This guide is a work in progress and generated by ai, dont have time for guides. so this works

Rsync Setup Guide

Status: Work in Progress
For the unRAID Rsync Ecosystem — common.sh · Master.conf · rsync.sh · daily_sync.sh

Overview

This guide walks through setting up the rsync ecosystem on both your primary and secondary unRAID 7.x servers. By the end you will have:

SSH keys configured for server-to-server communication
Tailscale running on both servers for secure networking
Scripts scheduled and running via the User Scripts plugin
Automated daily sync of media shares and appdata profiles
Prerequisites

Both servers need the following before starting:

unRAID 7.x
User Scripts plugin installed via Community Applications
Tailscale plugin installed via Community Applications
Terminal access to both servers (via unRAID UI → Tools → Terminal, or SSH)
Step 1 — Tailscale Setup

Tailscale provides the secure network tunnel between your two servers. The scripts resolve the remote server's IP via Tailscale at runtime.

On Both Servers

Open Apps in the unRAID UI
Search for Tailscale and install the plugin
Once installed, go to Settings → Tailscale
Click Connect and authenticate with your Tailscale account
Verify both servers appear in your Tailscale admin console

Verify Connectivity

Run this on the primary to confirm it can see the secondary:

tailscale ip -4 unRAID-Jayred365

You should get back a 100.x.x.x IP. If not, check both servers in the Tailscale admin console.

Note: The hostnames used in Master.conf (HOST1 and HOST2) must match the Tailscale machine names exactly — these are case sensitive.

Step 2 — Generate SSH Keys (Server-to-Server)

The scripts use SSH keys for server-to-server rsync.

On Primary (unRAID-Gmer4Lfe):

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -f /root/.ssh/Gmer4Lfe-rsync-key -C "gmer4lfe-rsync" -N ""

On Secondary (unRAID-Jayred365):

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -f /root/.ssh/Jayred365-rsync-key -C "jayred365-rsync" -N ""
Copy Public Keys to Each Server

Primary → Secondary

# On primary
cat /root/.ssh/Gmer4Lfe-rsync-key.pub

Copy the output. Then on secondary:

mkdir -p /root/.ssh
echo "PASTE_PUBLIC_KEY_HERE" >> /root/.ssh/authorized_keys
chmod 600 /root/.ssh/authorized_keys

Secondary → Primary

# On secondary
cat /root/.ssh/Jayred365-rsync-key.pub

Copy the output. Then on primary:

mkdir -p /root/.ssh
echo "PASTE_PUBLIC_KEY_HERE" >> /root/.ssh/authorized_keys
chmod 600 /root/.ssh/authorized_keys
Test the Connection

From the primary, test SSH access to the secondary:

ssh -i /root/.ssh/Gmer4Lfe-rsync-key root@$(tailscale ip -4 unRAID-Jayred365) "echo connected"

You should see connected. If prompted for a password, recheck the key authorization.

Step 3 — Enable SSH on unRAID

unRAID 7.x has SSH disabled by default. Enable it on both servers so the scripts can connect:

Go to Settings → Management Access
Under Secure Shell, set SSH to Enabled
Set SSH port to 22 (default)
Click Apply

Security note: SSH is only exposed on your local network and Tailscale interface. The rsync scripts connect via Tailscale IP, so traffic is encrypted end-to-end.

Step 4 — Configure Master.conf

All user configuration lives in Master.conf. Open it and adjust the following to match your setup:

nano /mnt/user/appdata/unraid_scripts/Master.conf

Required Changes:

Variable	Description	Example
HOST1	Hostname of your primary server	unRAID-Gmer4Lfe
HOST2	Hostname of your secondary server	unRAID-Jayred365
HOST1_SSH_KEY	Path to primary's rsync private key	/root/.ssh/Gmer4Lfe-rsync-key
HOST2_SSH_KEY	Path to secondary's rsync private key	/root/.ssh/Jayred365-rsync-key
BW_LIMIT	Global bandwidth limit in KB/s	12500
ROOTFS_WARN	Remote rootfs % threshold before aborting	75

Daily Sync Shares

Add the full paths of all media shares you want synced nightly:

DAILY_SYNC_SHARES=(
    /mnt/user/Movies
    /mnt/user/Tv_Shows
    /mnt/user/Music
    # add more here
)

Profiles

Profiles control per-share rsync behaviour for your frequently synced appdata shares.

declare -A PROFILE_CRITICAL_CONTAINER_NAMES=(
    [arrs_stack]="Sonarr Radarr Lidarr Prowlarr"
    [important-data]="Postgres-NextCloud NextCloud"
)

Any share with no matching profile falls through to the global DEFAULT_RSYNC_OPTS.

Step 5 — Set Up User Scripts

The User Scripts plugin schedules and runs the scripts. Each sync job is its own script entry.

Frequent Sync Jobs

Create one script entry per appdata profile (Plugins → User Scripts → Add New Script)
Example for ARR stack:
#!/bin/bash
bash /mnt/user/appdata/unraid_scripts/Rsync/rsync.sh /mnt/user/appdata-Failover/Arrs_Stack

Daily Sync Orchestrator

#!/bin/bash
bash /mnt/user/appdata/unraid_scripts/Orchestrators/daily_sync.sh
Schedule daily at 01:00
Set scripts to run as Background Tasks
Step 6 — Verify the Setup

Manually test from the primary:

bash /mnt/user/appdata/unraid_scripts/Rsync/rsync.sh /mnt/user/appdata-Failover/Arrs_Stack --log

You should see a healthy run with:

━━━ ⚙️ Setup ━━━
ℹ️  [INFO]  🖥️ Host: unRAID-Gmer4Lfe → unRAID-Jayred365
ℹ️  [INFO]  🌐 Remote IP: 100.x.x.x
...
✅ [OK]  All disks backing share are online
Step 7 — Secondary Server Initial Setup

If setting up secondary from scratch:

Complete Steps 1–5 on the secondary
Start the array and create your shares in the unRAID UI
Run the share recreation tool:
bash /mnt/user/appdata/unraid_scripts/Tools/recreate_shares.sh
Temporarily remove --delete from DEFAULT_RSYNC_OPTS for initial push
Restore --delete after the first run; next nightly run will clean .recovery files automatically
Troubleshooting

SSH connection refused

Verify SSH is enabled on target server (Step 3)
Check correct key referenced in Master.conf
Confirm Tailscale IP resolves

Pre-flight aborts

Rootfs above ROOTFS_WARN
Share exists but empty
Disk offline

Script not found

Verify scripts exist in /mnt/user/appdata/unraid_scripts/
Make scripts executable:
chmod +x /mnt/user/appdata/unraid_scripts/Rsync/rsync.sh
chmod +x /mnt/user/appdata/unraid_scripts/Orchestrators/daily_sync.sh
chmod +x /mnt/user/appdata/unraid_scripts/Tools/recreate_shares.sh
Available Flags
Flag	Description
--dry-run or -n	Run without making changes
--log	Enable verbose logging
--no-log	Disable logging
--status	Print resolved configuration and exit

Examples

# Preview what would be synced without transferring
bash rsync.sh /mnt/user/Movies --dry-run --log

# Check profile and settings resolved for a share
bash rsync.sh /mnt/user/appdata-Failover/Arrs_Stack --status
Repository Structure
Unraid_Scripts/
├── Master.conf               # All user configuration — edit this file only
├── common.sh                 # Shared library — functions used by all scripts
├── Rsync/
│   └── rsync.sh              # Core rsync script — called per share
├── Orchestrators/
│   └── daily_sync.sh         # Daily media sync orchestrator
└── Tools/
    └── recreate_shares.sh    # Share directory recreation from cfg fil