how to reduce rsync system usage

[dtra]

dtra wrote:

> hi all
>
> we're using rsync to backup our web server at the moment using it in a 
> cron job
> the server we are using to receive all the sync files is a live but 
> not heavily used linux machine
> but rsync still takes up more resources than we want it to
> it takes up to 95% (fluctuating) cpu load and a fair bit of memory too
>
> the cron job uses nice -19 rsync
> but that doesn't seem to do anything, is there anyway to make it use 
> like 5% cpu or something?
>
> thanks
> dave
>
sorry, one more thing, on the server we are getting the files from, max 
connections is set to 1
but when i go to top on the backup server, i can see several instances 
of rsync running
eg. every twenty minutes a new rsync starts running
that's not how it's meant to work, does anyone know how i can make it so 
that
if one rsync instance is still going, then the next one shouldn't start up?