Data/File Transfers

Network File Transfers

NOTICE: Deprecated for SciComp and QCD. See updated documents:

    File transfers: https://jlab.servicenowservices.com/scicomp?id=kb_article&sysparm_article=KB0015066

    Globus: https://jlab.servicenowservices.com/scicomp?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB0014843

 

To facilitate off-site file transfers, the Computing and Networking Infrastructure (CNI) group provides several securely authenticated services via the ftp.jlab.org, scigw.jlab.org, and qcdgw.jlab.org systems. scigw is for experimental physics filesystem access; qcdgw for the Lattice QCD filesystems.

These are

  • scp - secure copy
  • SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol) - a secure replacement which tunnels ftp over ssh
  • globus - the preferred gateway for all LQCD - HPC and Experimental Physics users
  • Anonymous FTP - Anonymous FTP is supported for file retrival only operations.  You must use sftp to place files in an isolated file system for anonymous FTP.

When required, anonymous ftp service is available for read-only access.

Access to the scigw.jlab.org and qcdgw.jlab.org servers is strictly controlled.  If you need access, please notify helpdesk@jlab.org of the IP address of the machine you will be using to connec, to open the appropriate hole through the firewall and allow access.

sftp (SSH File Transfer Protocol)

The machine ftp.jlab.org provides a sftp server which has access to /home, /group, and the /site filesystems.

sftp is ftp tunneled over ssh. sftp clients are readily available from the Unix command line, or with applications like PUTTY. See the man pages for usage details.

NOTE: Because sftp requires an ssh server to be run on the machine, we have implemented a restricted shell which will prevent the machine from being used as another interactive login server. You will see an error message if you ssh to the machine ftp.jlab.org. Remember this machine is for file transfers only. Use login1 or login2 for interactive login sessions.

Anonymous FTP Service

The machine ftp.jlab.org also supports anonymous ftp service for file retrieval only. It does not support write access. The Anonymous FTP service can only access its own, private file system, located at /var/ftp/pub.  Users wishing to put files into the anonymous file system must use sftp  and 'cd' to the anonymous file system. Users sharing files using anonymous ftp should ensure that the information is suitable for general public distribution as those files are readily available to anyone in world.

For example, if you have a file called 'testflile1' that you want to put in the anonymous ftp file system:

> sftp ftp.jlab.org
Connecting to ftp.jlab.org...
sftp> cd /var/ftp/pub/username
sftp> put /tmp/testfile1
Uploading /tmp/testfile1 to /var/ftp/pub/username/testfile1
/tmp/testfile1                                                                         100%   15     0.0KB/s   00:00    
sftp>  ls
testfile1

Substitiue your own username for 'username' above.  Not all users have directories established in the anonymous ftp file system.  If you find you do not have a directory, send an email to helpdesk@jlab.org asking for one.  Once you have put the file in your directory, the whole world has access to it:

 

> ftp ftp.jlab.org
Connected to ftp.jlab.org (129.57.52.21).
220 Welcome to the Jefferson Lab Anonymous Only FTP service.
Name (ftp.jlab.org:user): anonymous
331 Please specify the password.
Password: [TYPE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS HERE]
230 Login successful.
Remote system type is UNIX.
Using binary mode to transfer files.
ftp> cd /pub/username
250 Directory successfully changed.
ftp> get testfile1
local: testfile1 remote: testfile1
227 Entering Passive Mode (129,xx,xx,xx,xx,xx)
150 Opening BINARY mode data connection for testfile1 (15 bytes).
226 File send OK.
15 bytes received in 0.000823 secs (18.23 Kbytes/sec)
ftp> quit
221 Goodbye.
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