syncing remote folders using rsync

I used to manage this blog by logging in to the VPS and then running the lb script to make new posts and edit or delete old ones. It kind of got tedious and I was always thinking of switching to using rsync to synchronize remote folders like this blog folder. I finally got around, installed rsync and looked up the man page. I needed a way to use the private key for the remote login so I found this useful command that downloads the remote folder to my local machine:

$ rsync -e 'ssh -i ~/path/to/privatekey.pem' -avz user@hostname:/remote/directory/ ~/local/directory/

Once the remote folder is downloaded on my local machine, I make changes to the local copy of the blog and then upload the changes to the remote server using the command:

$ rsync -e 'ssh -i ~/path/to/privatekey.pem' -avz ~/local/directory/ user@hostname:/remote/directory/

Apart from being convenient, It is also efficient as when synchronization occurs, rsync makes use of its delta-transfer algorithm that transmits only the changes made to the source files and thus, reduces the amount of data sent. Also, these commands are very long and I cannot imagine myself typing these commands again and again so I suggest using shell aliases.