How to transfer data

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General

Linux and MacOS

While you can find transfer programs for MacOS and Linux that have graphical point-and-click interface, both of these operating system come with pre-installed (most of the time) command line transfer tools: scp, rsync, sftp. These are powerful and convenient tools that can handle any practical data transfer to and from our compute clusters.

scp -- secure copy


scp copies files between hosts on a network. It uses ssh for data transfer, and uses the same authentication and provides the same security as ssh.


In practical terms scp is a minimal and also sufficient transfer tool to copy files between network connected Unix based computers in a secure manner.

The general format for the command is: 

$ scp [options] source destination

The source and destination 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.

Examples

The commands below are issued on your local computer.

One file data.dat on your workstation in your current directory to your ARC's home directory: 

$ scp data.dat username@arc.ucalgary.ca:

Several files matching a wildcard on your workstation in your current directory to your ARC's home directory: 

$ scp *.dat username@arc.ucalgary.ca:

A directory my_data on your workstation in your current directory into projects/project2 directory inside your ARC's home directory: 

$ scp -r my_data username@arc.ucalgary.ca:projects/project2/

rsync -- Remote SYNCronizer


Rsync is a fast and extraordinarily versatile file copying tool. It can copy locally, to/from another host over any remote shell. It is famous for 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 is widely used for backups and mirroring and as an improved copy command for everyday use.


In practice, rsync is scp on steroids. It is designed to synchronize two locations, that is to make them the same. So, if a transfer stops for some reason, if one restarts the transfer, rsync will check the destination and only transfers what is needed. This way, you can conveniently restart the transfer at any moment without losing the progress. With scp this is not an option.

The general format for the command is similar to scp: 

$ rsync [options] source destination

The source and destination 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.

Examples

The commands below are issued on your local computer.

Upload one file data.dat on your workstation in your current directory to your ARC's home directory: 

$ rsync -v data.dat username@arc.ucalgary.ca:

Upload several files matching a wildcard on your workstation in your current directory to your ARC's home directory: 

$ rsync -v *.dat username@arc.ucalgary.ca:

Upload a directory my_data on your workstation in your current directory into projects/project2 directory inside your ARC's home directory: 

$ rsync -axv my_data username@arc.ucalgary.ca:projects/project2/

Upload several directories on your workstation in your current directory into projects/project2 directory inside your ARC's home directory: 

$ rsync -axv my_data1 my_data2 my_data3 username@arc.ucalgary.ca:projects/project2/

Download one file output.dat from ARC to the current directory on your workstation: 

$ rsync -v username@arc.ucalgary.ca:projects/project1/output.dat .

Note the "." at the end of the command, it means current directory.

Download one directory outputs from ARC to the current directory on your workstation: 

$ rsync -axv username@arc.ucalgary.ca:projects/project1/outputs .

sftp -- secure file transfer protocol


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.

Windows

MobaXterm is the recommended tool for remote access and data transfer in Windows OSes.

MobaXterm

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.

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
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