>I am tinkering with Remote Desktop to connect to a backup server (both servers are running WinServer2003), using a method similar to what is documented here....
>
>http://www.intelliadmin.com/blog/2007/08/backup-your-files-using-remote-desktop.html
>
>However, using the steps described in the URL above, the RDC connection is made FROM the MAIN server to the BACKUP server and then the backup server "pulls" the files over via use of RoboCopy. Sounds like a circuitous trip to copy files from the MAIN to the BACKUP server and i wonder if it impacts performance of robocopy.
>
>What's a better, more automated way of connecting to an offsite server so that RoboCopy can be used in a batchfile-type situation?

For the purposes of file transfer, once an RDP connection is made, it doesn't matter if the host "pulls" files from the remote, or the remote "pushes" files to the host. The bandwidth/speed is the same in either case, and is usually limited by the upload speed of the machine "sending" the file(s). Most low-cost Internet connections these days are asymmetric - for example, my Shaw cable service is 7.5Mbps download but only 512Kbps upload.

In the *n?x world, the go-to utility for this sort of thing is rsync. While RoboCopy is good, rsync goes one better in being able to copy just portions of files that have changed (so-called "deltas") rather than entire changed files. This can be a big win where you have large files that only change a little bit (such as log files).

While I haven't used any, there are apparently some Windows implementations of rsync e.g.

http://www.aboutmyip.com/AboutMyXApp/DeltaCopy.jsp