Globus

NC State has chosen to support the Globus platform as a service to move, share, and discover research data in a single interface. Globus can move datasets of various sizes, up to petabytes in magnitude, and is well suited for sharing research data between users at various institutes. Consumers of this service span across hundreds of universities, national labs, government facilities and other research institutions, allowing researchers at all of these the potential to share data with each other. Globus is a service operated and maintained by a non-profit group of folks at the University of Chicago.

One of the key benefits of Globus is that it can authenticate against external authentication sources. For example, users here at NC State will authenticate against our Shibboleth authentication. Other campus organizations typically have their own Single SignOn mechanisms which can be used. Globus also supports authentication via the Incommon federation, which includes hundreds of other research universities. This allows data to be shared with a user’s existing account; no new or temporary accounts are needed. This eliminates managing credential logistics; no identity management (creating new accounts for people outside the organization) or password resets. The Globus cloud infrastructure bridges across organizations who choose to participate in the Globus service.

NC State participates in Globus, and has a Globus subscription. OIT supports connectivity between Research Storage, the OIT High Performance Computing (HPC) cluster, Google Drive storage, OIT NAS storage, local host storage, and any remote Globus endpoint. Of course, each of these sources is also a potential destination endpoint as well; they can receive data as well as serve it out.

For assistance on Globus, please submit a Service Now ticket to the “OIT_GLOBUS” queue.

Different types of endpoints at NC State

OIT Research Storage

OIT hosts the NC State Research Storage Globus Collection. It allows you to transfer files to or from any Research Storage shares you own or have permissions to access have access. The server that hosts this Globus Collection is located in one of NC State’s datacenters and has fast network connections to both the storage system and internet.

Please see the Using Globus to Access Research Storage page for more information.

OIT High Performance Computing (HPC) cluster

This storage endpoint resides on another instance of the Globus Connect Server v4. File services mount points on the HPC cluster will need to be configured on this server.

Google Drive

This storage endpoint resides on yet another instance of the Globus Connect Server v5. File services mount points on Google Cloud storage will need to be configured on this server.

NAS file storage

Currently, support for setting up a Globus Connect Server instance to support OIT NAS file services is being investigated.

Globus Connect Personal

There also exists Globus Connect Personal software. One can install this software (available for Windows, Mac, and Linux) on a local machine to move data between a Globus cloud endpoint and one’s local machine. You have to request “Globus Plus” access in order to be able to share your local storage using the Globus Connect Personal software.

Globus service Team

The Globus service is managed by the Globus Service team consisting of members from OIT IWS, HPC, Research Storage, and WMS.

Globus Service Queue

Service Now queue: OIT_GLOBUS (oit_globus@help.ncsu.edu) – The queue is monitored 8×5 during normal work hours.

Globus Documentation links