Using rsync with an oldie Netgear NAS (ReadyNAS Pro BE, RAIDiator 4.2.31)

Question

I have an old NetgearNAS (ReadyNAS Pro Business Edition, RAIDiator 4.2.31 firmware) that I set up years ago to house (among other things) my music library - which is quite large. The other "puzzle pieces" in this question include some fairly old Sonos music players/speakers (Play:5, ZonePlayerS5) in vintages from 2004-2013, a few-years-old Synology NAS (DS1621+), and a new-ish Macbook Pro (2023, Ventura 13.6.7).

The Sonos system includes the ability to connect to a "Music Library". However, after weeks of trying, and a 3-hour phone conversation to Sonos tech support, it seems that the ability to connect to a music library is limited by the firmware in the Play:5/ZonePlayerS5. As it turns out (incredibly), these "players/speakers" can connect to my NetgearNAS - but not to the newer SynologyNAS - even when it has been "dumbed down" to SMBv1 & NTLMv1! In other words, I am stuck with an old NetgearNAS as a music library b/c it's the only thing compatible with the Sonos speaker firmware!

The NetgearNAS' saving grace may be that it includes a native rsync server. For the near term, what I need is a method by which I can establish an rsync connection to the NetgearNAS to update the music library it houses with additions to my music collection (which continues to grow!). I regularly use rsync to backup my Macbook and Linux systems to the Synology, but this usage involves SSH - which is not available on the NetgearNAS. So my question is:

How do I perform rsync using the NetgearNAS as the destination - but without SSH?

Answer 1

It's amazing that a technology - SSH in this case - comes along that revolutionizes something as mundane as remote access to the point that we forget how it was done before that technology arrived. This one caught me flat-footed - I had actually never used rsync this way. Anyway - it's covered in the rsync manual and fairly straightforward - the syntax is given in man rsync under the Push: option for access via rsync daemon:

rsync [OPTION...] SRC... rsync://[USER@]HOST[:PORT]/DEST) 

# or to put in terms of the NetgearNAS server running rsyncd, you could use this:

rsync -a /local/source/folder/ rsync://NetgearNAS/destination/folder

In testing this, I found that the NetgearNAS daemon will prompt you for a password. If you've got more than one user authorized for rsync on the NetgearNAS, you may need to specify the optional [USER@] parameter - and of course know the password.