How to transfer data: Difference between revisions
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== rclone | === <code>rclone</code>: rsync for cloud storage === | ||
'''Rclone''' is a command line program to sync files and directories to and from a number of on-line storage services. | |||
* https://rclone.org/ | * https://rclone.org/ | ||
== GUI File Transfer == | == GUI File Transfer == | ||
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https://filezilla-project.org/download.php?type=client (Note: Installer may bundle ads and unwanted software. Be careful when clicking through.) | https://filezilla-project.org/download.php?type=client (Note: Installer may bundle ads and unwanted software. Be careful when clicking through.) | ||
=== | === MobaXterm (Windows) === | ||
'''MobaXterm''' is the recommended tool for remote access and data transfer in '''Windows''' OSes. | '''MobaXterm''' is the recommended tool for remote access and data transfer in '''Windows''' OSes. | ||
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* Website: https://mobaxterm.mobatek.net/ | * Website: https://mobaxterm.mobatek.net/ | ||
=== WinSCP (Windows) === | |||
WinSCP is a free Windows file transfer tool. | |||
https://winscp.net/eng/index.php | |||
== Large Data transfers == | == Large Data transfers == |
Revision as of 20:54, 29 July 2020
Data Transfer Nodes File transfers should not be performed on the the ARC login node. Instead, transfers should be performed on the ARC DTN (Data Transfer Node). Since the ARC DTN has the same shares as ARC, any files you transfer to the DTN will also be available on ARC.
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Command-line File Transfer
You may use the following command-line file transfer utilities on Linux, MacOS, and Windows. File transfers using these methods require your computer to be on the University of Calgary campus network or via the University of Calgary IT General VPN.
If you are working on a Windows computer, you will need to install these utilities separately as they are not installed by default. Newer versions of Windows 10 (1903 and up) have SSH built-in as part of the openssh package. However, you may be better off using one of the #GUI File Transfer tools listed in the following section.
scp
: Secure Copy
scp
is a secure and encrypted method of transferring files between machines via SSH. It is available on Linux and Mac computers by default and can be installed on Windows by installing the OpenSSH package.
The general format for the command is:
$ scp [options] source destination
- The
source
anddestination
fields can be a local file / directory or a remote one. - The local location is a normal Unix path, absolute or relative and
- The remote location has a format
username@remote.system.name:file/path
. - The remote relative file path is relative to the home directory of the
username
on the remote system.
You may see all the available options with scp
by viewing the man page.
Example Usage
Common operations are given below. On your desktop, to:
- Transfer a single file (eg.
data.dat
) to ARC:desktop$ scp data.dat username@arc-dtn.ucalgary.ca:/desired/destination
- Transfer all files ending with
.dat
to ARC:desktop$ scp *.dat username@arc-dtn.ucalgary.ca:/desired/destination
- To transfer an entire directory to ARC:
desktop$ scp -r my_data_directory/ username@arc-dtn.ucalgary.ca:/desired/destination
rsync
rsync
is a utility for transferring and synchronizing files efficiently. The efficiency for its file synchronization is achieved by its delta-transfer algorithm, which reduces the amount of data sent over the network by sending only the differences between the source files and the existing files in the destination.
rsync
can be used to copy files and directories locally on a system or between multiple computers via SSH. Unlike scp
. Because it is designed to synchronize two locations, partial transfers can be restarted by re-running rsync
without losing progress. Resuming a partial transfer is not possible with scp
.
The general format for the command is similar to scp:
$ rsync [options] source destination
- The
source
anddestination
fields can be a local file / directory or a remote one. - The local location is a normal Unix path, absolute or relative and
- The remote location has a format
username@remote.system.name:file/path
. - The remote relative file path is relative to the home directory of the
username
on the remote system.
You may see all the available options with rsync
by viewing the man page.
Example Usage
Common operations are given below. On your desktop, to:
- Upload a single file (eg.
data.dat
) from your workstation to your ARC:desktop$ rsync -v data.dat username@arc-dtn.ucalgary.ca:/desired/destination
- Upload all files matching a wildcard (eg. ending in
*.dat
):$ rsync -v *.dat username@arc-dtn.ucalgary.ca:/desired/destination
- Upload an entire directory (eg.
my_data
to~/projects/project2
):$ rsync -axv my_data username@arc-dtn.ucalgary.ca:~projects/project2/
- Upload more than one directory:
desktop$ rsync -axv my_data1 my_data2 my_data3 username@arc-dtn.ucalgary.ca:/desired/destination
- Download one file (eg.
output.dat
) from ARC to the current directory on your workstation:## Note the '.' at the end of the command which references the current working directory on your computer desktop$ rsync -v username@arc-dtn.ucalgary.ca:projects/project1/output.dat .
- Download one directory (eg.
outputs
) from ARC to the current directory on your workstation:desktop$ rsync -axv username@arc-dtn.ucalgary.ca:projects/project1/outputs .
sftp
: secure file transfer protocol
- Manual page on-line: http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man1/sftp.1.html
sftp is a file transfer program, similar to ftp,
which performs all operations over an encrypted ssh transport.
It may also use many features of ssh, such as public key authentication and compression.
sftp has an interactive mode,
in which sftp understands a set of commands similar to those of ftp.
Commands are case insensitive.
rclone
: rsync for cloud storage
Rclone is a command line program to sync files and directories to and from a number of on-line storage services.
GUI File Transfer
FileZilla
FileZilla is a free cross-platform file transfer program that can transfer files via sFTP.
https://filezilla-project.org/download.php?type=client (Note: Installer may bundle ads and unwanted software. Be careful when clicking through.)
MobaXterm (Windows)
MobaXterm is the recommended tool for remote access and data transfer in Windows OSes.
MobaXterm is a one-stop solution for most remote access work on a compute cluster or a Unix / Linux server.
It provides many Unix like utilities for Windows including an SSH client and X11 graphics server. It provides a graphical interface for data transfer operations.
- Website: https://mobaxterm.mobatek.net/
WinSCP (Windows)
WinSCP is a free Windows file transfer tool.
https://winscp.net/eng/index.php
Large Data transfers
Using screen and rsync
If you want to transfer a large amount of data from a remote Unix system to ARC you can use 'rsync to handle the transfer. However, you will have to keep your SSH session from your workstation alive during the entire transfer. Very often this is not convenient or not feasible.
To overcome this one can run the rsync transfer inside a screen virtual session on ARC. screen creates an SSH session local to ARC and allows for reconnection from SSH sessions from your workstation.
To initialize
# Login to ARC $ ssh username@arc.ucalgary.ca # Start a screen session $ screen # Start the transfer. $ rsync -axv ext_user@external.system:path/to/remote/data . # Now you can disconnect from ARC. Close the lid of you laptop or turn off the computer.
To check if the transfer has been finished.
# Login to ARC $ ssh username@arc.ucalgary.ca # Reconnect to the screen session $ screen -r # If the transfer has been finished close the screen session. $ exit
Very large files
If the files are large and the transfer speed is low the transfer may fail before the file has been transferred. rsync may not be of help here, as it will not restart the file transfer (have not tested recently).
The solution may be to split the large file into smaller chunks, transfer them using rsync and then join them on the remote system (ARC for example):
# Large file is 506MB in this example. $ ls -l t.bin -rw-r--r-- 1 drozmano drozmano 530308481 Jun 8 11:06 t.bin # split the file: $ split -b 100M t.bin t.bin_chunk. # Check the chunks. $ ls -l t.bin_chunk.* -rw-r--r-- 1 drozmano drozmano 104857600 Jun 8 11:09 t.bin_chunk.aa -rw-r--r-- 1 drozmano drozmano 104857600 Jun 8 11:09 t.bin_chunk.ab -rw-r--r-- 1 drozmano drozmano 104857600 Jun 8 11:09 t.bin_chunk.ac -rw-r--r-- 1 drozmano drozmano 104857600 Jun 8 11:09 t.bin_chunk.ad -rw-r--r-- 1 drozmano drozmano 104857600 Jun 8 11:09 t.bin_chunk.ae -rw-r--r-- 1 drozmano drozmano 6020481 Jun 8 11:09 t.bin_chunk.af # Transfer the files: $ rsync -axv t.bin_chunks.* username@arc.ucalgary.ca:
Then login to ARC and join the files:
$ cat t.bin_chunk.* > t.bin $ ls -l -rw-r--r-- 1 drozmano drozmano 530308481 Jun 8 11:06 t.bin
Success.