Data transfer tools: Globus Connect Personal

This article describes:

• how to create your own Globus endpoint using Globus Connect Personal

This would enable you to transfer files to/from another Globus Endpoint using any of the Globus Online transfer tools (Web app, CLI or Python SDK).

For example, if you set up Globus Connect Personal (GCP) on your desktop/laptop, you could transfer data files to/from your home directory or other storage on JASMIN.

Notes:

• You may NOT need to do this if your institution already has a Globus endpoint available to you.
• You should NOT install this on a JASMIN server, as a Globus Endpoint is already provided for you.
• If you plan to install it in your user area on your departmental server, check with your local IT administrator whether that's an OK thing to do. Point them at the relevant Globus documentation but note that you should be able to do the install with regular/user privileges and that the software does not need to be left running: it can be started for the duration of any data transfer tasks, then stopped once they have completed.

Set up Globus Connect Personal on end-user machine

• • Installers are available for Linux, Mac and Windows operating systems:
    
    • Linux (command-line) https://docs.globus.org/how-to/globus-connect-personal-linux/#globus-connect-personal-cli
    • Mac https://docs.globus.org/how-to/globus-connect-personal-mac/
    • Windows https://docs.globus.org/how-to/globus-connect-personal-windows/

$ wget https://downloads.globus.org/globus-connect-personal/linux/stable/globusconnectpersonal-latest.tgz

$ tar xzf globusconnectpersonal-latest.tgz

# this will produce a versioned globusconnectpersonal directory
# replace `x.y.z` in the line below with the version number you see

$ cd globusconnectpersonal-x.y.z

$ ./globusconnectpersonal

Complete the installation using the setup key. If a graphical environment is detected, a window will appear, to guide you through the steps. If not, text prompts will appear.

(Please see the relevant installation guide for your platform, linked above, for further details)

Start Globus Connect Personal (Linux)

$ ./globusconnectpersonal -start

If you use the web application at https://app.globus.org, you should now be able to see your endpoint listed under "Endpoints" when you filter by "Administered by me". You can now try listing the files on the endpoint and perhaps transferring a file to/from one of the Globus Tutorial endpoints using the web interface.

The setup process will have prompted you for a name for your endpoint. It is assigned a unique ID, too.

If you have the Globus Command-Line Interface installed (see here), you can find the ID of your own endpoint with the CLI command:

$ globus endpoint search <name> --filter-owner-id <your globus id>

If successful, you should now be able to interact with your endpoint via any of the Globus tools (web app, CLI and Python SDK).

For example, you could list the files on the endpoint:

$ globus ls <endpoint_id>:<path>