To allow rsync and disable ssh by configuring rsync in daemon mode. In order to achieve this below steps can be performed.
1. Configure rsync in daemon mode in server. For this we need to first modify file /etc/rsyncd.conf, the following is an example:
# vi /etc/rsyncd.conf# vi /etc/rsyncd.conf motd file = /etc/rsyncd.motd log file = /var/log/rsyncd.log pid file = /var/run/rsyncd.pid lock file = /var/run/rsync.lock [module_name] path = /rsync_directory comment = My Very Own Rsync Server uid = nobody gid = nobody read only = no hosts allow = ip address or domain address hosts deny = *
2. Run rsync in daemon mode using the below command.
# rsync --daemon
3. Specify the module name when using rsync command on Client machine.
# rsync -avRX rsync_server_ip::module_name /rsync_directory -v
4. Configure the user with nologin shell on server. eg: This will prevent test user to disable ssh login.
# cat /etc/passwd | grep test test:x:500:500::/home/test:/sbin/nologin
