Solved Sync two computers

[AMFA]

Hi all,

Hope everyone is well, I have a question. I recently updated a new laptop to LMDE, and it is great however, I have a desktop I work on often as well. I would really like to have them mirror each other. Is there a way to do that? If I make a change to an app, file, or do anything on one it would also be reflected on the other.

I keep my desktop in my home office, and would be nice to be able to have them both be identical. My office computer is running Linux Mint (not the Debian edition). I am okay if it is wipped and mirrors my laptop running LMDE.

Any advice and or guidance would be greatly appreciated. Thank you and I hope everyone has a nice afternoon.



AMFA

 

[AlphaObeisance]

I'd look into learning how to use Ansible. You could set it up to basically copy configs/files/directories between the two pc's on intervals. So long as both machines are configured identically to more or less have the "same" computer on both machines. I'm not yet an Ansible wizkid but on paper I'm not sure why it wouldn't work.

Ansible is used for automation. So you'd basically just automate the xfer of your desired configurations/files/directories between the two computers in intervals of your choice.

Someone wiser than I can verify if this is logical or not.

 

[The Duck]

I understand the reason why although I would never sync devices together.

Seems to me when one device gets compromised the other device could / would become compromised.

I would network them where I had access to each although still had a firewall between them.

If I'm wrong about this then someone let me know and I will remove my post.

I'm no Guru so may have no clue about this.

 

[Trenix25]

The Duck makes a good point from a cyber security perspective. You really have two options here if you want to keep the two computers together like that. As pointed out you can sync on an interval, like as a cron job or with a systemd timer, or you can make them one and the same with nfs. What is your network connection between the two systems like? If it is really stable you could try using nfs, but you'll need to be careful with access since you'll be writing to user space from a remote system. You can mount the root file system and such as read-only from the client system, but you will need write access to other areas including /var which may complicate matters.

Signed,

Matthew Campbell

 

[Alexzee]

I've used KDEConnect in the past and it worked well to transfer files from the desktop to the laptop or to the phone.

Over the network could be a security issue but if you cross all of you t's and dot all of your i's you'll be ok.

Here's the guide for Ansible:

Installing Ansible — Ansible Community Documentation

docs.ansible.com

 

[AMFA]

The Duck makes a good point from a cyber security perspective. You really have two options here if you want to keep the two computers together like that. As pointed out you can sync on an interval, like as a cron job or with a systemd timer, or you can make them one and the same with nfs. What is your network connection between the two systems like? If it is really stable you could try using nfs, but you'll need to be careful with access since you'll be writing to user space from a remote system. You can mount the root file system and such as read-only from the client system, but you will need write access to other areas including /var which may complicate matters.

Signed,

Matthew Campbell

Thanks agree, and I think what I will do is just share the files and things I need across the two. Set up a cron job, and that should work. Thank you guys really appreciate all the help.

 

[Alexzee]

Thanks agree, and I think what I will do is just share the files and things I need across the two. Set up a cron job, and that should work. Thank you guys really appreciate all the help.

Let us know how the cron job and all else goes.