Securely sync folders over a public network

Question

I need to keep the files & folders on two Windows-based, non-domain machines synchronized across a public network.

I was thinking rsync over SSH - but I was wondering if there is a simpler solution? Any possibility of using the sync framework over SFTP/SCP/SSH?

Or I'm open to better ideas?

Answer 1

Figured I'd post what I finally went with - WinSCP - http://winscp.net

Connects via GUI to an SFTP server + supports Local/Remote/Both synchronization + scriptable with command-line/batch interface.

Answer 2

I don't think you could go past rsync. It's fast, reliable and when coupled with SSH (which is a requirement of yours), secure. It's also Free!

If you want some integration with your versioning systems, check out Unison.

There are also commercial alternatives such as InstantSync.

Answer 3

Seems like a textbook case for using FolderShare.

Answer 4

This answer is similar to the one the thread opener created but i cant comment so i add this here:

I had the same problem one year ago at a customer. We needed a scriptable non gui solution for synchronizing a large folder with several subfolders over the internet!

At that time the system used rsync but i didnt like the necessity of having to install a linux tool and needing a vpn between the two to secure the communication.

So the first approach was scripting with Powershell and using WinSCP and IIS ftps (ftp over ssl). WinSCP and IIS ftps didnt work well together! Synchronizing often lead to strange exceptions we couldnt fix. Then we switched to CrushFTP and sftp (ssh ftp).

This solution works very well! We had over 300 automatic nightly deployments and none failed. So i can recommend using powershell for scripting and the WinSCP library for synchronizing folders to an sftp (not ftps) server. Though it is definitely not as fast as rsync it is very stable and easily scriptable.

Answer 5

You could set up shared folders over a secure VPN with Hamachi, then use a folder syncing app to sync them up.

Answer 6

Have you tried the award-winning rsyncrypto?

Answer 7

I use SVN. It works (I think) over SSH and SSL.

Full versioning, file syncing, what's not to like?

Answer 8

I'd recommend rdiff-backup. It supports incremental backups over SSH and is a free and proven solution. Being incremental, it also allows access to files that were deleted or to older versions of modified files.

Answer 9

+1 for Chris's recommendation. This is exactly what I use FolderShare for, keeps folders in sync across 3 PCs running Windows and 2 Macs running OS X.

Answer 10

you can use a vpn server on hamachi

Answer 11

try this, SSHSync for windows

http://code.google.com/p/sshsync/

A command line applications that allows intelligent Secure FTP transmissions. SshSync only support pull type transfers, but it allows use of a Private Key to ensure that authentication is secure. A text file that contains a list of files always processed is used to check that only 'new' files are retrieved.