Ubuntu One Client

Can sync of Ubuntu One folder be Scheduled

Asked by cwraig

I am on Karmic using client preinstalled.

In Australia downloaded (and uploads for some ISPs) data is metered. It is normal for an Australian to have a 30-50Gb a month transfer limit. This transfer limit is often split into 25Gb peak 25Gb off peak (offpeak being something like midnight to 6am).

With this in mind is it possible to schedule my Ubuntu One file syncs to occur at a particular time of day (ie offpeak)? As I have a 50Gb Ubuntu One account so you can see that if i am not careful i could easily reach my transfer limit for the month with one sync.

At this stage I am really happy with Ubuntu One and am happy to just manage it myself but this is a feature I would like.

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Joshua Hoover (joshuahoover) said : 		#1

Hi! Currently, there is no way to schedule syncing. This type of functionality is more common in backup software which Ubuntu One is not focused on right now. We may build more backup type features in the future, but don't have plans to do so for Lucid.

Thank you,

Joshua

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cwraig (cwraig-cwraig.id.au) said : 		#2

I understand, thanks for your help.

Craig

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Elliot Murphy (statik) said : 		#3

I just thought of a way that you could do this. Not very polished or user-friendly, but it should work. You can control the syncdaemon using the u1sdtool commandline tool. You could use cron to run u1sdtool --connect (I don't remember if that is the exact name of the option) late at night when you have cheaper bandwidth, and something like u1sdtool --disconnect after a a few hours.

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cwraig (cwraig-cwraig.id.au) said : 		#4

Thanks Elliot,

I will check it out and reply with my progress.

Craig

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cwraig (cwraig-cwraig.id.au) said : 		#5

Sorry wrong button

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Lucio Torre (lucio.torre) said : 		#6

There is a version comming up of u1sdtool that will have --start and --stop, so you dont even have to have syncdaemon running all the time (it will collect changes in memory, so its better, for this use case, if you just keep it off and let it check the filesystem for changes)

Also, this new version will have a --status switch also, so you can wait until it reached IDLE and then send the --stop

keep your eye on the ppa, it should be there soon.

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Guillermo Gonzalez (verterok) said : 		#7

Hi craigw, Elliot, Lucio,

Currenty (beta and stable) we don't have connect/disconnect options in u1sdtool (will be included in the next beta ppa update).
I'm working on adding the --start option ATM.

So, a workaround is to use dbus-send command, e.g:

# connect
dbus-send --session --dest=com.ubuntuone.SyncDaemon --type=method_call / com.ubuntuone.SyncDaemon.SyncDaemon.connect

# disconnect
dbus-send --session --dest=com.ubuntuone.SyncDaemon --type=method_call / com.ubuntuone.SyncDaemon.SyncDaemon.disconnect

# status
dbus-send --session --print-reply --dest=com.ubuntuone.SyncDaemon --type=method_call /status com.ubuntuone.SyncDaemon.Status.current_status

# start
dbus-send --session --dest=org.freedesktop.DBus --print-reply --type=method_call /org/freedesktop/DBus org.freedesktop.DBus.StartServiceByName string:com.ubuntuone.SyncDaemon uint32:0

Regards,