Subscriber Welcome Kit: QuickStart Guide

So you’ve subscribed to Globus. Now what?

This guide provides the short steps you need to quickly make Globus subscription features available to your users. We’ll take you through the following topics in order below. Before you begin, ensure you’ve established key contacts!

First of all connect the right people

Ensure the right people on your end are connected with the right people on ours.

As a reminder, here are the individual / groups contacts who were set up when you first configured your subscription:

  • Primary Contact: Your single go-to point of reference for the Globus Subscription, for instances where a single contact is needed.
  • Support Contact(s): Anyone with the authority to make decisions on the subscription (e.g. add/remove other support contacts, add/subtract subscription manager identities) These individuals receive the highest level of support from our team. We encourage multiple instances of support contacts in case people leave your organization.
  • Subscription Manager(s): Can manage endpoints under a subscription. This identity is often shared among Support Contacts. There can be multiple subscription manager identities on a subscription.
  • Communications Contact(s): The individual(s) who will communicate with your users regarding Globus (e.g. to announce product updates) and review/collaborate with us on outbound communications (e.g. social media, testimonials) or events (e.g. GlobusWorld Tours).

What you should do:

  1. Ask your system administrators to email support@globus.org indicating they are the Support Contacts for your institution. Their email addresses will be flagged as such so they can be given the highest level of support if they submit a support ticket. If you want to make changes, simply send these to support@globus.org.
  2. Have your communications contact(s) email outreach@globus.org so we know who to contact when Globus news needs to be conveyed to users or content needs to be updated/reviewed.

Note: Generally we only make changes to the subscription when requested by a Support Contact, so it’s important to have the right people designated for this role.

For HA subscriptions we require that Subscription Manager identities are federated institutional IDs associated with the subscribing organization (institution.domain identities) and NOT a Globus ID. For other subscriptions we encourage at least one Subscription Manager is a Globus ID that multiple admins have access to, to maintain consistency through personnel transitions._

QuickStart steps for all subscribers

  1. Create and manage endpoints
  2. Turn on sharing
  3. Explore the management console and usage reports
  4. Announce the subscription to your users
  5. Schedule Globus admin and user training sessions

In addition…learn about other important features!

  • For Globus Connect Server v5 endpoints: Allow users to up/download files via HTTPS
  • For subscribers with premium connectors: Turn them on!
  • For Globus Plus users: Review these reminders

1. Create and Manage Endpoints

  • Create new endpoints: Endpoints are created by first installing GCS on a Data Transfer Node associated with the storage systems where your users will move/share files with Globus; and then actually creating the endpoint. Step-by-step instructions for installing GCSv5.4 and creating endpoints can be found here. A quickstart guide is also available.

  • Flag your endpoint as “managed”: This is the only way for the Globus service to identify which endpoints are part of your subscription. Only managed endpoints will appear on the management console and usage reports, and can be configured to use premium connectors. You can convert endpoints to managed via the Command Line Interface (CLI). Instructions can be found here.

Note: The identity used to log in must be a subscription manager identity in order to successfully manage an endpoint.

2. Turn on Sharing

Once you’ve created a managed endpoint, you’ll then be able to host collections on that endpoint so your users can expose their data to collaborators without moving it.

Familiarize yourself with the basics of file sharing

Configure Globus Connect Server for sharing by following the instructions here

3. Explore the Management Console and Locate your Usage Reports

The Management Console

The management console provides an interface to monitor and manage activity (e.g. who is doing what with their data on your systems, which local accounts are sharing what with whom, etc.), get real-time accounting info, and identify and troubleshoot faults.

Here you can gain insights into, and control activity on, the endpoints that you administer, manage and monitor.

You will use the Console to:

  • Monitor tasks (e.g. see overview of endpoints and transfer status; drill down for details like endpoint config info or list of shared endpoints with permission details; easily search and filter activity)
  • Manage tasks (e.g. pause/resume tasks; set up pause rules; cancel tasks)

Note: Your subscription manager controls Console access for your managed endpoints by granting the appropriate role to the identities you wish to have such access (e.g. Endpoint Administrator, Activity Manager, etc.). Details on assigning roles and privileges can be found here.

Usage Reports

In addition to the management console which shows current usage, Globus subscribers have access to Usage Reports to look at historical usage information and trends.

Usage Reports are stored on a Globus guest collection – all subscribers use the same guest collection, but when you access the endpoint you only see your organization’s usage reports. In order to access the usage reports endpoint you need to be a member of the INSTITUTION Subscription Managers Group, where INSTITUTION = the domain of your institution as associated with your subscription (globus.org for example).

To access your Usage Reports:

  • Log in to the Globus web app
  • Use the File Manager tab to search for the “Globus Usage - Reports” collection c0b773e5-7250-4ffd-88d8-da70215d6d35

  • Navigate to the directory of your institutional domain (generally the only directory visible)

    Contained within this directory you will find: - Monthly reports (MS Excel files) with the filename format YYYYMM_Globus_Usage_Monthly_Summary.xlsx, detailing Globus usage figures by managed endpoints associated with your subscription when these endpoints were managed. - A Globus_Usage_Transfer_Detail.csv file with the complete history of all transfers to or from managed endpoints associated with your subscription when these endpoints were managed.

You may transfer these files to local storage for examination or analysis of the data (Note: The Details CSV file contains PII for your users, so take care!)

4. Announce Your Subscription to Users

A subscription doesn’t benefit your users if they don’t know about it!

Once your basic setup is complete, and you’re ready to have researchers use the premium Globus capabilities, you need to announce this to your user base.

See the Communication Guide in your Welcome Kit for details and sample text.

5. Schedule trainings for Admins and Researchers

Your subscription entitles you to personalized training by members of the Globus team. This is available at no cost to you – we simply ask that you facilitate by reaching out to fellow sysadmins and researchers and asking them to attend.

We provide training in many different forms, including

  • An introductory webinar for those new to Globus
  • Technical webinars on installing, configuring, and managing your Globus deployment
  • “Deep-dives” into the underlying Globus service and APIs for those that want to more tightly integrate with Globus
  • Full-day (or two half-day) in person workshops on your campus (see sample programs)

We are also happy to custom-design a session for you, based on your specific requirements and audience. Whatever your needs, make sure you take advantage of this important benefit of your Globus subscription!

Other Key Features

Make files available with HTTPS (and direct browser download)

Globus users can browse, preview, and download files on Globus endpoints directly within a web browser. In situations where collaborators can’t or won’t install Globus Connect, this is an ideal way to distribute data from your existing Globus GCSv5 endpoint.

Note: This is not a substitute for transferring files to Globus endpoints (either Globus Connect Server or Globus Connect Personal) as the HTTPS transfer protocol will likely be much slower than the GridFTP protocol used in endpoint to endpoint transfers. These transfers do not use the Globus Transfer API and therefore will lack the “fire and forget” and task management monitoring that Globus provides through the Management Console, the Command Line Interface and the API.

Premium Connectors

If your subscription includes access to a premium connector (such as Amazon S3, Google Drive, Spectra BlackPearl, Box, etc.), visit the links on this page for detailed step-by-step guides on how to activate the connector.

You should inform your users of this feature and functionality, and what endpoints at your institution support your premium connectors.

Globus Plus

Globus Plus is a way for subscribers to share from their Globus Connect Personal (GCP) endpoints or do GCP to GCP transfers.

Access to this feature is controlled by your organization’s Globus Plus Group, a special Globus Group that can only be created by Globus Support personnel. Members of the group have Globus Plus access, and you control who is in the group. Once created (usually at the time your subscription is set up), your subscription manager(s) will be invited to join and will be made administrators of this group.

Upon creation, this group will be given a name that reflects your institution with the suffix “Globus Plus” (for example: Dilbert University Globus Plus). By default it will be created thus: the group is visible to all Globus users; invitations to the group can be sent by the group’s managers & administrators; and users may request membership. The group will be created with a minimum set of required membership fields (Username, Full Name, E-mail Address), and no terms and conditions. All group parameters can be changed by an administrator in accordance with institutional desires, however we ask that the name not be changed and that the visibility still remain so the group is visible to all Globus users so as to prevent unnecessary support tickets.

Globus users who are approved to join this group now have the ability to share from their Globus Connect Personal (GCP) endpoints or do GCP-to-GCP transfers by virtue of their membership in this group.