In this guide, we show step-by-step actions to install Globus Connect Server for transferring large files using GridFTP client or using Globus web console.

Globus GridFTP Connect Server #

Overview #

Globus Connect Server is is the next evolution of the server software. It provides new capabilities and enhancements for both administrators and users, and platform features to build interesting solutions for data management. As of writing this tutorial Globus Connect Server has 5.0 version and all information here are related to this version.

Components #

Globus Connect Server has consisted from following components:

1. Connect scripts (API wrappers)
2. Globus GridFTP server
3. MyProxy (for Authentication)

Requirements #

• Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
• Python 3
• OpenSSL

Setup #

Hostname Setup #

We need to setup hostname first. To do that, open /etc/hostname file with editor and update first line:

$ vi /etc/hostname
my-gridftp-server.example.com

To get reverse DNS resolutions we have to take care of /etc/hosts file too. To do that, open /etc/hosts file with an editor and add following lines:

$ vi /etc/hosts
127.0.0.1 localhost my-gridftp-server.example.com

Finally, reboot the server to apply for changes.

Test API connection #

Check hostname: $ hostname -f my-gridftp-server.example.com

We test connection to Globus API server via Google DNS.

$ nslookup 'ep1.transfer.globus.org' 8.8.4.4

Let's also test connection to Globus API server via CloudFlare DNS.

$ nslookup 'ep1.transfer.globus.org' 1.1.1.1

Check our hostname with Google DNS.

$ nslookup 'my-gridftp-server.example.com' 8.8.4.4

Check our hostname with CloudFlare DNS.

$ nslookup 'my-gridftp-server.example.com' 1.1.1.1

Globus Connect Server Setup #

First we need to add Globus package repository to our local repository. We need to download it first.

$ curl -LOs https://downloads.globus.org/toolkit/globus-connect-server/globus-connect-server-repo_latest_all.deb

And, then install it using dpkg utility.

$ dpkg -i globus-connect-server-repo_latest_all.deb

It's time to update local repository to fetch latest packages from added repositories.

$ apt-get update

Install Globus Connect Server #

The main and important step is installing connect server. It consists all components and automatically sets up all required configurations.

$ apt-get install globus-connect-server

Update settings #

Open configuration file to update connection credentials via Globus API Server.

$ vi /etc/globus-connect-server.conf

Or, we can enter those settings manually by simply running:

$ globus-connect-server-setup

Test #

We should satisfy it's running components by looking up the open ports.

$ netstat -ntlp

If we can see MyProxy and Globus Connect Server names in logs, it means, everything is working fine.

Add users #

Now we can use GridFTP client to connect to our (GridFTP) server. To do that, first we need credentials. MyProxy uses local system users for authentication. Thus, we need to create local system users.

$ useradd inco-user

Now we can use the user which we have added previously to login to GridFTP Server and transfer files.

References #

1. https://docs.globus.org
2. https://docs.globus.org/globus-connect-server-v5-installation-guide/