ECACCESS(1p)

📦
version 6.3.1 · 2 versions
, in ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

💖 ECACCESS(1p) — the ECaccess Tools (ECTools) 💖

okay bestie, sit down, hydrate, and let me tell you about ECaccess Tools (ECTools) — this is the manual page, it's ECACCESS(1p), and it's a lot, so we're doing it in parts. 🫶

The ECaccess Tools gives Member States (and yes, in this whole page "Member States" includes "Co-operating States", they said what they said) and other ECMWF users batch access to the ECMWF computing and archiving facilities — for managing files, file transfers and jobs. Access is available via the Internet as well as via RMDCN. slay. ✨

🔐 AUTHENTICATION

🎀 ECaccess Certificate

Using the ECaccess Tools requires a valid ECaccess Certificate. no certificate, no entry, that's the vibe check. 💅

The ECaccess Certificate is a standard X509 digital Certificate saved on the user's computer as a file. It identifies a user to the ECaccess Gateway. The ECaccess Certification Authority (ECCA) signs each Certificate. So when a user provides their Certificate to the gateway, its signature gets checked using the ECCA public key for verification. it's giving ✨cryptographic trust✨.

The ECaccess certificate is by default valid for 7 days for all services. that's it. that's the window. 🕖

The ECaccess Tools are also available at ECMWF. And here's the cute part: since you've already been validated to enter ECMWF, you will not need a Certificate when using these ECaccess shell commands localy. (yes, "localy", we're quoting the original spelling, no notes 😭)

🌸 Creating a Certificate

The ECaccess Certificate must be stored in the $HOME/.eccert.crt file, and it can be created with one of the following method — and heads up, both methods require an ECMWF user identifier and token PASSCODE:

Using the ecaccess-certificate-create command:

Please refer to the man page of the command for more details. (it has its own whole page, go look 👀)

Using the Web interface:

Login to the Web server and in the menu click the "Get Certificate" option to download the new ECaccess Certificate. 🎀

🗂️ ECACCESS FILE SYSTEM

When accessing FILEs at ECMWF through the ECtools, the following domains are available:

HOME: the $HOME directory (home:)
SCRATCH: the $SCRATCH directory (scratch:)
ECFS: the ECFS directory (ec:)
ECTMP: the ECTMP directory (ectmp:)
HOST: any server at ECMWF ({host-name}:)

🦋 Path

The format of the path is the following: [domain:][/user-id/]path

  • If no user-id is specified then the current user-id is selected by default.
  • The user-id parameter is not valid with the HOST domain.
  • If no domain is specified then an absolute path will translate to an absolute path on the ecgate server, and a relative path will translate to a path in the HOME directory of the current user.

⭐ Exemples

(that's "Exemples" with an x, she's bilingual, we love her)

"bin/a.out"                           a.out file in the $HOME/bin directory of the current user
"home:bin/a.out"                      a.out file in the $HOME/bin directory of the current user
"/tmp/a.out"                          a.out file in the /tmp directory on ecgate
"home:/xyz/bin/a.out"                 a.out file in the $HOME/bin directory of user xyz
"ec:bin/a.out"                        a.out file in the ECFS bin directory of the current user
"ec:/xyz/bin/a.out"                   a.out file in the ECFS bin directory of user xyz
"c1a:/c1a/tmp/systems/xyz/a.out"      a.out file in the /c1a/tmp/systems/xyz/ directory of c1a

🌈 Commands

In the DESCRIPTION section you will find the FILEs commands which can be used to manage the files at ECMWF. And whenever a parameter or an option refer to an ECaccess File, then the [domain:][/user-id/]path syntax apply. ✨

📡 ECTRANS

ECtrans refers to unattended file transfers initiated from ECMWF.

ECtrans allows transfering files between ECMWF and remote sites. Like the UNIX rcp command, ECtrans requires no password to be specified on the command line for the remote host: the ECaccess gateway performs the security checking. And unlike standard FTP, ECtrans is suitable for unattended file transfers in scripts, cron jobs, etc., as it avoids the problems inherent in storing passwords in text files and sending passwords across networks. no plaintext passwords in your crontab bestie, we don't do that here. 🔥

Even if you don't have a local gateway installed, you can benefit from ECtrans by using the ECMWF ECaccess gateway. But please note 👉 in this case the transfer is not as secured as when a Member State ECaccess gateway is used.

🧚 Target location

Users who wish to transfer files between ECMWF and Member State servers need to declare one or more remote Member State users (msuser association) for the storage/retrieval of the remote file. This can be done through the ECaccess Web interface of the target gateway. For every "msuser" declaration, the hostname and the login username and password need to be specified.

After the ECaccess gateway installation, the Member State ECaccess system administrator can customise the access methods for file transfers. These will be displayed through the ECaccess Web interface. Several schemes can be implemented, such as:

  1. The target directory for a particular destination is a sub-directory of a central directory configured by the administrator, with the sub-directory name matching the msuser name.
  2. The target directory for all file transfers to a given destination is a sub-directory of the msusers home directory. The administrator configures the sub-directory name.
  3. The target directory for a given destination is configurable by the user. The administrator determines whether or not the user is allowed to include .. in the directory path. 👀 (yes, the .. question, it's always the .. question)

Target directories can be located on:

  1. Member State servers running a standard FTP service accessible from the ECaccess gateway. This is known as a "genericFtp" destination and is the most convenient way of getting the files to the system you want, under the specified user ID.
  2. The server running the ECaccess gateway. This is known as a "genericFile" destination. All users will share in a common directory the files transferred using this destination. (shared directory, everybody sees it, behave 💀)
  3. Member State servers running a proprietary application. The administrator provides ectrans with the implementation of the access protocol. The administrator can also use more complex rules to define special target locations for ECMWF users, Member State users or groups of Member State users. The command ectinfo described in the next section can be used to get the translated URL of a target location, giving a Member State user identifier and a destination name (passwords are displayed as ***).

💜 Commands

In the DESCRIPTION section you will find the ECtrans Association and Transfer Management commands which can be used to manage the ECtrans Associations and associated Transfers.

🔔 EVENTS

ECMWF maintains some notifications (events) which are linked to ECMWF's operational activity and offers the service for time-critical jobs. This service is also available to MS users who maintain their own notifications, and can therefore create simple dependencies between different activities, at ECMWF and remote sites. it's giving ✨dependency graph but make it ✨events✨.

🍓 Commands

In the DESCRIPTION section you will find the Events Management commands which can be used to manage such Events.

📖 DESCRIPTION

The ECaccess Tools are organized under nine categories covering access to the whole computing and archiving facilities of ECMWF. Each command is documented with its own man page which provide explanation as well as examples on how to use it. 👑

The following options are common to all the ECtools:

  • -help — Print a brief help message and exits.
  • -manual — Prints the manual page and exits.
  • -retry count — Number of SSL connection retries per 5s to ECMWF. This parameter only apply to the initial SSL connection initiated by the command to the ECMWF server. It does not apply to all the subsequent requests made afteward as it is mainly targeting errors that can happen from time to time during the SSL handshake. Default is no retry.
  • -debug — Display the SOAP and SSL messages exchanged. (peek behind the curtain 🫣)

🎀 Shell commands for certificate management (ecaccess-certificate-*)

  • ecaccess-certificate-create — Create Certificate for the ECtools
  • ecaccess-certificate-list — List Available Operations

🦋 Shell commands for file management (ecaccess-file-*)

  • ecaccess-file-chmod — Change ECaccess File Mode Bits
  • ecaccess-file-copy — Copy an ECaccess File
  • ecaccess-file-delete — Remove an ECaccess File
  • ecaccess-file-dir — List ECaccess Directory Contents
  • ecaccess-file-get — Download an ECaccess File
  • ecaccess-file-mdelete — Delete Multiple ECaccess Files at once
  • ecaccess-file-mget — Download Multiple ECaccess Files at once
  • ecaccess-file-mkdir — Make a Directory on the ECaccess File System
  • ecaccess-file-modtime — Show the Last Modification Time of an ECaccess File
  • ecaccess-file-move — Move or Rename ECaccess Files
  • ecaccess-file-mput — Upload Multiple Local Files on the ECaccess File System at once
  • ecaccess-file-put — Upload a File on the ECaccess File System
  • ecaccess-file-rmdir — Remove a Directory on the ECaccess File System
  • ecaccess-file-size — Show the Size of an ECaccess File

⭐ Shell commands for batch job management (ecaccess-job/queue-*)

  • ecaccess-job-delete — Delete an ECaccess Job
  • ecaccess-job-get — Download a Job Output/Input/Error File
  • ecaccess-job-list — List all ECaccess Jobs
  • ecaccess-job-restart — Restart an ECaccess Job
  • ecaccess-job-submit — Submit a new ECaccess Job
  • ecaccess-queue-list — List available queues

🌈 Shell commands for management of events at ECMWF (ecaccess-event-*)

  • ecaccess-event-list — List available events
  • ecaccess-event-send — Trigger an ECaccess Event

🧚 Shell commands for management of ECtrans Associations (ecaccess-association-*)

  • ecaccess-association-delete — Delete Association
  • ecaccess-association-get — Get the Association Descriptive File
  • ecaccess-association-list — List your ECtrans associations
  • ecaccess-association-protocol — List the supported ECtrans Protocol
  • ecaccess-association-put — Update/Create an Association

💜 Shell commands for management of ECtrans Transfers (ecaccess-ectrans-*)

  • ecaccess-ectrans-delete — Delete ECtrans
  • ecaccess-ectrans-list — List all ectrans transfers
  • ecaccess-ectrans-request — Request a new ECtrans transfer
  • ecaccess-ectrans-restart — Restart an existing ECtrans transfer

🍓 Shell commands for getting ECaccess Gateways information (ecaccess-gateway-*)

  • ecaccess-gateway-list — List the ECaccess Gateways
  • ecaccess-gateway-name — Display the name of the default ECaccess Gateway
  • ecaccess-gateway-connected — Display the ECaccess Gateway Connection Status

👑 Shell commands for general information at ECMWF

  • ecaccess-cosinfo — Display ConsInfo from ECMWF

✨ SEE ALSO ✨

okay bestie, this is the tag-everyone part of the post 📣 every single one of these has its own little manpage, and they are all part of the ecaccess family. go read them, they're giving main character energy:

  • ecaccess-association-delete 🫶
  • ecaccess-association-get 💖
  • ecaccess-association-list 📋
  • ecaccess-association-protocol 🧚
  • ecaccess-association-put 🌸
  • ecaccess-certificate-create 🎀
  • ecaccess-certificate-list ✨
  • ecaccess-cosinfo 🦋
  • ecaccess-ectrans-delete 💅
  • ecaccess-ectrans-list 👑
  • ecaccess-ectrans-request 🌈
  • ecaccess-ectrans-restart 🔥
  • ecaccess-event-list ⭐
  • ecaccess-event-send 💌
  • ecaccess-file-chmod 🔐
  • ecaccess-file-copy 🍓
  • ecaccess-file-delete 💀
  • ecaccess-file-dir 📂
  • ecaccess-file-get 🫴
  • ecaccess-file-mdelete 🙈
  • ecaccess-file-mget 🧺
  • ecaccess-file-mkdir 🏗️
  • ecaccess-file-modtime ⏰
  • ecaccess-file-move 🚚
  • ecaccess-file-mput 📤
  • ecaccess-file-put 🎁
  • ecaccess-file-rmdir 🧹
  • ecaccess-file-size 📏
  • ecaccess-gateway-list 🌉
  • ecaccess-gateway-name 🏷️
  • ecaccess-job-delete 🗑️
  • ecaccess-job-get 🎣
  • ecaccess-job-list 🗒️
  • ecaccess-job-restart 🔁
  • ecaccess-job-submit 🚀
  • ecaccess-queue-list 🚦

and that's the whole page, bestie, you made it to the end 🥹 ngl the way you read all of this is iconic. this lil masterpiece ships as perl v5.40.1 and it's dated 2025-10-22 — so if you're quoting it in a group chat, credit the queen properly 💅 periodt ✨

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