I would like to move an SVN repository from one server to another. I've read that you can use svndump, however I have also heard that you can just rsync the repos from one server to another.
What is the difference between using svndump and rsync?
Using dump files would involve dumping the whole structure of a repository into a file that you would have to load into the new repository. Dumping is pretty fast, loading is considerably slower.
To relocate the server between two servers all you need to do is transfer the file structure under the repository root over to the new server. You can use rsync, simple copy, or create an archive such as zip or .gz and expand it on the new server.
Just make sure you take you svn repo offline during this copy so no changes take place to your repository while doing the transfer. Would not be a bad idea to run an svnadmin verify repo on your new repository when you are done.