How to Transfer Files Between Linux Servers With SCP

Command of the Day

scp -r user@remote:/var/www/html /local/backup/

What it does: Recursively copies the remote directory /var/www/html to the local /local/backup/ folder over an encrypted SSH connection.

Moving files—such as backups, configuration files, web assets, and databases—between your local computer and a remote VPS (or between two remote cloud servers) is a daily task in system administration.

SCP (Secure Copy Protocol) allows you to securely copy files over an encrypted SSH connection using familiar cp syntax. In this tutorial, we cover practical SCP commands for managing your RivinCloud VPS.

1. Understanding SCP Syntax

The basic syntax follows the standard source and destination structure:

scp [options] [source] [destination]

A remote location is specified as: username@hostname_or_ip:/path/to/remote/file

2. Common SCP Scenarios

Scenario A: Uploading a File from Local Machine to Remote VPS

scp mybackup.tar.gz ubuntu@192.0.2.10:/home/ubuntu/

Scenario B: Downloading a File from Remote VPS to Local Machine

scp ubuntu@192.0.2.10:/var/log/nginx/access.log ./downloads/

Scenario C: Uploading an Entire Directory Recursively (`-r`)

To copy an entire directory and all nested subdirectories:

scp -r ./my-website/ ubuntu@192.0.2.10:/var/www/html/

Scenario D: Transferring Between Two Remote Servers

You can initiate a direct transfer between two remote servers from your local terminal:

scp user1@server1.rivincloud.in:/backup.zip user2@server2.rivincloud.in:/restores/

3. Important Flags and Options

-P <port>: Specify a non-standard SSH port (Note: capital -P in scp, lowercase -p in ssh).
```
scp -P 2222 backup.tar.gz ubuntu@192.0.2.10:/home/ubuntu/
```

-i <key_path>: Specify a private SSH key file.

scp -i ~/.ssh/id_rsa backup.sql ubuntu@192.0.2.10:/home/ubuntu/

-C: Enable compression on the fly, speeding up transfers over slower internet connections.
```
scp -C largefile.iso ubuntu@192.0.2.10:/home/ubuntu/
```
-q: Quiet mode (disables the progress meter, useful in cron jobs).

Common Mistakes

Using lowercase -p for port: scp -p preserves file modification times; use capital -P to designate a port number.
Forgetting -r when copying folders: Attempting scp /myfolder user@host:/dir without -r will return not a regular file.
Target folder permissions: If the destination folder requires root privileges (like /var/www/ or /etc/), transfer the file to /home/username/ first, then SSH in and sudo mv it.

Troubleshooting

Permission Denied (publickey): Ensure the specified key path (-i) is correct and permissions on ~/.ssh/id_rsa are 600.
Connection Timed Out: Verify the server IP and check if UFW firewall allows SSH on your specified port.

Best Practices

[!TIP] For very large directory transfers (gigabytes of small files), compress them with tar -czvf first, transfer the single archive with scp, and decompress remotely. This is much faster than transferring thousands of small files individually.

For syncing directories incrementally, consider rsync -avzP as an alternative that resumes interrupted transfers.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is SCP deprecated?

While OpenSSH now uses SFTP/SSH behind the scenes for modern SCP implementations, scp remains the quickest, most universal CLI tool for one-off file copies.

Can SCP resume a paused or interrupted transfer?

No. If an SCP transfer is interrupted, it must restart from the beginning. Use rsync --partial if you need resume capabilities.

Conclusion

SCP provides a fast, secure, and encrypted method for transferring assets to and from your RivinCloud VPS. Keep this cheatsheet handy for all your file migration needs!