SFTP - Securely transferring small datasets

Diamond provides access to an SSH service which can be used for associated data transports such as SFTP and RSYNC. However, we do not recommend this due to some serious performance issues associated with the SSH transport layer.

To access the SFTP from Windows or Mac, you will need the following:

Windows: Download FTP client software, for example, Filezilla
Mac: Download FTP client software, for example, Filezilla

Windows
Linux
Mac

Access data using an FTP client software such as WinSCP.

FTP client software

We recommend WinSCP, which you can download from here.

Start WinSCP
File protocol: 'SFTP'
Paste in the following Host name:
Port: 22
Enter your FedID (in the username field) and password

Certificate warning: Click 'Yes'

Browse to your session folder in the right-hand window

dls/beamline/data/YYYY/experiment-visit

Drag and drop your selected folder or files to your file system

Do not let your computer go to sleep during the transfer

If it is taking a long time, try our Globus Online transfer system for large datasets (>20GB).

Access data using command lines in the terminal, or through a graphical interface such as Filezilla.

Terminal

In this example, four files are retrieved with mget.

From a Linux machine sftp to YourFedID@nx.diamond.ac.uk,
cd to your data and use get or mget to retrieve your data.

phil@phil-Advent-4211 ~/Downloads $ sftp fmx47643@nx
The authenticity of host 'nx (172.23.146.10)' can't be established.
RSA key fingerprint is fc:b4:b1:9f:4e:c9:05:66:a2:b5:3e:3c:56:c9:49:bb.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? yes
Warning: Permanently added 'nx,172.23.146.10' (RSA) to the list of known hosts.
fmx47643@nx's password:
Connected to nx.
sftp> cd dls/i31/data/2016/pj12345-1
sftp> ls
file1 file2 file3 file4
sftp> mget *
Fetching /home/fmx47643/dls/i31/data/2016/pj12345-1/file1 to file1
Fetching /home/fmx47643/dls/i31/data/2016/pj12345-1/file2 to file2
Fetching /home/fmx47643/dls/i31/data/2016/pj12345-1/file3 to file3
Fetching /home/fmx47643/dls/i31/data/2016/pj12345-1/file4 to file4
sftp> quit
phil@phil-Advent-4211 ~/Downloads $

NB. Example only - Beamline i31 doesn't exist.

FTP client software

The following example is for FileZilla, which you can download from here.

Start Filezilla and select 'File' -> 'Site manager'
Click 'New Site' on the bottom left of the window and name it accordingly (e.g. 'FEDECKS' as below)
Paste in the following Host name:

Port: 22
Protocol: SFTP - SSH File Transfer Protocol
Login Type: Normal
Enter your FedID (in the 'User' field) and password

Click 'Ok' and the new site will be saved.

To connect to the site:

Open 'Site Manager' either from the 'File' tab, or by clicking on the icon shown in the red circle below.
Select the site you just created (e.g. FEDECKS) and click 'Connect'. (You will get an Unknown host key message the first time you connect).

In the right hand panel, you should now see your visits and home directory.

Copy the relevent files by dragging them to the appropriate place on your local machine asseen in the left hand panel.

When complete, click on the 'Disconnect from current server' icon.

Access data using an FTP client software such as Filezilla, or by command lines in the terminal.

FTP client software

The following example is for FileZilla, which you can download from here.

Start Filezilla and select 'File' -> 'Site manager'
Click 'New Site' on the bottom left of the window and name it accordingly (e.g. 'FEDECKS' as below)
Paste in the following Host name:

Port: 22
Protocol: SFTP - SSH File Transfer Protocol
Login Type: Normal
Enter your FedID (in the 'User' field) and password

Click 'Ok' and the new site will be saved.

To connect to the site:

Open 'Site Manager' either from the 'File' tab, or by clicking on the icon shown in the red circle below.
Select the site you just created (e.g. FEDECKS) and click 'Connect'. (You will get an Unknown host key message the first time you connect).

In the right hand panel, you should now see your visits and home directory.

Copy the relevent files by dragging them to the appropriate place on your local machine asseen in the left hand panel.

When complete, click on the 'Disconnect from current server' icon.

You can also access the SFTP via the Mac Terminal:

In this example, four files are retrieved with mget.

From a terminal window, sftp to YourFedID@nx.diamond.ac.uk
cd to your data and use get or mget to retrieve your data.

ITSupportMacc:~ fred$ sftp fmx47643@nx
The authenticity of host 'nx (172.23.146.10)' can't be established.
RSA key fingerprint is SHA256:pMx9Zmsr6clDbd8LZgxgLtrKtJs1tkRvbE58Na47stw.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? yes
Warning: Permanently added 'nx,172.23.146.10' (RSA) to the list of known hosts.
fmx47643@nx's password:
Connected to nx.
sftp> cd dls/i31/data/2016/pj12345-1
sftp> ls
file1 file2 file3 file4 somedata
sftp> mget f*
Fetching /home/fmx47643/dls/i31/data/2016/pj12345-1/file1 to file1
Fetching /home/fmx47643/dls/i31/data/2016/pj12345-1/file2 to file2
Fetching /home/fmx47643/dls/i31/data/2016/pj12345-1/file3 to file3
Fetching /home/fmx47643/dls/i31/data/2016/pj12345-1/file4 to file4
sftp> quit
ITSupportMacc:~ fred$

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SFTP - Securely transferring small datasets