Chapter 3 Parallel File Transfer Protocol (PFTP)

This chapter specifies the HPSS PFTP interface. In order to use PFTP, the PFTP client code must be compiled and supported on the client platform.

PFTP supports the FTP command set plus some additional commands (refer to the next subsection). To use PFTP, the user enters one of the following commands:

pftp_client [-bStringSize] [-c] [-d] [-e] [-g] [-h] [-i] [-m] [-n]

[-p] [-t] [-v] [-w###] [-BStringSize] [-C###] [-Rstring]

[-SsizeString] [Host [Port]]

krb5_gss_pftp_client [-bStringSize] [-c] [-d] [-e] [-g] [-h] [-i] [-m]

[-n] [-p] [-t] [-v] [-w###] [-BStringSize] [-C###] [-Rstring]

[-SsizeString] [Host [Port]]

where,

*Table 3-1 PFTP Client Command-Line Options*
Option	Description
-b	Sets the PDATA protocol Blocksize. StringSize is the size specification in the format: Digit(s)Magnitude; e.g. 1MB.
-c	Sets "Child" mode. This provides the ability to "emulate" a tty and interactive mode when executing the client in a "batch" mode.
-d	The standard FTP debug specification.
-e	Sets "Echo" mode. When running the client in batch mode, this causes the client to echo each command into the output file providing a helpful record of commands interleaved with the return messages.
-g	Disables the expansion of metacharacters in file names. Interpreting metacharacters can be referred to as expanding (sometimes called globbing) a file name. See the glob subcommand.
-h	Specifie to use the original HPSS protocol, PDATA_AND_MOVER, regardless of the default specified in the HPSS.conf file
-i	Turns off interactive prompting during multiple file transfers. See the prompt, mget, mput, and mdelete subcommands for descriptions of prompting during multiple file transfers.
-k	Kerberos ONLY opton to specify an alternate Kerberos Realm for the PFTP Daemon.
-m	This argument will enable multinode processing. By default, multinode processing is disabled. Multinode will be ignored if NO multinode specification for this client / daemon pair is specified in the HPSS.conf file.
-n	Prevents an automatic login on the initial connection. Otherwise, the ftp command searches for a $HOME/.netrc entry that describes the login and initialization process for the remote host. See the user subcommand.
-p	Specifies to use the HPSS protocol (PDATA_ONLY) for parallel transfers regardless of the default in the HPSS.conf file.
-t	The standard FTP trace specification.
-v	Displays all the responses from the remote server and provides data transfer statistics. This display mode is the default when the output of the ftp command is to a terminal, such as the console or a display.
-w	This argument will set the pwidth. The pwidth value must be specified immediately following this argument.
-B	Sets the Parallel Blocksize for parallel transfers. StringSize is the size specification in the format: Digit(s)Magnitude; e.g. 1MB.
-C	Sets the default Class of Service (COS) for the session. The argument is a valid string representation of a decimal COS. COS names are NOT accepted.
-P	Specifies to use the PDATA_PUSH protocol. This will be overridden if another protocol is specified in the .netrc file or if an explicit specification of another protocol is made by the user.
-R	Used to specify the valid ports for parallel transfers. This is useful in instances where network filters are invoked which provide port ranges for TCP traffic. The syntax is "start_range-end_range". These values are translated into the environment variable "HPSS_PFTPC_PORT_RANGE=ncacn_ip_tcp[start_range-end_range" environment variable which is parsed by the client as necessary.
-S	Sets the maximum open / close socket size for HPSS parallel transfers. An artificial maximum of 250GB (subject to change) is compiled in. Results may be smaller than the specified value based on a number of external HPSS constraints. The default is 1.5GB. StringSize is the size specification in the format: Digit(s)Magniture; e.g., 200GB.
Host	The node where the HPSS FTP Daemon process resides.
Port	The port number for the HPSS FTP Daemon, as set in /etc/services.

The local administrator may opt to define a pftp program link that points to pftp_client .

An additional variant of the pftp_client, krb5_gss_pftp_client may be built by the customer site. Contact your site representative for details. These clients utilize the MIT Kerberos GSS facilities for authentication and reply processing. The GSS-based clients are used to provide credential authentication facilities (password-less authentication) between the client and the HPSS GSS Parallel FTP Daemon using either Kerberos or DCE credentials for authentication. Since the Generic Security Service (GSS) versions of the Parallel FTP Client only relate to the authentication process, these clients should behave identical to the non-GSS versions after authentication. MIT Kerberos is available from MIT and will NOT be supplied by the HPSS project. NOTE: The HPSS (GSS) Parallel FTP Client and Daemon are incompatible withthe Kerberos-based FTP features provided by IBM with AIX 4.x. The HPSS (GSS) Parallel FTP Client and Daemon are compatible with the MIT FTP processes.

The GSS version of the Parallel FTP Client requires MIT Kerberos and/or compatible Client software (headers / libraries). Neither IBM nor the HPSS development team are obligated to continue the GSS PFTP in the future.

As a courtesy to HPSS customers, the Parallel FTP Client code is available for compilation at customer sites upon request. The Parallel FTP Client code will be provided as a clients_port.tar.Z file (tarred and compressed) containing all components required to build the applications. Hardware/Software dependencies are the individual HPSS customers responsibility. This explicitly denies any support requirement on IBM or the HPSS Development/Support personnel for any modifications made by the customer. No DCE software is required to build the HPSS Parallel FTP Client.

The HPSS PFTP Client has been successfully compiled on: Cray UNICOS, Hewlett-Packard HPUX (32 / 64 Bit), Silicon Graphics IRIX (32 / 64 Bit), Sun Solaris (32 /64 Bit), Intel Paragon OSF (discontinued), Intel Teraflop OSF, Linux Intel (32 / 64 Bit), Compaq Alpha, and IBM AIX 4.x (32 / 64 Bit). Ports to other hardware/software components are the responsibility of the remote site. These sites will be asked to share their ports with the HPSS development team (and other HPSS facilities); however, neither IBM nor the HPSS Development Team accepts any obligation to incorporate any hardware/software ports into the distribution source. No site specific features (local mods) added to the Parallel FTP client by customer sites will be incorporated into the PFTP client without the modification of the HPSS license.

The GSS versions of the Parallel FTP Client, krb5_gss_pftp_client, require MIT Kerberos. Neither IBM nor the HPSS development team declare the Kerberos code suitable for any specific purpose nor are they obligated to repair or support customers using this code.

The GSS HPSS Parallel FTP Daemon, hpss_pftp_amgr and auth_krb5gss executables, are available for IBM AIX 4.x and Solaris 8.

Note: If the message "Load thread state failed" is received, contact your HPSS administrator. This message generally implies that either HPSS is not correctly configured, or some HPSS components may not be executing.

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