definition of differentiation.

File placement on the host is absolute path /home3/fiaranch/public_html/weather/*.*

Using command line, Rsync will accept both, which makes sense based on what cric...@pobox.com stated.

Command (WITH trailing '/') - root@weather:~# rsync -avhze ssh --progress --update --stats  /var/www/html/ --delete fiar...@fiaranch.com:/home3/fiaranch/public_html/weather/

Result (without all the superfulous data)
sent 595.67K bytes  received 17.85K bytes  31.46K bytes/sec
total size is 1.79M  speedup is 2.91

Command (WITHOUT trailing '/') - root@weather:~# rsync -avhze ssh --progress --update --stats  /var/www/html/ --delete fiar...@fiaranch.com:/home3/fiaranch/public_html/weather

Result (without all the superfulous data)
sent 309.53K bytes  received 12.20K bytes  71.49K bytes/sec
total size is 1.86M  speedup is 5.77

Note - The result difference is mainly a time difference.  However, based on differentiation cric...@pobox.com stated, I am going to go forward without the trailing '/'.

So that brings me to WeeWX config discussion.

The WeeWX Config is now as follows:

skin = Rsync
enable = true
server = fiaranch.com
user = fiaranch
path = /home3/fiaranch/public_html/weather

port = 2222

log_success = true
log_failure = true

HTML_ROOT = /var/www/html
delete = 1

Notes:
1) The two log entries I added from what Vince posted.  Just to see if that provides any additional information.
2) Removed the trailing '/' from the path.

Results
Nov 15 09:34:23 weather weewx[5274] DEBUG weewx.reportengine: Running report 'RSYNC'
Nov 15 09:34:23 weather weewx[5274] DEBUG weewx.reportengine: Found configuration file /etc/weewx/skins/Rsync/skin.conf for report 'RSYNC'
Nov 15 09:34:23 weather weewx[5274] DEBUG weewx.reportengine: Cannot read localization file /etc/weewx/skins/Rsync/lang/en.conf for report 'RSYNC': Config file not found: "/etc/weewx/skins/Rsync/lang/en.conf".
Nov 15 09:34:23 weather weewx[5274] DEBUG weewx.reportengine: **** Using defaults instead.
Nov 15 09:34:23 weather weewx[5274] DEBUG weeutil.rsyncupload: rsyncupload: cmd: [['rsync', '--archive', '--stats', '--delete', '-e', 'ssh -p 2222', '/var/www/html/', 'fiar...@fiaranch.com:/home3/fiaranch/public_html/weather']]
Nov 15 09:34:26 weather weewx[5274] INFO weeutil.rsyncupload: rsync'd 56 files (1,093,360 bytes) in 2.42 seconds

WHAT !!!!!

All said and done.... the failures can be attributed to two things:
1) SSH Keys must be paired under root, not user - Thank You Vince
2) No trailing '/' in the path.  Even though it will work in a command line Rsync, it will not work in WeeWX.

Discussion Closed!!!!

Thanks to all for the comments, ideas, assistance, and sharing your experience!

Now going to play with Rsync options to see if I can break it again!!  LMFAO

[cric...@pobox.com]

Important detail:

What is important with the slashes and the path are related to the SOURCE path.  It doesn't matter if

the destination does or doesn't have a trailing slash.  It does matter if the destination specifies a file rather than

a directory, though.