rsync - Jan 2005 - connection unexpectedly closed...

When I run

rsync -v --exclude-from= -a --delete --numeric-ids -e ssh -i 
/root/.ssh/id_rsa /bin/ root@sandi:/export/home/scbackup/socnt01//bin/

I immediately get:

rsync: connection unexpectedly closed (0 bytes received so far) [sender]
rsync error: error in rsync protocol data stream (code 12) at io.c(359)
rsync -v --exclude-from= -a --delete -e ssh -i /root/.ssh/id_rsa /boot/ 
root@sandi:/export/home/scbackup/socnt01//boot/
rsync: connection unexpectedly closed (0 bytes received so far) [sender]
rsync error: error in rsync protocol data stream (code 12) at io.c(359)

However, if I run exactly the same command, but with a normal user as 
the remote user instead of root, the rsync works as expected.

Both root and the normal user have passphraseless keys set.  the reason 
why I want the rsync to run with root as the remote user is that I want 
the UID and GID of the copied files to be preserved on the remote 
machine (which has users and UIDs  quite different from the local 
machine).

What could I be doing wrong which stops it working with root as the 
remote user?

thanks for your hints!

Nigel

On Wed, 12 Jan 2005, Nigel Gilbert <n.gilbert@soc.surrey.ac.uk>
wrote:
>
> When I run
> 
> rsync -v --exclude-from= -a --delete --numeric-ids -e ssh -i
> /root/.ssh/id_rsa /bin/ root@sandi:/export/home/scbackup/socnt01//bin/
Is this the *actual* command?

- Why the null --exclude-from?
- FYI - you have a double slash in the destination
- Mainly - the -i and its argument need to be part of the -e argument:

  rsync -v -a --delete --numeric-ids -e "ssh -i /root/.ssh/id_rsa" \
  /bin/ root@sandi:/export/home/scbackup/socnt01/bin/
> I immediately get:
> 
> rsync: connection unexpectedly closed (0 bytes received so far) [sender]
> rsync error: error in rsync protocol data stream (code 12) at io.c(359)
> rsync -v --exclude-from= -a --delete -e ssh -i /root/.ssh/id_rsa /boot/
> root@sandi:/export/home/scbackup/socnt01//boot/
Why is this 'boot' and not 'bin' according to your rsync
command?
In any case, it's odd that this rsync command is being echoed back.
> rsync: connection unexpectedly closed (0 bytes received so far) [sender]
> rsync error: error in rsync protocol data stream (code 12) at io.c(359)
> 
> However, if I run exactly the same command, but with a normal user as
> the remote user instead of root, the rsync works as expected.
I don't see how it can work at all with the ssh -i argument not included
in the -e argument string...

Are you sure you have root access via ssh?  Some configs disable that.

Lastly - what version of rsync are you using (always important to know).
-- 
        John Van Essen  Univ of MN Alumnus  <vanes002@umn.edu>