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File transfer to/from Bianca using rsync

rsync is a tool to do file transfer to/from Bianca, that works under Linux, Mac and Windows.

Prefer a video?

Watch this video to see the procedure below as a video.

To transfer files to/from Bianca using rsync, do the following steps:

flowchart TD
  local_computer_ourside_sunet[Local computer outside of SUNET]
  local_computer[Local computer]
  transit[Transit]
  bianca[Bianca]
  local_computer_ourside_sunet --> |1. Get inside SUNET|local_computer
  local_computer --> |2. login| transit
  local_computer --> |4. rsync| bianca
  bianca --> |5. rsync| local_computer
  transit --> |3. mount| bianca

1. Get inside SUNET

Get inside SUNET.

Forgot how to get within SUNET?

See the 'get inside the university networks' page here

2. Log in to Transit

On your local computer, start a terminal and use ssh to login to Transit:

ssh [username]@transit.uppmax.uu.se

where

  • [username] is your UPPMAX username

For example:

ssh richel@transit.uppmax.uu.se

When asked for a password, use your UPPMAX password (without 2FA).

See Log in to transit for more details on how to log in to Transit.

3. Mount a Bianca project

On transit, mount the wharf of your Bianca project:

mount_wharf [project_id]

where

What about the [path] argument?

Well spotted!

Indeed, the Transit server gives these arguments:

mount_wharf [project_id] [path]

However, the [path] argument is optional: if not given, a default will be used.

To simplify matters, here we use the default.

for example:

mount_wharf sens2016001

The password is your normal UPPMAX password directly followed by the six digits from the the UPPMAX 2-factor authentication. For example, if your password is VerySecret and the second factor code is 123456 you would type VerySecret123456 as the password in this step.

Now a folder called sens2016001 is created.

4. Transfer files to Bianca

You can transfer files to Bianca by:

4a. Transfer individual files to Bianca

On local computer, do:

rsync [my_local_file] [username]@transit.uppmax.uu.se:[project_id]

where

  • [my_local_file] is the path to your local file
  • [project_id] is the ID of your NAISS project
  • [username] is your UPPMAX username

for example:

rsync my_local_file.txt richel@transit.uppmax.uu.se:sens2016001

No need to specify the path to the mounted folder, if defaults are used.

The files can now be found in your wharf folder.

4b. Transfer all files in a folder to Bianca

On local computer, do:

rsync --recursive my_folder [username]@transit.uppmax.uu.se:[project_id]

where

  • [project_id] is the ID of your NAISS project
  • [username] is your UPPMAX username

for example:

rsync --recursive my_folder richel@transit.uppmax.uu.se:sens2016001

No need to specify the path to the mounted folder, if defaults are used.

The files can now be found in your wharf folder.

5. Transfer files from Bianca to you local computer

Be responsible with sensitive data

This command below will copy data from Bianca to your local computer.

You can transfer files from Bianca to your local computer by:

5a. Transfer individual files from Bianca to your local computer

On your local computer, do:

rsync [username]@transit.uppmax.uu.se:[project_id]/[file_in_wharf] .

where

  • [project_id] is the ID of your NAISS project
  • [username] is your UPPMAX username
  • [file_in_wharf] is the name of the file in wharf
  • . means 'in the current folder of my local computer' or 'here'

for example:

rsync richel@transit.uppmax.uu.se:sens2016001/my_file_in_wharf.txt .

To copy the individual files in your wharf to your local computer.

5b. Transfer all folders from Bianca to you local computer

This will copy all folders in your wharf

This command below will copy all folders in your wharf folder to your local computer.

This assumes that there is few data in your wharf folder.

We assume your follow good wharf hygiene, i.e. your wharf folder is mostly empty most of the time.

On your local computer, do:

rsync --recursive [username]@transit.uppmax.uu.se:[project_id] .

where

  • [project_id] is the ID of your NAISS project
  • [username] is your UPPMAX username
  • . means 'in the current folder of my local computer' or 'here'

for example:

rsync --recursive richel@transit.uppmax.uu.se:sens2016001 .

To your wharf folder to your local computer. The folder created on your local computer will be called [project_id], for example, sens2016001.