Differences

This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.

--- rdms:access:other [2025/02/05 10:57] – created jelte
+++ rdms:access:other [2025/02/10 14:52] (current) – [Other Clients] added bold giulio
@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{indexmenu_n>5}}
 ====== Other Clients ======
-**Work in progress.** This section will explain other clients.
+This section gives an overview of further clients that can be used to access the RDMS. Most of the presented solutions on this page are **OS-independent**, so they can be used on Linux, Mac, and Windows operating systems.
+Except iBridges GUI, all of the presented clients are commandline-based, so familiarity with the CLI is expected. Due to being CLI clients, all presented tools can be used to automate tasks using (simple) scripts. A presentation of such scrips is outside of the scope of this section.
+**Note**: The RDMS support team **can't help you with problems with these clients**. In case of trouble, your first point of contact should be the developers of the respective clients!
+===== Python iRODS Client =====
+iRODS, the data management software that the RDMS is built-on, also provides a Python-based client called "Python iRODS Client (PRC)".
+PRC can be installed in your Python environment using pip:
+''
+$ pip install python-irodsclient
+''
+For further documentation, please look at the [[https://github.com/irods/python-irodsclient|official Github repository of the PRC]] or the information available via [[https://pypi.org/project/python-irodsclient/|PyPI]].
+Using the PRC has a relative steep learning curve. For a slightly less powerful, but similar, Python-based tool also look at [[https://github.com/iBridges-for-iRODS/iBridges|iBridges (CLI)]].
+===== iCommands in Docker =====
+It is also possible to run the official iRODS iCommands in a [[https://www.docker.com/|Docker]] container.
+A UG researcher provides a pre-configured Docker image for this. Please have a look at the [[https://git.lwp.rug.nl/chimera/irods-icommands|official documentation in Gitlab]].
+The image comes pre-configured with the iCommands package. To see how to use the different available commands, please refer to the [[rdms:access:linux:icommands|iCommands wiki section]].
+===== gocommands =====
+The official CLI tool of iRODS, the [[rdms:access:linux:icommands|iCommands]], are only available for certain Linux distributions. While it is possible to use a Docker container to make the iCommands available on unsupported devices, using [[https://github.com/cyverse/gocommands|gocommands]] can be another alternative for these systems.
+Gocommands is written in Golang and the developer provides binaries for different operating systems (Windows, Mac, Linux, etc). It is very simple to use and basically only requires a configuration file and having the binary present on the local system. No further installation steps are needed.
+Furthermore, gocommands comes with certain commands that are not even available in the original iCommands. For example, there is a command (''bput'') that locally bundles data, then uploads to the remote archive (RDMS), and then automatically unbundles again. This can improve transfer speeds quite significantly.
+For a further overview about setting up gocommands and an overview about its functionality, please have a look at the [[https://github.com/cyverse/gocommands|official gocommands Github repository]].
+The easiest way to configure gocommands is by creating a ''irods_environment.json'' file in a ''.irods'' location in your users home directory. The ''irods_environment.json'' from the [[rdms:access:linux:icommands|iCommands wiki section]] can be used. Gocommands and iCommands configuration files can be used interchangeably.
+Alternatively, it is also possible to create a separate configuration in YAML format as [[https://github.com/cyverse/gocommands/blob/main/examples/config_pam.yaml|mentioned in the gocommands Github repository]].
+A possible example YAML is provided below:
+<hidden Click to display configuration file for Default zone><code>
+irods_host: "store.data.rug.nl"
+irods_port: 1247
+irods_user_name: "<emailaddress>"
+irods_zone_name: "rug"
+irods_user_password: ""
+irods_default_resource: "rootResc"
+irods_client_user_name: ""
+irods_log_level: 5
+irods_authentication_scheme: "pam"
+irods_client_server_negotiation: "request_server_negotiation"
+irods_client_server_policy: "CS_NEG_REQUIRE"
+irods_ssl_ca_certificate_file: "/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt"
+irods_encryption_key_size: 32
+irods_encryption_algorithm: "AES-256-CBC"
+irods_encryption_salt_size: 8
+irods_encryption_num_hash_rounds: 16
+</code></hidden>\\
+Please refer to the info in the [[https://github.com/cyverse/gocommands|gocommands Github repository]] for more help.
+===== iBridges =====
+[[https://github.com/iBridges-for-iRODS|Bridges]] is a wrapper around the PRC which has some more limited functions, but is easier to learn. Two versions exists, one CLI-based which can be used for own scripts/code, while there is an additional GUI that can be used on top of it.
+==== iBridges CLI ====
+[[https://github.com/iBridges-for-iRODS/iBridges|iBridges CLI]] is the main wrapper for the PRC. It allows to transfer data, adjust permissions, work with metadata, etc.
+The tool can be installed in your Python environment via
+''
+pip install ibridges
+''
+For more info on how to use iBridges, look at the official [[https://ibridges.readthedocs.io/en/latest/|iBridges documention]] as well as the [[https://github.com/iBridges-for-iRODS/iBridges/tree/develop/tutorials|examples provided in the iBridges Github repository]].
+==== iBridges GUI ====
+[[https://github.com/iBridges-for-iRODS/iBridges-GUI|iBridges GUI]] is the graphical user interface for iBridges. It's use is similar to using [[rdms:access:windows:cyberduck|Cyberduck]], but it is more powerful as iBridges GUI also allows to manage user permissions, work with metadata, and also comes with an integrated (metadata-based) search function. In contrast, Cyberduck only allows file transfers.
+To install iBridges GUI in your current Python environment, you can run
+''
+pip install ibridgesgui
+''
+For further information about its setup and usage, please consult the official [[https://ibridges-for-irods.github.io/iBridges-GUI/|iBridges GUI documentation]].
+===== NixOS and Nix Package Manager =====
+While not being officially supported by iRODS, the iCommands package is also available from the [[https://search.nixos.org/|Nix package repository]] (open repository, then search for "irods-icommands").
+This allows to install iCommands on NixOS, but also on other operating systems that have the Nix package manager installed. See the [[https://nixos.org/download/|official Nix documentation]] for info on how to install these. After installation of the package, the further usage of iCommands is then similar as described in the [[rdms:access:linux:icommands|iCommands wiki section]].