How to Transfer Files To/From the SSCC

From your computer

To transfer files between your Windows computer and the SSCC, select "New File Transfer" from the "Window" menu in the SSH client.

Remember: if you transfer .sh shell scripts from a Windows computer, you need to run dos2unix scriptname.sh before executing the script.

From other ftp/web servers

You can download datasets directly to the SSCC from external ftp and web servers.

wget is a command that can download files both from ftp and web servers, for example:

[abc123@seldon abc123]$ wget http://www.nber.org/nberces/bbg96_87.dta
[abc123@seldon abc123]$ wget ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/doc/ap.txt

With additional options wget can also download whole directories of files recursively and download from password-protected servers. Type in man wget at the prompt to get a full list of options

sftp is a command-line program used toconnect to ftp servers that require secure connections:

[abc123@seldon abc123]$ sftp
sftp> open abc123@ftp.econ.uantarctica.edu
Opening connection to abc123@ftp.econ.uantarctica.edu
abc123@ftp.econ.uantarctica.edu's password:
sftp> help
SFTP client Sftp2
Copyright (c) 1999-2002 SSH Communications Security, Finland.

Type 'help <topic>', where <topic> is one of the following commands:

open            lopen           close           quit            cd
lcd             pwd             lpwd            ls              lls
get             mget            put             mput            rm
lrm             mkdir           lmkdir          rmdir           lrmdir
rename          lrename         readlink        lreadlink       symlink
lsymlink        ascii           binary          auto            setext
getext          lsroots         debug           verbose         help

The sftp secure ftp client is used to make secure file transfers over the network. The entire session is encrypted, starting with the login and including the transfer of your files.

The best way to transfer your files is to first login to an SSCC host and then initiate the transfer session from there. As such, you get files from a foreign host to the SSCC host.

If you want to transfer files from the SSCC host to the foreign host, then you put files to the foreign host.

Note that sftp copies the files from one computer to another. It does not move them.

Login with ssh to hardin.it.northwestern.edu or seldon.it.northwestern.edu.

Make sure that you use your NetID password to login.

You should transfer your files directly into your SSCC home directory to preserve your file paths.

Here is an example: First log in to the SSCC system hardin.it.northwestern.edu, and then sftp to the system on ftp.econ.uantarctica.edu: Enter the unantarctica password at the prompt.

[bef@hardin bef]$ sftp abc123@ftp.econ.uantarctica.edu
abc123@ftp.econ.uantarctica.edu's password:

Next, transfer the directory Demo and all of its contents from your foreign account to your SSCC account:

sftp> get -p Demo
demo.dat.gz       | 294B   | 294B/s  | TOC: 00:00:01 | 100%
demo.log          | 4.6kB  | 4.6kB/s | TOC: 00:00:01 | 100%
demo.lst          | 20kB   | 20kB/s  | TOC: 00:00:01 | 100%
demo.por          | 5.8kB  | 5.8kB/s | TOC: 00:00:01 | 100%
demo.por.gz       | 3.0kB  | 3.0kB/s | TOC: 00:00:01 | 100%
demo.sas          | 2.3kB  | 2.3kB/s | TOC: 00:00:01 | 100%
demo.sps          | 111B   | 111B/s  | TOC: 00:00:01 | 100%
demo.sps.lst      | 4.2kB  | 4.2kB/s | TOC: 00:00:01 | 100%
demobase.lst.gz   | 17kB   | 17kB/s  | TOC: 00:00:01 | 100%
demobase.sps      | 6.6kB  | 6.6kB/s | TOC: 00:00:01 | 100%
sftp> quit
[bef@hardin bef]$ 

Using the -p option in the command "get -p Demo" preserves the creation dates and times of your files in the copies put on the SSCC disk. The directory Demo and all of its files were copied by the single sftp command.

You can copy an entire directory with the sftp command

sftp> get -p *

Transfers of 500 MB or more will take significant time and memory, as well as disk space. Please break up large transfers by using sftp to get directory trees one at a time — do not use the "get -p *" command when you have a large transfer to make.

---

gftp is a graphical ftp client. To start it, type in gftp & in the terminal window after connecting to the SSCC with X-Win32. The ampersand at the end of the command makes it open gftp in the background, so that you can enter other commands in the terminal window.

---

mozilla is a standard graphical web browser. To start the mozilla web browser, type in mozilla & in the terminal window after connecting to the SSCC with X-Win32. You can browse webpages and download files to your home directory on the SSCC.