The Globus Connect Server provides secure access to users' files in the HPC environment at ODU and allows transfers of research data seamlessly between institutions and users. You can:
all from a convenient web interface. The Globus Connect Software provides both a web interface and a CLI interface for transferring files. For
Why using Globus for data transfer? Globus provides a more reliable way to transfer data into/out from HPC, since it does not depend merely on scp
, rsync
, or an SFTP client's connectivity. In the case of interruptions, Globus can retry the failed data transfer. Furthermore, Globus can in principle use much higher data transfer rates than what classic scp
and friends can allow (provided your remote computer has equally high bandwidth).
The web interface for file transfers can be used by visiting globus.org and clicking the log in button as illustrated:
This will take you to the Globus Web App login form where you will need to select your identifying University, and for an ODU faculty member or student that would be "Old Dominion University". After selecting the appropriate organization click continue.
This will then take you to the CILogon form where you can authenticate with your Midas credentials.
After authenticating you should see the globus web portal and the File Manager tab should be active.
File transfers can be done using the file manager in the web interface. Transfers in the file manager are done between collections, which are abstractions representing data sources which can be copied to or from.
The Collection used by ODU HPC is called "ODU HPC Storage" and provides access to your home directory and the /RC share, with the access permissions of your midas account.
The HPC collection can be reached by simply searching the name "ODU HPC Storage" in the Collection search bar.
The default behavior when interacting with this collection is for it to drop you in your home directory, but the /RC
path can also be accessed by directly typing the path (e.g. /RC/group/...
into the Path
field.
Transfers in globus are done by using the transfer or sync option in globus as documented here: https://docs.globus.org/how-to/get-started/#request_a_file_transfer.
If you need to transfer files between a personal machine and a collection, there is a client application that can be used detailed here: https://docs.globus.org/how-to/get-started/#move_beyond_getting_started.
Currently, the "ODU HPC Storage" Globus endpoint provides access to the following storage areas (the paths below are to used in the Globus File Manager, see the illustration above):
Your own HPC home directory, in /isilon/home/$USER
, where $USER
stands for your user ID on HPC. (This corresponds to the /home/$USER
path in HPC itself.)
The research long-term storage, in /RC
. Any subfolders under /RC
that you can access in the HPC environment will also be accessible from Globus. This includes your long-term user directory (/RC/home/$USER
), as well as shared group directories under /RC/group
(if you have access to the directories).
Due to technical limitations, at this moment the scratch partitions cannot be accessed from Globus.
With Globus, you can only see the contents of your home directory, and not anyone else's directories. This is by design for security reasons. If you need to collaborate on files via the web interface, there are several ways to do this:
Your group have a /RC/group
workspace (directory tree) that has been set up by RCS administrator, and your group members have been added to this workspace.
you can use Globus data sharing facility. Please see https://forum.hpc.odu.edu/tag/data-sharing for an idea.
We strongly encourage you to contact us (the RCS team) to obtain assistance in this matter.