Data transfer to/from Transit using SFTP¶

Data transfer to/from Transit using SFTP is one of the ways ways to transfer files to/from Transit.

What is Transit?

See the page about the UPPMAX Transit server.

What are the other ways?

Other ways to transfer data to/from Transit are described here

One can transfer files to/from Transit using SFTP. SFTP is an abbreviation of 'SSH File Transfer Protocol', where 'SSH' is an abbreviation of 'Secure Shell protocol' The program sftp allows you to transfer files to/from Transit using SFTP.

Using SFTP¶

The procedure is described in the following steps.

1. Get inside SUNET¶

Get inside SUNET.

Forgot how to get within SUNET?

See the 'get inside the university networks' page here

2. Start a terminal on your local computer¶

Start a terminal on your local computer.

3. Connect `sftp` to Transit¶

In the terminal, connect sftp to Transit by doing:

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

where [username] is your UPPMAX username, for example:

sftp sven@transit.uppmax.uu.se

If asked, give your UPPMAX password. You can get rid of this prompt if you have setup SSH keys.

5. In `sftp`, upload/download files to/from Transit¶

In sftp, upload/download files to/from Transit.

For example, to upload a file to Transit:

put my_file.txt

Basic sftp command can be found here.

Where do my files end up?¶

They seem to end up in your Transit home folder.

Its location is at /home/[user_name], for example, at /home/sven.

However, this is not the case: upon closing sftp, the files you've uploaded are gone.

You do need to transfer these files to other HPC clusters before closing sftp. For detailed instructions, see the guides at the respective cluster, among others:

Rackham file transfer using SFTP

Overview¶

flowchart TD

    %% Give a white background to all nodes, instead of a transparent one
    classDef node fill:#fff,color:#000,stroke:#000

    %% Graph nodes for files and calculations
    classDef file_node fill:#fcf,color:#000,stroke:#f0f
    classDef calculation_node fill:#ccf,color:#000,stroke:#00f

    user(User)
      user_local_files(Files on user computer):::file_node

    subgraph sub_inside[SUNET]
      subgraph sub_transit_shared_env[Transit]
          login_node(login/calculation/interactive node):::calculation_node
          files_in_transit_home(Files in Transit home folder):::file_node
      end
    end

    %% Shared subgraph color scheme
    %% style sub_outside fill:#ccc,color:#000,stroke:#ccc
    style sub_inside fill:#fcc,color:#000,stroke:#fcc
    style sub_transit_shared_env fill:#ffc,color:#000,stroke:#ffc

    user --> |logs in |login_node
    user --> |uses| user_local_files

    login_node --> |can use|files_in_transit_home
    %% user_local_files <--> |graphical tool|files_in_transit_home
    %% user_local_files <--> |SCP|files_in_transit_home
    user_local_files <==> |SFTP|files_in_transit_home

    %% Aligns nodes prettier
    user_local_files ~~~ login_node

Overview of file transfer on Transit The purple nodes are about file transfer, the blue nodes are about 'doing other things'. The user can be either inside or outside SUNET.