Usage with ERDA

Using PyRemoteData with ERDA (Electronic Research Data Archive at Aarhus University) can be done in one of two ways.

Persistent SSH Setup

This setup requires SSH and registering a authorized public key in ERDA under Setup→SFTP→Public Keys.

Note

The password option under Setup→SFTP→Password must be empty!

Then add the following to your SSH config (~/.ssh/config):

Host io.erda.au.dk erda
  HostName io.erda.au.dk
  User <EMAIL/USER>
  VerifyHostKeyDNS ask
  Port 2222

Tip

If you are unsure of what your ERDA “username” is, check Setup→SFTP→Login Details→Username.

Lastly, make sure to accept the fingerprint for the ERDA server, which you can do by running sftp erda in the terminal after the previous steps. When prompted, compare the presented fingerprint with the expected one, which can again be found under Setup→SFTP→Login Details.

Caution

You should never share your private SSH keys, as such this option is best for stable environments such as workstations or production, and NOT ideal for testing.

Danger

Using sharelinks to access ERDA is only semi-safe, as long as the sharelink is secret, however PyRemoteData does not work with read-only sharelinks.

If you want to access or deposit data from a non-trusted environment, create a read-write sharelink to a staging ERDA folder — make sure to have a backup that isn’t accessible via the sharelink!

Then simply copy the sharelink and use it like so:

from pyremotedata.implicit_mount import IOHandler

SHARELINK_ID = "<MY_SHARELINK>" # E.g.: aFkda81mqa

with IOHandler(user=SHARELINK_ID, password=SHARELINK_ID) as io:
    ...

This will allow you to skip all SSH and PyRemoteData configuration setup, which can be cumbersome in many environments, at the cost of some safety. To accommodate the less safe nature of this method I suggest that you adopt as many of the following principles as possible:

  • Never share the Sharelink ID, do NOT put it on GitHub or similar.

  • Do NOT make write Sharelinks to folders which store permanent data.

  • Delete Sharelinks when you are done using the “Share Links” app in ERDA.

  • Use a staging folder to bridge semi-trusted to trusted barrier:

    1. Create a read/write sharelink to a new staging folder on ERDA.

    2. Transfer resources which are needed by semi-trusted user(s) using a trusted user to the staging folder.

    3. Semi-trusted user(s) download resources and uploads results to the staging folder.

    4. Trusted user verifies and transfers results from the staging folder to trusted storage.

When using PyRemoteData with the “Persistent SSH Setup” method you should consider your process as trusted, and act accordingly.

Tip

You can add the “Share Links” app to ERDA by:

  • click the “Home” icon (left-hand menu)

  • click “Add”

  • select “Share Links”

  • click “Save”