Accessing HPSS

Once you have successfully set up your account and password, you can access either HPSS system using the HSI and HTAR utilities, NERSC's PFTP utility, or clients that use the FTP protocol. The archive.nersc.gov system is also capable of performing GSI authentication to its parallel FTP daemon allowing grid-enabled clients to access it.

HPSS cannot be accessed via SSH.

Access from NERSC platforms

hsi -s archive command

The older regent HPSS system should be specified as "hpss" when using the HSI utility at NERSC.

Specifying the full DNS names archive.nersc.gov or hpss.nersc.gov will result in network traffic using slower external networks.

HPSS can be accessed interactively and used in batch scripts.

For the archive.nersc.gov system, the first time you log into HPSS with HSI, you are prompted for your "DCE Principal" (NERSC username) and password and an .hsipw file is created in your HOME directory. The next time you access HPSS, HSI will use the information contained in this file to authenticate you to the system. You will not be prompted for a username/password pair. Occassionally this .hsipw may become corrupted. If you have trouble connecting to HPSS, try removing this file and reauthenticating.

For the hpss.nersc.gov system, HSI, HTAR, pftp and some FTP clients will look for a .netrc file in your HOME directory. The file should have stanzas for each system that provide your login username and password. This will enable automated authentication or access to HPSS. You will not be prompted for a username/password pair. A sample file is provided below.

# comment
 
machine hpss
  login franky
  password 02S&feVYA!UMR_aGljaw....Bx22w%%wp((ubVDfIn7FG2W50jSg== 
 
machine hpss.nersc.gov
  login franky
  password 02S&feVYA!UMR_aGljaw....Bx22w%%wp((ubVDfIn7FG2W50jSg== 

Where the password argument is your HPSS generated token or encrypted string. During the transition period, we recommend you only change the hpss and hpss.nersc.gov stanzas in the .netrc since both systems use different passwords and syntax. Ensure there are no group or other permissions on your .netrc file (mode 600 is appropriate).

Access from outside NERSC

The primary user HPSS system is known as "archive.nersc.gov". All new users and most current users utilize the archive system for their archive storage needs.

The backup NERSC HPSS system is "hpss.nersc.gov" and is sometimes referred to as the "regent" system. The backup system is used for system backups, although it does contain some older user data.

archive.nersc.gov can be reached using the hsi and htar utilities and ftp clients. The HSI and HTAR utilities are available for download and use by NERSC users. If you install HSI/HTAR behind a firewall, you might need client and firewall configuration information. FTP clients have to use a special process for encrypting username/password pairs.