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azlin batch sync

Batch sync home directory to multiple VMs simultaneously.

Synopsis

azlin batch sync [OPTIONS]

Description

Sync ~/.azlin/home/ to multiple VMs in parallel. Filter VMs by tags, name patterns, or sync to all VMs. Supports dry-run mode for safety.

Options

Option Description
--tag TEXT Filter VMs by tag (format: key=value)
--vm-pattern TEXT Filter VMs by name pattern (glob)
--all Select all VMs in resource group
--resource-group, --rg TEXT Resource group
--config PATH Config file path
--max-workers INTEGER Maximum parallel workers (default: 10)
--dry-run Show what would be synced without syncing
-h, --help Show help message

Examples

Sync to All VMs

# Sync to every VM
azlin batch sync --all

# Dry-run first
azlin batch sync --all --dry-run

Filter by Tag

# Sync to development VMs
azlin batch sync --tag 'env=dev'

# Sync to web servers
azlin batch sync --tag 'app=web'

Filter by Pattern

# Sync to VMs matching pattern
azlin batch sync --vm-pattern 'web-*'

# Sync to production VMs
azlin batch sync --vm-pattern '*-prod'

Specific Resource Group

# Sync in specific resource group
azlin batch sync --all --rg production-rg

Parallelism Control

# More parallel workers
azlin batch sync --all --max-workers 20

# Sequential (one at a time)
azlin batch sync --all --max-workers 1

Use Cases

Team Onboarding

# Set up development environment files
mkdir -p ~/.azlin/home/.config
cp ~/.vimrc ~/.azlin/home/
cp ~/.bashrc ~/.azlin/home/
cp -r ~/.config/nvim ~/.azlin/home/.config/

# Sync to all VMs
azlin batch sync --all

Configuration Distribution

# Update config across fleet
cp new-config.yaml ~/.azlin/home/.myapp/config.yaml

# Sync to production
azlin batch sync --tag 'env=prod'

Code Deployment

# Copy code to sync directory
cp -r ~/myproject ~/.azlin/home/projects/

# Sync to development VMs
azlin batch sync --tag 'env=dev'

Environment Setup

# Prepare home directory
mkdir -p ~/.azlin/home/{bin,scripts,.config}
cp ~/useful-scripts/* ~/.azlin/home/scripts/

# Sync to all new VMs
azlin batch sync --all

What Gets Synced

Source Directory

~/.azlin/home/
├── .bashrc           # Shell configuration
├── .vimrc            # Editor config
├── .config/          # Application configs
├── scripts/          # Utility scripts
└── projects/         # Code and projects

Destination on VMs

Synced to: /home/azureuser/

Files maintain: - Permissions - Timestamps - Directory structure

Security Filters

Not synced: - .ssh/ directory - Private keys - .env files with secrets - .git/ directories (optional)

Output

Summary Mode (Default)

$ azlin batch sync --all

Output: 

Syncing to 3 VMs...

✓ web-01: Synced 15 files (2.3 MB) in 3.2s
✓ web-02: Synced 15 files (2.3 MB) in 3.5s
✓ web-03: Synced 15 files (2.3 MB) in 3.1s

3/3 succeeded
Total: 45 files, 6.9 MB in 3.5s

Dry-Run Mode

$ azlin batch sync --all --dry-run

Output: 

DRY-RUN MODE - No files will be transferred

Would sync to 3 VMs:
  - web-01
  - web-02
  - web-03

Files to sync:
  .bashrc (2.1 KB)
  .vimrc (1.5 KB)
  scripts/deploy.sh (3.2 KB)
  projects/myapp/... (2.3 MB)

Total: 15 files, 2.3 MB per VM

Performance

Workers Speed (3 VMs) Best For
1 15s Controlled sync
10 (default) 5s General use
20 3s Large fleets

Actual speed depends on: - File sizes - Network bandwidth - VM locations - Number of VMs

Comparison with Other Sync Methods

Method Use Case Speed Granularity
azlin batch sync Multiple VMs Fast (parallel) All files
azlin sync Single VM Medium All files
azlin cp Specific files Slow Per-file
azlin batch command 'git pull' Git repos Fastest Repository

Best Practices

Always Dry-Run First

# Check what will be synced
azlin batch sync --all --dry-run

# Then sync
azlin batch sync --all

Organize Sync Directory

~/.azlin/home/
├── common/           # Files for all VMs
├── dev/              # Development-specific
└── prod/             # Production-specific

Use Tags for Environment-Specific Sync

# Development configs
azlin batch sync --tag 'env=dev'

# Production configs
azlin batch sync --tag 'env=prod'

Control Parallelism for Large Syncs

# Large files: fewer workers
azlin batch sync --all --max-workers 5

# Small files: more workers
azlin batch sync --all --max-workers 20

Troubleshooting

No VMs Selected

# Check available VMs
azlin list

# Verify tags
azlin list --tag 'env=dev'

# Check pattern
azlin list | grep 'web-*'

Sync Failures

# Test single VM first
azlin sync test-vm

# Check VM connectivity
azlin w

# Verify SSH access
azlin connect test-vm

Permission Errors

# Check source directory permissions
ls -la ~/.azlin/home/

# Ensure files are readable
chmod -R u+r ~/.azlin/home/

Slow Sync

# Reduce parallelism
azlin batch sync --all --max-workers 5

# Check file sizes
du -sh ~/.azlin/home/

# Remove large files
rm ~/.azlin/home/large-file.bin

See Also