Globus: Difference between revisions

Globus sharing makes collaboration with your colleagues easy. Sharing enables people to access files stored on your account on a Compute Canada system even if the other user does not have an account on that system. Files can be shared with any user, anywhere in the world, who has a Globus account.  See [https://docs.globus.org/how-to/share-files/ How To Share Data Using Globus].

To share a file or folder on an endpoint first requires that the system hosting the files has sharing enabled. All Compute Canada endpoints either have or will soon have sharing enabled.

Log into globus.computecanada.ca with your Globus credentials. Once you are logged in, you will see a transfer window. In the ‘endpoint’ field, type the endpoint identifier for the endpoint you wish to share from (e.g.computecanada#silo) and activate the endpoint, if asked to.  

[[File:Globus SharedEndpoint1-1024x607.png|thumb|Creating a shared endpoint (Click for larger image.)]]

[[File:Globus SharedEndpoint3-1024x430.png|thumbnail|Managing a Shared Endpoint]]

Once the endpoint is created, you will be shown the current access list, with only your account on it. Since sharing is of little use without someone to share with, click the ‘Add Permission’ button to add people or groups that you wish to share with.

You will now be prompted to select whether to share with people via email, username, or group.

* E-mail is a good choice if you don’t know a person’s username on Globus. It will also allow you to share with people who do not currently have a Globus account, though they will need to create one to be able to access your share.

To add or remove write permissions from a user, click the checkbox next to their name under the write column. It is not possible to remove read access.

Deleting users or groups from the list of people you are sharing with is as simple as clicking the ‘x’ at the end of the line containing their information.

Once you no longer need your shared endpoint, remove it. To do this, go to the top of the page, and select ‘Manage Endpoints’ from the ‘Manage Data’ menu.

You will be shown a list of endpoints that you have created, including Globus Connect Personal or shared endpoints, as well as those you have recently used. Find the shared endpoint you wish to delete in the list, and expand it. Click the ‘delete endpoint’ button, and confirm the removal when prompted.

[[File:Globus RemovingSharedEndpoint-1024x322.png|thumbnail|Removing a Shared Endpoint]]

The endpoint is now deleted. Your files will not be affected by this action, nor will those others may have uploaded.

Sharing files entails a certain level of risk. By creating a share, you are opening up files that up to now have been in your exclusive control to others. The following list is some things to think about before sharing, though it is far from comprehensive.

*If granting write access, make sure that you have backups of important files that are not on the shared endpoint, as users of the shared endpoint may delete or overwrite files, and do anything that you yourself can do to a file.

*It is highly recommended that sharing be restricted to a subdirectory, rather than your top-level home directory.

Globus groups provide an easy way to manage permissions for sharing with multiple users. When you create a group, you can use it from the sharing interface easily to control access for multiple users.  

Go to Groups tab at the top of the page. In the ‘My Groups’ tab there is ‘Create New Group’ button at the bottom of the page. Pressing this button brings up the ‘Create New Group’ window.

[[File:Globus CreatingNewGroup-1024x717.png|thumbnail|Creating a Globus Group]]

*Click ‘Create Group’ to add the group.

Once a group has been created, users can be added by selecting ‘Invite users’, and then either entering an email address (preferred) or searching for the username. Once users have been selected for invitation, click the invite button and they will be sent an email inviting them to connect. Once they’ve accepted, they will be visible in the group.

Click the pencil icon next to a user to modify their membership. The first tab shows the member info (username, email, name). The Role & Status tab allows status to be set to either Active, Suspended, or Remove which will change the group membership.

Role allows you to grant permissions to the user, including Admin (Full access), Manager (Change user roles), or Member (no management functions). The ‘Save Changes’ button commits the changes.

*Policies Tab:

**Shows current policies