release notes | UserGuide: 4.2, 5.0, 5.1, 5.2, 6.0, 6.1, 6.2, 7.0, 7.1, 7.2 (unreleased), 8.0, 8.1, 8.2, 9.0, 9.1, 9.2, 10.0, 10.1, 10.2, 7.2 (unreleased) | Book: 4.2, 5.0, 5.1, 5.2, 6.0, 6.1, 6.2, 7.0, 7.1, 7.2 (unreleased), 8.0, 8.1, 8.2, 9.0, 9.1, 9.2, 10.0, 10.1, 10.2, 7.2 (unreleased) | Wiki | Q&A black_bg
Edit me on GitHub
Back to the contents page.

CHAPTER 22. dCache CLIENTS.

There are many client tools for dCache. These can most easily be classified by communication protocol.

GSI-FTP

dCache provides a GSI-FTP door, which is in effect a GSI authenticated FTP access point to dCache

Listing a directory

To list the content of a dCache directory, the GSI-FTP protocol can be used;

edg-gridftp-ls gsiftp://dcache.example.org/pnfs/example.org/data/dteam/

Checking a file exists

To check the existence of a file with GSI-FTP.

edg-gridftp-exists gsiftp://dcache.example.org/pnfs/example.org/data/dteam/filler_test20050819130209790873000
echo $?
|0
edg-gridftp-exists gsiftp://dcache.example.org/pnfs/example.org/data/dteam/filler_test200508191302097908730002
|error the server sent an error response: 451 451 /pnfs/example.org/data/dteam/filler_test200508191302097908730002  not found
echo $?
|1

Use the return code

Please note the echo $? show the return code of the last run application. The error message returned from the client this should not be scripted against as it is one of many possible errors.

Deleting files

To delete files with GSI-FTP use the edg-gridftp-rm command.

edg-gridftp-rm gsiftp://dcache.example.org/pnfs/example.org/data/dteam/filler_test20050811160948926780000

This deletes the file filler_test20050811160948926780000 from the /pnfs/example.org/data/dteam using the door running on the host dcache.example.org within the dCache cluster example.org

Copying files

Copying file with globus-url-copy follows the syntax source, destination:

globus-url-copy [command line options] [<srcUrl>] [<destinationUrl>]

Example: The following example copies the file /etc/group into dCache as the file /data/test.txt

globus-url-copy file://///etc/group \
|    gsiftp://dcache.example.org/data/test.txt

Please note that the five slashes in file:///// are really needed.

DCAP

When using dccp client or using the interposition library the errors Command failed! can be safely ignored.

DCCP

The following example shows dccp being used to copy the file /etc/group into dCache as the the file /data/test.txt. The dccp program will connect to dCache without authenticating.

dccp /etc/group dcap://dcache.example.org:22125/data/test.txt
|Command failed!
|Server error message for [1]: "path /data/test.txt not found" (errno 10001).
|597 bytes in 0 seconds

The following example shows dccp being used to upload the file /etc/group. In this example, dccp will authenticate with dCache using the GSI protocol.

dccp /etc/group gsidcap://dcache.example.org:22128/data/test.txt
|Command failed!
|Server error message for [1]: "path /pnfs/example.org/data/test.txt not found" (errno 10001).
|597 bytes in 0 seconds

The following example shows dccp with the debugging enabled. The value 63 controls how much information is displayed.

dccp -d 63   /etc/group dcap://dcache.example.org:22128/data/test.txt
|Dcap Version version-1-2-42 Jul 10 2007 19:56:02
|Using system native stat64 for /etc/group.
|Allocated message queues 0, used 0
|
|Using environment variable as configuration
|Allocated message queues 1, used 1
|
|Creating a new control connection to dcache.example.org:22128.
|Activating IO tunnel. Provider: [libgsiTunnel.so].
|Added IO tunneling plugin libgsiTunnel.so for dcache.example.org:22128.
|Setting IO timeout to 20 seconds.
|Connected in 0.00s.
|Removing IO timeout handler.
|Sending control message: 0 0 client hello 0 0 2 42 -uid=501 -pid=32253 -gid=501
|Server reply: welcome.
|dcap_pool:  POLLIN on control line [3] id=1
|Connected to dcache.example.org:22128
|Sending control message: 1 0 client stat "dcap://dcache.example.org:22128/data/test.txt" -uid=501
|Command failed!
|Server error message for [1]: "path //data/test.txt not found" (errno 10001).
|[-1] unpluging node
|Removing unneeded queue [1]
|[-1] destroing node
|Real file name: /etc/group.
|Using system native open for /etc/group.
|extra option:  -alloc-size=597
|[Fri Sep 8 14:34:18 2023] Going to open file dcap://dcache.example.org:22128/data/test.txt in cache.
|Allocated message queues 2, used 1
|
|Using environment variable as configuration
|Activating IO tunnel. Provider: [libgsiTunnel.so].
|Added IO tunneling plugin libgsiTunnel.so for dcache.example.org:22128.
|Using existing control connection to dcache.example.org:22128.
|Setting hostname to dcache.example.org.
|Sending control message: 2 0 client open "dcap://dcache.example.org:22128/data/test.txt" w -mode=0644 -truncate dcache.example.org 33122 -timeout=-
|1 -onerror=default  -alloc-size=597  -uid=501
|Polling data for destination[6] queueID[2].
|Got callback connection from dcache.example.org:35905 for session 2, myID 2.
|cache_open -> OK
|Enabling checksumming on write.
|Cache open succeeded in 0.62s.
|[7] Sending IOCMD_WRITE.
|Entered sendDataMessage.
|Polling data for destination[7] queueID[2].
|[7] Got reply 4x12 bytes len.
|[7] Reply: code[6] response[1] result[0].
|get_reply: no special fields defined for that type of response.
|[7] Got reply 4x12 bytes len.
|[7] Reply: code[7] response[1] result[0].
|get_reply: no special fields defined for that type of response.
|[7] Expected position: 597 @ 597 bytes written.
|Using system native close for [5].
|[7] unpluging node
|File checksum is: 460898156
|Sending CLOSE for fd:7 ID:2.
|Setting IO timeout to 300 seconds.
|Entered sendDataMessage.
|Polling data for destination[7] queueID[2].
|[7] Got reply 4x12 bytes len.
|[7] Reply: code[6] response[4] result[0].
|get_reply: no special fields defined for that type of response.
|Server reply: ok destination [2].
|Removing IO timeout handler.
|Removing unneeded queue [2]
|[7] destroing node
|597 bytes in 0 seconds
|Debugging

Using the dCache client interposition library.

Finding the GSI tunnel.

When the LD_PRELOAD library libpdcap.so variable produces errors finding the GSI tunnel it can be useful to specify the location of the GSI tunnel library directly using the following command:

export dCache_IO_TUNNEL=/opt/d-cache/dcap/lib/libgsiTunnel.so

Please see http://www.dcache.org/manuals/experts_docs/tunnel-HOWTO.html for further details on tunnel setup for the server.

dCap is a POSIX like interface for accessing dCache, allowing unmodified applications to access dCache transparently. This access method uses a proprietary data transfer protocol, which can emulate POSIX access across the LAN or WAN.

Unfortunately the client requires inbound connectivity and so it is not practical to use this protocol over the WAN as most sites will not allow inbound connectivity to worker nodes.

To make non dCache aware applications access files within dCache through DCAP all that is needed is set the LD_PRELOAD environment variable to /opt/d-cache/dcap/lib/libpdcap.so.

export LD_PRELOAD=/opt/d-cache/dcap/lib/libpdcap.so

Setting the LD_PRELOAD environment variable results in the library libpdcap.so overriding the operating system calls. After setting this environment variable, the standard shell command should work with DCAP and GSIDCAP URLs.

Example:

The following session demonstrates copying a file into dCache, checking the file is present with the ls command, reading the first 3 lines from dCache and finally deleting the file.

cp /etc/group gsidcap://dcache.example.org:22128/pnfs/example.org/data/dteam/myFile
ls gsidcap://dcache.example.org:22128/pnfs/example.org/data/dteam/DirOrFile
head -3 gsidcap://dcache.example.org:22128/pnfs/example.org/data/dteam/myFile
|root:x:0:
|daemon:x:1:
|bin:x:2:
rm gsidcap://dcache.example.org:22128/pnfs/example.org/data/dteam/MyFile

SRM

dCache provides a series of clients one of which is the `SRM? client which supports a large number operations, but is just one Java application, the script name is sent to the Java applications command line to invoke each operation.

This page just shows the scripts command line and not the invocation of the Java application directly.

Creating a new directory.

Usage:

srmmkdir [command line options] [srmUrl]

Example:

The following example creates the directory /pnfs/example.org/data/dteam/myDir.

srmmkdir srm://dcache.example.org/pnfs/example.org/data/dteam/myDir

Removing files from dCache

Usage:

srmrm [command line options] [srmUrl ...]

Example:

srmrm srm://dcache.example.org/pnfs/example.org/data/dteam/myDir/myFile

Removing empty directories from dCache

It is allowed to remove only empty directories as well as trees of empty directories.

Usage:

srmrmdir [command line options] [srmUrl]

Examples:

srmrmdir srm://dcache.example.org/pnfs/example.org/data/dteam/myDir

Examples:

srmrmdir -recursive=true srm://dcache.example.org/pnfs/example.org/data/dteam/myDir

srmcp for SRM v1

Usage:

srmcp [command line options] source... [destination]

or

srmcp [command line options] [-copyjobfile] file

Copying files to dCache

Example:

srmcp -webservice_protocol=http \
|    file://///etc/group \
|    srm://dcache.example.org/data/test.txt

Copying files from dCache

srmcp -webservice_protocol=http \
|    srm://dcache.example.org:8443/data/test.txt \
|    file://///tmp/testfile1 -streams_num=1

srmcp for SRM v2.2

Getting the dCache Version

The srmping command will tell you the version of dCache. This only works for authorized users and not just authenticated users.

srmping srm://dcache.example.org
|VersionInfo : v2.2
|backend_type:dCache
|backend_version:8.0.32
|

Space Tokens

Space token support must be set up and reserving space with the admin interface this is also documented in the SRM section and in the dCache wiki.

Space Token Listing

Usage:

srm-get-space-tokens [command line options] [srmUrl]

Example 22.1. surveying the space tokens available in a directory.

srm-get-space-tokens srm://dcache.example.org

A successful result:

return status code : SRM_SUCCESS
return status expl. : OK
Space Reservation Tokens:
148241
148311
148317
28839
148253
148227
148229
148289
148231
148352

Example 22.2. Listing the space tokens for a SRM:

srm-get-space-tokens srm://dcache.example.org
|Space Reservation Tokens:
|145614
|145615
|144248
|144249
|25099
|145585
|145607
|28839
|145589
Space Reservation

Usage:

srm-reserve-space [command line options] [srmUrl]

Example:

srm-reserve-space  \
|-desired_size 2000 \
|-retention_policy=REPLICA \
|-access_latency=ONLINE \
|-guaranteed_size 1024 \
|-lifetime 36000 \
|srm://dcache.example.org

A successful result:

Space token =144573

A typical failure

SRMClientV2 : srmStatusOfReserveSpaceRequest , contacting service httpg://dcache.example.org/srm/managerv2
status: code=SRM_NO_FREE_SPACE explanantion= at Fri Sep 08 14:34:18 UTC 2023 state Failed :  no space available
lifetime = null
access latency = ONLINE
retention policy = REPLICA
guaranteed size = null
total size = 34

Also you can get info for this space token 144573:

srm-get-space-metadata srm://dcache.example.org -space_tokens=144573

Possible result:

Space Reservation with token=120047
                   owner:VoGroup=/dteam VoRole=NULL
               totalSize:1024
          guaranteedSize:1024
              unusedSize:1024
        lifetimeAssigned:36000
            lifetimeLeft:25071
           accessLatency:ONLINE
         retentionPolicy:REPLICA
Writing to a Space Token

Usage:

srmcp \[command line options\] source(s) destination

Examples:

srmcp -protocols=gsiftp -space_token=144573 \
|file://///home/user/path/to/myFile \
|srm://dcache.example.org/data/myFile
|
srmcp -protocols=gsiftp -space_token=144573 \
|file://///home/user/path/to/myFile1 \
|file://///home/user/path/to/myFile2 \
|srm://dcache.example.org/data
Space Metadata

Users can get the metadata available for the space, but the ability to query the metadata of a space reservation may be restricted so that only certain users can obtain this information.

srm-get-space-metadata srm://dcache.example.org -space_tokens=120049
|Space Reservation with token=120049
|           owner:VoGroup=/dteam VoRole=NULL
|       totalSize:1024
|  guaranteedSize:1024
|      unusedSize:1024
|lifetimeAssigned:36000
|    lifetimeLeft:30204
|   accessLatency:ONLINE
| retentionPolicy:REPLICA
Space Token Release

Removes a space token from the SRM.

srm-release-space srm://dcache.example.org -space_token=15

Listing a file in SRM

SRM version 2.2 has a much richer set of file listing commands.

Usage:

srmls [command line options] srmUrl...

Example 22.3. Using srmls -l:

srmls srm://dcache.example.org/data
|0 /data/
|    31 /data/testFile1
|    31 /data/testFile2
|    31 /data/testFile3
|    31 /data/testFile4
|    31 /data/testFile5

Note

The -l option results in srmls providing additional information. Collecting this additional information may result in a dramatic increase in execution time.

srmls -l srm://dcache.example.org/data
|0 /data/
| storage type:PERMANENT
| retention policy:CUSTODIAL
| access latency:NEARLINE
| locality:NEARLINE
| locality: null
| UserPermission: uid=18118 PermissionsRWX
| GroupPermission: gid=2688 PermissionsRWX
| WorldPermission: RX
| created at:2023/08/08 16:16:32
| modified at:2023/09/08 09:11:12
|  - Assigned lifetime (in seconds):  -1
|  - Lifetime left (in seconds):  -1
|  - Original SURL:  /data
|  - Status:  null
|  - Type:  DIRECTORY
|31 /data/testFile1
| storage type:PERMANENT
| retention policy:CUSTODIAL
| access latency:NEARLINE
| locality:NEARLINE
|  - Checksum value:  84d007af
|  - Checksum type:  adler32
| UserPermission: uid=18118 PermissionsRW
| GroupPermission: gid=2688 PermissionsR
| WorldPermission: R
| created at:2023/08/08 15:47:13
| modified at:2023/09/08 09:15:21
|  - Assigned lifetime (in seconds):  -1
|  - Lifetime left (in seconds):  -1
|  - Original SURL:  /data/testFile1
|  - Status:  null
|  - Type:  FILE

If you have more than 1000 entries in your directory then dCache will return only the first 1000. To view directories with more than 1000 entries, please use the following parameters:

srmls parameter

-count=integer The number of entries to report.

-offset=integer

Example 22.5. Limited directory listing

The first command shows the output without specifying -count or -offset. Since the directory contains less than 1000 entries, all entries are listed.

srmls srm://dcache.example.org/data/run1 \
|      srm://dcache.example.org/data/run2
|0 /data/run1/
|    31 /data/run1/myFile1
|    28 /data/run1/myFile2
|    47 /data/run1/myFile3
|0 /data/run2/
|    25 /data/run2/fileA
|    59 /data/run2/fileB

The following examples shows the result when using the -count option to listing the first three entries.

srmls -count=3 srm://dcache.example.org/other-data
|0 /other-data/
|      31 /other-data/testFile1
|      31 /other-data/testFile2
|      31 /other-data/testFile3

In the next command, the -offset option is used to view a different set of entries.

srmls -count=3 -offset=1 srm://dcache.example.org/other-data
|0 /other-data/
|      31 /other-data/testFile2
|      31 /other-data/testFile3
|      31 /other-data/testFile4

ldap

dCache is commonly deployed with the BDII. The information provider within dCache publishes information to BDII. To querying the dCache BDII is a matter of using the standard command ldapsearch. For grid the standard ldap port is set to 2170 from the previous value of 2135.

ldapsearch -x -H ldap://localhost:2170 -b mds-vo-name=resource,o=grid > /tmp/ldap.output.ldif
wc -l  /tmp/ldap.output.ldif
|205 /tmp/ldap.output.ldif

As can be seen from above even a single node standard install of dCache returns a considerable number of lines and for this reason we have not included the output, in this case 205 lines where written.

Using the LCG commands with dCache

The lcg_util RPM contains many small command line applications which interact with SRM implementations, these where developed independently from dCache and provided by the LCG grid computing effort.

Each command line application operates on a different method of the SRM interface. These applications where not designed for normal use but to provide components upon which operations can be built.

lcg-gt queries the BDII information server. This adds an additional requirement that the BDII information server can be found by lcg-gt, please only attempt to contact servers found on your user interface using.

lcg-infosites --vo dteam se

The lcg-gt Application

SRM provides a protocol negotiating interface, and returns a TURL (transfer URL). The protocol specified by the client will be returned by the server if the server supports the requested protocol.

To read a file from dCache using lcg-gt you must specify two parameters the SURL (storage URL), and the protcol (GSIdCap or GSI-FTP) you wish to use to access the file.

lcg-gt srm://dcache.example.org/pnfs/example.org/data/dteam/group gsidcap
|gsidcap://dcache.example.org:22128/pnfs/example.org/data/dteam/group
|-2147365977
|-2147365976

Each of the above three lines contains different information. These are explained below.

gsidcap://dcache.example.org:22128/pnfs/example.org/data/dteam/group is the transfer URL (TURL).

-2147365977 is the SRM Request Id, Please note that it is a negative number in this example, which is allowed by the specification.

-2147365976 is the Unique identifier for the file with respect to the Request Id. Please note that with this example this is a negative number.

Remember to return your Request Id

dCache limits the number of Request Ids a user may have. All Request Ids should be returned to dCache using the command lcg-sd.

If you use lcg-gt to request a file with a protocol that is not supported by dCache the command will block for some time as dCache’s SRM interface times out after approximately 10 minutes.

The lcg-sd Application

This command should be used to return any TURLs given by dCache’s SRM interface. This is because dCache provides a limited number of TURLs available concurrently.

lcg-sd takes four parameters: the SURL, the Request Id, the File Id with respect to the Request Id, and the direction of data transfer.

The following example is to complete the get operation, the values are taken form the above example of lcg-gt.

lcg-sd srm://dcache.example.org/pnfs/example.org/data/dteam/group " -2147365977" " -21

Negative numbers

dCache returns negative numbers for Request Id and File Id. Please note that lcg-sd requires that these values are places in double-quotes with a single space before the - sign.

The Request Id is one of the values returned by the lcg-gt command. In this example, the value (-2147365977) comes from the above example lcg-gt.

The File Id is also one of the values returned returned by the lcg-gt command. In this example, the value (-2147365976) comes from the above example lcg-gt.

The direction parameter indicates in which direction data was transferred: 0 for reading data and 1 for writing data.