What is this? / How to use?

This is a GitHub Action designed to deploy files to a remote server using rsync. It allows you to easily transfer files from your github repository to a remote server, making it ideal for deployment scenarios.

Table of Contents

• Features
• Usage
  • Action Example
  • Parameters
  • Secrets Configuration
  • Adding an SSH Key to your Server
• How to implement in your workflow Example
• License

Features

• Easy Setup: Deploy files securely using SSH with minimal configuration.
• Efficient: Utilizes rsync for fast and incremental file transfers.
• Customizable: Allows you to specify paths, server configurations, and SSH keys.

Usage

Action example

Here's a action example of how to use this rsync-action.

    - name: Deploy files via rsync
      uses: D3rHase/rsync-deploy-action@latest
      with:
        HOST: ${{ secrets.HOST }}
        PORT: ${{ secrets.PORT }}
        USER: ${{ secrets.USER }}
        PRIVATE_SSH_KEY: ${{ secrets.PRIVATE_SSH_KEY }}
        REPOSITORY_PATH: 'path/to/your/files/in/repository/*'
        SERVER_PATH: '/path/on/your/server/'

Parameters

You can use plain text instead of the secrets for these values directly in your action, but it is highly recommended to use GitHub Secrets for sensitive information to ensure privacy and security. See Secrets Configuration.

• HOST: The remote server address (IP or domain) - Required.
• PORT: The port to connect to on the remote server - Default: 22.
• USER: The username for SSH access - Required.
• PRIVATE_SSH_KEY: The private SSH key to authenticate with the remote server - Required.
• REPOSITORY_PATH: The path in your repository to the files/folders you wish to deploy - Required.
• SERVER_PATH: The destination path on the remote server where files will be deployed - Required.

Secrets Configuration

To keep your credentials secure, store sensitive information like HOST, PORT, USER, and PRIVATE_SSH_KEY as GitHub Secrets. You can add these secrets in your repository's settings under Secrets and variables > Actions > Repository secrets.

Adding an SSH Key to Your Server

To use this action, you'll need to set up an SSH key on your server. Here's how to do it:

1. Generate an SSH Key Pair on your local machine (if you don't have one already):

   ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096

   This command creates a new SSH key using the RSA algorithm with a 4096-bit key length.

2. Add the SSH Key to the Server:

   Copy the public key (~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub) to your server using the ssh-copy-id command:

   ssh-copy-id user@your-server-ip

   Replace user with your server's username and your-server-ip with the IP address of your server. This command adds your public key to the ~/.ssh/authorized_keys file on the server.

3. Test the SSH Connection:

   Verify that you can connect to your server using the SSH key:

   ssh user@your-server-ip

4. Store the SSH Key in GitHub Secrets:

   Go to your repository on GitHub, navigate to Settings in your repository > Secrets and variables > Actions, and add a new repository secret named PRIVATE_SSH_KEY. Paste the contents of your private key (~/.ssh/id_rsa) into this secret.

   Note: Ensure your private key remains confidential. Do not share it publicly.

How to implement in your workflow

This is an example of how you could use it in your GitHub workflow YAML file.

name: Example workflow file

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main

jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
    - name: Checkout code
      uses: actions/checkout@v2

    - name: Deploy files via rsync
      uses: D3rHase/rsync-deploy-action@latest
      with:
        HOST: ${{ secrets.HOST }}
        PORT: ${{ secrets.PORT }}
        USER: ${{ secrets.USER }}
        PRIVATE_SSH_KEY: ${{ secrets.PRIVATE_SSH_KEY }}
        REPOSITORY_PATH: 'path/to/your/files/in/repository/*'
        SERVER_PATH: '/path/on/your/server/'

    - name: Notify Deployment Success
      run: echo "Deployment to ${{ secrets.HOST }} completed successfully!"

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for more details.