FAQs: Subscriptions

How much does Globus cost?

Globus is free for researchers at non-profit institutions to use for file transfer, thanks to the generous support of institutions that pay an annual subscription.

As a non-profit institution, our goal from day one has been to make Globus a self-sustaining service, so that we can continue to serve the needs of academic and non-profit research organizations for many years to come. Most of our funding is intended for research and early software development, not to cover operation, support, and ongoing evolutionary improvement of the service. As usage grows, our costs have grown and we decided that charging a usage-based subscription fee for additional features that go beyond file transfer is the best way to ensure that we can continue to provide a high-quality research data management service.

To this end, certain Globus features are available only by subscribing to a Globus subscription. Such features include the ability to share files directly from existing storage and performing various administrative tasks for Globus endpoints at your institution. Globus subscription plans also offer higher levels of support from the Globus team, with priority response times.

If you are a commercial user, you may use Globus by signing up for a commercial subscription. We are unable to offer the service free of charge to commercial users, but believe that you will find Globus provides valuable capabilities at a reasonable price. Thanks!

How does an institution manage their Globus subscription?

When an institution subscribes to Globus, the institution designates subscription administrators and subscription managers who in turn can designate which people and resources at their institution have access to Globus premium features.

How can I access Globus premium features?

If you are affiliated with an institution or organization that has a Globus subscription, you can request to join a subscription group to gain access to premium Globus features.

How can I find information about my institution’s subscription?

You can search subscription groups by navigating to the Subscription tab of the Settings page of the Globus Web App. There you will be able to search for subscriptions at your institution and view information about subscriptions, such as the subscription tier and any associated premium storage connectors. The subscription group’s description provides more details about the subscription. Subscription administrators are strongly encouraged to provide a description of how users can join the subscription group and how users can contact institutional Globus experts/sysadmins, as well as any web links that further describe the implementation of Globus at the institution.

If you are unable to find your institution’s Globus subscription, please contact support@globus.org to ask if your institution is a subscriber.

Do I have to be a member of a subscription group to use premium features?

No. If you are not a member of a subscription group, you can ask the subscription administrator or subscription manager at your institution to associate your resource, such as your Globus Connect Server endpoint or Globus Connect Personal collection, with a subscription. This will enable premium features on your resource.

When you contact your subscription administrator or manager, please include the following information in your request.

  1. State that you are requesting to associate your resource, e.g. your Globus Connect Server endpoint or your Globus Connect Personal collection, with your institution’s subscription.

  2. If your institution has a High Assurance subscription, indicate if your resource is managing sensitive data and will be using High Assurance features.

  3. Include the UUID of your resource.

    1. The Globus Connect Server endpoint UUID is shown on the endpoint’s Overview page in the Globus Web App, which can be accessed via the Endpoints tab of the Console.

    2. The Globus Connect Personal collection UUID is shown on the collection’s Overview tab in the Globus Web App.

What does it mean when a resource is associated with a subscription?

Subscription administrators and managers can associate resources, such as Globus Connect Server endpoints, with a subscription, making them subscribed resources. This action only indicates that the resource is now covered under the subscriber’s subscription and, therefore, can take advantage of premium subscription features. It does not mean that the subscription administrator or manager has any privileges or data access rights on that resource.

How do I associate a Globus Connect Server endpoint or Globus Connect Personal mapped collection with a subscription?

You can associate a subscription with a resource only if

  • You are a subscription group member and you own or administer the endpoint or collection.

  • You are a subscription administrator or manager and the endpoint or collection is not already associated with a subscription you do not administer or manage.

Subscribing a Globus Connect Server endpoint

You can use the Globus Web App by opening the Console section of the Globus Web App and searching for the UUID of the endpoint. (Depending on the state of the endpoint you are searching for, you may need to uncheck "Administered by me" even if the endpoint is administered by you.) When the endpoint is found, click the "Edit subscription" button and select the appropriate subscription.

You can also use the Globus CLI by running the following command:

$ globus gcs endpoint set-subscription-id ENDPOINT_ID SUBSCRIPTION_ID

For example, if a user wishes to associate an endpoint UUID of 11111111-2222-3333-4444-555555555555 with a subscription UUID of aaaaaaaa-bbbb-cccc-dddd-eeeeeeeeeeee, then the user should run:

$ globus gcs endpoint set-subscription-id 11111111-2222-3333-4444-555555555555 aaaaaaaa-bbbb-cccc-dddd-eeeeeeeeeeee

If you don’t know the UUID of your endpoint, but you know its display name, then you can find the UUID like this:

$ globus endpoint search --filter-scope my-endpoints "My Endpoint Display Name"

Subscribing a Globus Connect Personal collection

You can use the Globus Web App by searching for the collection on the Collections page of the Globus Web App. Go to the collection’s Overview tab and select "Edit subscription", and select the appropriate subsciption.

You can also use the Globus CLI by running the following command:

$ globus gcp set-subscription-id COLLECTION_ID SUBSCRIPTION_ID

For example, if you wish to associate a Globus Connect Personal collection UUID of 11111111-2222-3333-4444-555555555555 with a subscription a UUID of aaaaaaaa-bbbb-cccc-dddd-eeeeeeeeeeee, then the user should run:

$ globus gcp set-subscription-id 11111111-2222-3333-4444-555555555555 aaaaaaaa-bbbb-cccc-dddd-eeeeeeeeeeee

If you don’t know the UUID of your Globus Connect Personal collection, but you know its display name, then you can find the UUID like this:

$ globus endpoint search --filter-scope my-endpoints "My GCP Display Name"

How can I grant someone access to premium features?

Subscription group administrators and managers can add or invite users to their subscription group, thereby granting users access premium features.

What can a subscription member do?

A member of a subscription group can

  • Associate a subscription with any Globus Connect Personal mapped collection or Globus Connect Server endpoint that they own or administer. Associating a subscription enables premium features, such as the ability to share data on a collection and view activity using the Console.

  • Perform transfers between two Globus Connect Personal mapped collections and create and share data from Globus Connect Personal guest collections.

  • Associate a subscription with a Globus flow, thereby allowing the member to create more than one flow.

What can a subscription manager do?

A subscription manager can do everything a subscription member can do, plus

  • Manage subscription group membership, thereby granting users access to premium features.

  • Access subscriber usage reports.

  • Associate any unsubscribed Globus Connect Personal mapped collection or Globus Connect Server endpoint with their subscription.

What can a subscription administrator do?

A subscription administrator can do everything a subscription manager can do, plus

  • Promote subscription group members to managers or administrators.

  • Configure some subscription group policies and attributes.

What happened to Globus Plus?

Globus Plus has been replaced by Globus subscription groups, and all Globus Plus members have been migrated to a subscription group. Globus subscription groups are the same as Globus Plus groups in that members of a Globus subscription group do not need to associate their Globus Connect Personal collection with a subscription in order to be able to share data and perform transfers between Globus Connect Personal collections. At some point in the future this will change, and members of a Globus subscription group will need to associate their Globus Connect Personal collection with their subscription in order to enable data sharing and transfers between Globus Connect Personal collections.

What information does the Globus Usage Transfer Detail file contain?

The Globus Usage Transfer Detail file is included as part of subscriber usage reporting and provides a record of all Globus transfer task requests made to or from endpoints associated with your subscription. It is rich in information and can be used as the foundation for a subscriber to create custom usage reports and dashboards.

The file is a CSV formatted file, with each row representing a unique transfer request. Globus deletion task requests and HTTPS transfer requests are not included in the file.

Column headers use Globus Connect Server version 5 terminology. Please refer to the tables below for a description of the file contents. In the tables below, all source information has analogous destination information.

Column Values by Collection Type

source_collection refers to source_mapped_collection refers to source_endpoint refers to

If source is a GCSv5 mapped collection,

GCSv5 mapped collection

GCSv5 mapped collection

GCSv5 endpoint

If source is a GCSv5 guest collection,

GCSv5 guest collection

GCSv5 mapped collection

GCSv5 endpoint

If source is a GCSv4 host endpoint

GCSv4 host endpoint

GCSv4 host endpoint

GCSv4 host endpoint

If source is a GCSv4 shared endpoint,

GCSv4 shared endpoint

GCSv4 host endpoint

GCSv4 host endpoint

If source is a GCP mapped collection,

GCP mapped collection

GCP mapped collection

GCP mapped collection

If source is a GCP guest collection,

GCP guest collection

GCP mapped collection

GCP mapped collection

Globus Usage Transfer Detail Columns

All source specific columns have matching destination specific columns in the Globus Usage Transfer Details csv file.

Column Header Description

owner_identity_name

The identity of the task owner. Former column label was 'user_name'.

request_time

The date and time the task was created, in ISO 8601 format.

completion_time

The date and time the task ended, in ISO 8601 format.

source_collection_owner

The identity of the source owner.

source_collection_advertised_owner

The identity of the advertised owner of the source.

source_collection_name

The name of the source at time the transfer request was submitted.

source_collection_id

The globally unique uuid of the source.

source_mapped_collection_owner

The identity of the owner of the source mapped collection (or GCSv4 host).

source_mapped_collection_advertised_owner

The advertised identity of the owner of the source mapped collection (or GCSv4 host).

source_mapped_collection_name

The name of the source mapped collection (or GCSv4 host) at time the transfer request was submitted.

source_mapped_collection_id

The unique identifier of the source mapped collection (or GCSv4 host).

source_endpoint_owner

The identity of the owner of the source endpoint (or GCP mapped collection).

source_endpoint_advertised_owner

The advertised identity of the owner of the source endpoint (or GCP mapped collection).

source_endpoint_name

The name of the source endpoint (or GCP mapped collection) at time the transfer request was submitted.

source_endpoint_id

The unique identifier of the source endpoint (or GCP mapped collection).

source_endpoint_is_managed

A flag that indicates whether the source endpoint (or GCP mapped collection) is managed.

status

A flag that indicates whether the transfer completed successfully (SUCCEEDED) or whether one of the transfer subtasks failed, expired, or was canceled (FAILED).

bytes_transferred

The number of bytes transferred.

files_transferred

The number of files transferred. Data is not available for transfers requested before October 16, 2015.

files_processed

The total number of files evaluated in a transfer. Skipped files are included in this number.

directories_processed

The total number of directories evaluated in a transfer task. Skipped directories are included in this number.

subtasks_succeeded

Number of subtasks which have completed successfully. This number includes file transfer subtasks and helper subtasks such as directory expansion. It is not the number of files transferred. Former column label was 'succeeded'.

subtasks_failed

Number of subtasks which failed for reasons other than expiring or being canceled. Former column label was 'failed'.

subtasks_expired

Number of subtasks which expired and were not completed. Former column label was 'expired'.

subtasks_canceled

Number of subtasks which were canceled. Former column label was 'canceled'.

files_skipped

The number of files skipped because no changes were detected. This will always be zero for transfer tasks with a null sync_level. Former column label was 'skipped'.

bytes_checksummed

If sync level 3 is used, the number of bytes checksummed while determining which files need to be transferred.

faults

The number of errors the transfer task encountered. Note that certain types of faults are not fatal (for example, network communication errors) and can be successfully retried. A CANCELED or EXPIRED event is not included in this fault count.

checksum_faults

The number of errors the transfer task encountered due to checksum errors.

subtasks_skipped_errors

The number of subtasks that were skipped due to skip_source_errors being set on the transfer task. This will equal the total number of discovered files and directories skipped from the source endpoint. Note that if a directory is skipped then the files and directories under it will not be discovered and not included in this count. Former column label was 'skipped_errors'.

directory_expansions

The number transfer items that are directories.

taskid

The globally unique uuid for this task.

duration_secs

The difference in seconds between the task request and complete times.

sync_level

If not null, the level at which checks are performed to determine if a file should be copied. Higher levels include the checks from lower levels. Level 0 copies files that do not exist at the destination. Level 1 copies files if the size of the destination does not match the size of the source. Level 2 copies files if the timestamp of the destination is older than the timestamp of the source. Level 3 copies files if checksums of the source and destination do not match.

encrypt_data

A flag that indicates whether the data channel is encrypted.

verify_checksum

A flag that indicates whether the verify_checksum option was used for the transfer

preserve_modification_time

A flag that indicates whether the preserve_timestamp option was used for the transfer.

skip_source_errors

A flag that indicates whether the skip_source_errors option was used for the transfer.

fail_on_quota_errors

A flag that indicates whether the fail_on_quota_errors option was used for the transfer.

delete_destination_extra

A flag that indicates whether to delete files, directories, and symlinks on the destination collection that don’t exist on the source collection or are a different type. Only applies to recursive directory transfers. Former column label was 'is_sync_delete'.

delete_destination_items

If is_sync_delete is TRUE, the number of transfer items that were directories and thus were traversed and compared to the source. Former column label was 'sync_deletes'.

filter_rules

The list of filter rules applied on the transfer task during recursive expansion.