# Ansible Synchronize Remote Server A to Remote Server B

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-synchronize-remote-server-a-to-remote-server-b/40352>\
**Category:** Project Discussions\
**Tags:** rsync, synchronize, playbook, ubuntu\
**Created:** [February 19, 2025, 1:20am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-synchronize-remote-server-a-to-remote-server-b/40352 "2025-02-19T01:20:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![sdarwin](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/sdarwin/32/2450_2.png) [@sdarwin](https://forum.ansible.com/u/sdarwin)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 1:20am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-synchronize-remote-server-a-to-remote-server-b/40352/1 "2025-02-19T01:20:43Z")

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Hi,

I was just working on a playbook with the challenge of syncing files from Server A to Server B which was already discussed in a topic:

`https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-sync-remote-server-a-to-remote-server-b/616`

To respond to some of the points in the answer:

- “won’t work with `become: yes`.” This is quite inconvenient, since it blocks arbitrary directory copies between machines where you often need root privileges.
- " Install and run `rsync` server (runs as `root` ) on B" . The ansible synchronize module doesn’t set this up automatically, right?
- “Setup /home as network share” Not a very trivial task.
- “Enable a root login from A to B”. That is usually prohibited.

The end result, after going over all these items, is that something you would hope to be handled really well by Ansible is difficult to implement.

Possible action items… Just ideas…

1. A new ansible module that implements this functionality. That is - full ‘become’ privileges, full ‘root’ privileges while easily copying files from Server A to Server B, and it’s all maximally automated, with one task. This is the type of puzzle Ansible is designed to solve for users.

2. Or, modify the synchronize module to support it.

3. Or, at least, add a page of documentation discussing this topic in great detail with many examples and instructions. “How to Sync Files and Directories between Remote Server A and Remote Server B”. Link to that doc page from the synchronize module docs. For now, the user must search around on the web.

By the way, the following is a solution that meets many of the criterion:

- copying files from Server A to B, without involving C (control machine)
- Allows copying ‘root’ files, or setting ‘root’ permissions.

```auto

----

To run on 'source' hosts:

----

- name: Copy files to tmp folder
  ansible.builtin.copy:
    src: "/dir1"
    dest: "/tmp/ansible_tmp_1"
    owner: "ubuntu"
    group: "ubuntu"
    mode: '0755'
    remote_src: true

- name: Transfering files
  become: false
  ansible.posix.synchronize:
    src: "/tmp/ansible_tmp_1/dir1"
    dest: "/tmp/ansible_tmp_1"
    mode: pull
  delegate_to: "{{ item }}"
  vars:
    ansible_ssh_extra_args: '-A'
  with_items: "{{ groups['destination-group'] }}"

- name: Cleanup files from source
  ansible.builtin.file:
    path: "/tmp/ansible_tmp_1"
    state: absent

---

To run on dest hosts:

---
- name: Copy tmp files to dest
  become: true
  ansible.builtin.copy:
    src: "/tmp/ansible_tmp_1/dir1"
    dest: "/"
    owner: "root"
    group: "root"
    mode: "0755"
    remote_src: true

- name: Cleanup files from dest
  ansible.builtin.file:
    path: "/tmp/ansible_tmp_1"
    state: absent

```

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**Author:** ![dnmvisser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8e8cbc/32.png) [@dnmvisser](https://forum.ansible.com/u/dnmvisser)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 11:02am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-synchronize-remote-server-a-to-remote-server-b/40352/2 "2025-02-19T11:02:24Z")

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If the user account you use can sign in from A to B, and can do `sudo` on both A and B, then you can this to work with `rsync`.

For example:

```auto
ansible@A:~$ sudo rsync -av --rsync-path "sudo rsync" /opt/www ansible@B:/opt/www

```

This effectively copies a directory from A to B with root permissions, but with sudo, so without the `root` account.

I haven’t tried to configure the `synchronize` ansible module to do this, but I think it is definitely possible

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sdarwin](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/sdarwin/32/2450_2.png) [@sdarwin](https://forum.ansible.com/u/sdarwin)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 12:24pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-synchronize-remote-server-a-to-remote-server-b/40352/3 "2025-02-19T12:24:48Z")

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@dnmvisser , thanks. Just tried your suggestion. Even if the standard user can sign in from A to B… this seems to require root’s ssh configuration to also be set up, so that `root` is also able to ssh from A to B. `sudo rsync` switches you to the `root` user before proceeding. You are now sshing as that user. What does their ssh/config file look like? Maybe it hasn’t been set up yet. Or, in the case of ssh agent, that won’t be shared between users. Did you test `sudo rsync` locally, in terms of these factors? Is your `root` user configured to ssh? Ultimately, it can be made to work though. The `synchronize_module.html` page doesn’t mention `sudo rsync`. The page is a sort of needle-in-the-haystack where you may read through 18 examples with the problem in mind “how do I copy files from serverA to serverB” and none of the examples really solves it.

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**Author:** ![dnmvisser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8e8cbc/32.png) [@dnmvisser](https://forum.ansible.com/u/dnmvisser)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 5:56pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-synchronize-remote-server-a-to-remote-server-b/40352/4 "2025-02-19T17:56:39Z")

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The example rsync command that I posted does definitely _not_ require anything in the `root` account. What are you exactly running?

Before you do anything ansible, it helps to make sure that whatever you’re doing at least works without ansible.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sdarwin](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/sdarwin/32/2450_2.png) [@sdarwin](https://forum.ansible.com/u/sdarwin)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 6:49pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-synchronize-remote-server-a-to-remote-server-b/40352/5 "2025-02-19T18:49:18Z")

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@dnmvisser , we might go back and forth, debugging root ssh, and then it would distract the thread.  
I will DM you. Then results could be posted here if that is helpful.