Globus Command Line Interface

If you wish to utilize the Globus transfer tools from the command line, you can download the Globus Command Line Interface (CLI). It is available as a Python package.

Installing the Required Tools

Since the tool is a Python package, you will need Python installed, as well as the pip installer.

• Ubuntu:

  sudo apt-get install python   
  sudo apt-get install python-pip
  export PATH="~/.local/bin:$PATH"
  echo 'export PATH="~/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> "$HOME/.bashrc"

• CentOS:

  sudo yum install python   
  sudo yum install python-pip
  export PATH="~/.local/bin:$PATH"
  echo 'export PATH="~/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> "$HOME/.bashrc"

• macOS:

  sudo easy_install python   
  sudo easy_install pip
  export PATH="~/.local/bin:$PATH"
  echo 'export PATH="~/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> "$HOME/.bashrc"

  Some versions of Python will not be installed in ~/.local. If you have trouble getting globus commands to execute, try the following commands to change the path:

  GLOBUS_CLI_INSTALL_DIR="$(python -c 'import site; print(site.USER_BASE)')/bin"   
  echo "GLOBUS_CLI_INSTALL_DIR=$GLOBUS_CLI_INSTALL_DIR"

  export PATH="$GLOBUS_CLI_INSTALL_DIR:$PATH"   
  echo 'export PATH="'"$GLOBUS_CLI_INSTALL_DIR"':$PATH"' >> "$HOME/.bashrc"

• Windows:

  • The Windows package manager "Chocolatey" is recommended for installation. See here for Chocolatey installation instructions.

  • To install Python and pip, see here.

• All Operating Systems: To install the Globus CLI, use the following command: pip install --upgrade --user globus-cli.

Optional: if you wish to use the Globus CLI from within a python virtual environment, see instructions here. Otherwise, you may continue using this guide.

To start, you will need to log in to Globus: globus login. Follow the instructions to get logged in. A browser window may appear.

To make sure that your login was successful, type globus get-identities '[e-mail]'. A successful output will look something like this: c698d42e-d274-11e5-bf75-1fc5bf53bb56.

Globus CLI Basics

• Endpoint Search

    $ globus endpoint search 'CCLA HPC'
    ID                                   | Owner                 | Display Name  
    ------------------------------------ | --------------------- | --------------
    57230a10-7ba2-77e7-8c3b-22555b9923ef | [e-mail]     | CCLAHPC

• Endpoint Management

  • Use variables for endpoint IDs: Endpoint IDs are cumbersome. You cannot rename them, but you can store them as variables. For example:

      epCCLAHPC=57230a10-7ba2-77e7-8c3b-22555b9923ef

    Now you can use the variable to display information and manage files (with truncated output):

      $ globus endpoint show $epCCLA-HPC
      Display Name:              CCLA-HPC
      ID:                        57230a10-7ba2-77e7-8c3b-225550b9923ef
      Owner:                     [e-mail]
      Activated:                 True
      Shareable:                 True
      Department:                CCLA
      Organization:              Doane Univ
      Department:                CCLA
      Visibility:                True
      Default Directory:         /~/
      Force Encryption:          False
      Managed Endpoint:          True

  • Make a directory:

      globus mkdir $epCCLAHPC:~/example_dir

  • List the contents of a directory:

      $ globus ls $epCCLAHPC:~/
      example_dir/
      ccla-user-guide.pdf
      hello-world.c
      hello-world.pbs

  • File transfer between endpoints:

    • First, search for a second endpoint. Then set that endpoint as a Bash variable.

        $ globus endpoint search 'Globus Tutorial Endpoint' \
              --filter-owner-id 'c699d42e-d274-11e5-bf75-1fc5bf53bb24'
          Owner           | ID                                   | Display Name
          --------------- | ------------------------------------ | ---------------------------
          [e-mail] | ddb59aef-6d04-11e5-ba46-22000b92c6ec | Globus Tutorial Endpoint 1
          [e-mail] | ddb59af0-6d04-11e5-ba46-22000b92c6ec | Globus Tutorial Endpoint 2
          [e-mail] | cf9bcaa5-6d04-11e5-ba46-22000b92c6ec | Globus S3 Tutorial Endpoint
        $ epGLOBUS1=ddb59aef-6d04-11e5-ba46-22000b92c6ec

    • Make a single file transfer from epCCLAHPC to epGLOBUS1.

        globus transfer $epCCLAHPC:/ccla-user-guide.pdf $epGLOBUS:~/ccla-user-guide.pdf \
        --label "user-guide"

    • Make a batch transfer.

        $ globus transfer $epCCLAHPC:/example_dir/ $epGLOBUS:~/ \
        --batch --label "CCLA Batch" < in.txt

Related Tutorials

• Globus Endpoints
• Graphical SFTP