I wanted to integrate a NAS with rsyncd on a TomatoUSB router (equipped with ipkg and USB hard drive connect). I also wanted this NAS to be available from the outside, so I found that the instructions online were incomplete. If you’re having problems with it, please follow these two tips:

1. rsync cannot connect to rsyncd from within the network. This is the default setup that everyone wants, so it should just work. The problem is that the command that everyone tells us to use with rsyncd profiles (rsyncd.conf: [profilename]) is wrong, even on dd-wrt tutorial. It is missing an extra semicolon, so the command should be:

   rsync file.ext user@server::profilename/optional/path

   (Notice how profiles need 2 semicolons)

2. rsyncd is not accessible from outside the network. I haven’t seen instructions for these. To do this, one must do 2 things:
   • Add a rule to Port Forwarding section of the UI: forward TCP port 873 (default rsyncd port) to 192.168.1.1 (the router IP/gateway).
   • run the following command that adds a rule to the iptables firewall, inside Scripts > Firewall, or run it in the command line for a quick test (but it will disappear once you restart router):

     iptables -A INPUT -j ACCEPT -p tcp --dport 873

   • For OpenWRT routers, one would either use uci or add the above rule to /etc/storage/post_iptables_script.sh and do mtd_storage.sh save.