4 title: "Storing and Retrieving data using Keep"
7 This tutorial introduces you to the Arvados file storage system.
10 *This tutorial assumes that you are "logged into an Arvados VM instance":{{site.baseurl}}/user/getting_started/ssh-access.html#login, and have a "working environment.":{{site.baseurl}}/user/getting_started/check-environment.html*
12 The Arvados distributed file system is called *Keep*. Keep is a content-addressable file system. This means that files are managed using special unique identifiers derived from the _contents_ of the file, rather than human-assigned file names (specifically, the md5 hash). This has a number of advantages:
13 * Files can be stored and replicated across a cluster of servers without requiring a central name server.
14 * Systematic validation of data integrity by both server and client because the checksum is built into the identifier.
15 * Minimizes data duplication (two files with the same contents will result in the same identifier, and will not be stored twice.)
16 * Avoids data race conditions (an identifier always points to the same data.)
18 h1. Putting Data into Keep
20 We will start with downloading a freely available VCF file from the "Personal Genome Project (PGP)":http://www.personalgenomes.org subject "hu599905":https://my.personalgenomes.org/profile/hu599905 to a staging directory on the VM, and then add it to Keep.
22 In the following tutorials, replace <b><code>you</code></b> with your user id.
24 First, log into the Arvados VM instance and set up the staging area:
26 notextile. <pre><code>~$ <span class="userinput">mkdir /scratch/<b>you</b></span></code></pre>
28 Next, download the file:
31 <pre><code>~$ <span class="userinput">cd /scratch/<b>you</b></span>
32 /scratch/<b>you</b>$ <span class="userinput">curl -o var-GS000016015-ASM.tsv.bz2 'https://warehouse.personalgenomes.org/warehouse/f815ec01d5d2f11cb12874ab2ed50daa+234+K@ant/var-GS000016015-ASM.tsv.bz2'</span>
33 % Total % Received % Xferd Average Speed Time Time Time Current
34 Dload Upload Total Spent Left Speed
35 100 216M 100 216M 0 0 10.0M 0 0:00:21 0:00:21 --:--:-- 9361k
39 {% include 'notebox_begin' %}
41 If you have your own data, for example @MyData.vcf@, you can use @scp@ or @rsync@ to copy from your local workstation to the shell VM (run this on your local workstation):
43 notextile. <pre><code>~$ <span class="userinput">scp MyData.vcf <b>you@shell</b>.arvados:/scratch/<b>you</b>/MyData.vcf</span></code></pre>
45 {% include 'notebox_end' %}
47 Now use @arv keep put@ to add your VCF data to Keep, then delete the local copy of the file:
50 <pre><code>/scratch/<b>you</b>$ <span class="userinput">arv keep put var-GS000016015-ASM.tsv.bz2</span>
51 c1bad4b39ca5a924e481008009d94e32+210
52 /scratch/<b>you</b>$ <span class="userinput">rm var-GS000016015-ASM.tsv.bz2</span>
56 The output value @c1bad4b39ca5a924e481008009d94e32+210@ from @arv keep put@ is the Keep locator. This enables you to access the file you just uploaded, and is explained in the next section.
58 h2(#dir). Putting a directory
60 You can also use @arv keep put@ to add an entire directory:
63 <pre><code>/scratch/<b>you</b>$ <span class="userinput">mkdir tmp</span>
64 /scratch/<b>you</b>$ <span class="userinput">echo "hello alice" > tmp/alice.txt</span>
65 /scratch/<b>you</b>$ <span class="userinput">echo "hello bob" > tmp/bob.txt</span>
66 /scratch/<b>you</b>$ <span class="userinput">echo "hello carol" > tmp/carol.txt</span>
67 /scratch/<b>you</b>$ <span class="userinput">arv keep put tmp</span>
69 887cd41e9c613463eab2f0d885c6dd96+83
73 The locator @887cd41e9c613463eab2f0d885c6dd96+83@ represents a collection with multiple files.
75 h1. Getting Data from Keep
79 You may access collections through the "Collections section of Arvados Workbench":https://{{ site.arvados_workbench_host }}/collections located at "https://{{ site.arvados_workbench_host }}/collections":https://{{ site.arvados_workbench_host }}/collections . You can also access individual collections and individual files within a collection. Some examples:
81 * "https://{{ site.arvados_workbench_host }}/collections/c1bad4b39ca5a924e481008009d94e32+210":https://{{ site.arvados_workbench_host }}/collections/c1bad4b39ca5a924e481008009d94e32+210
82 * "https://{{ site.arvados_workbench_host }}/collections/887cd41e9c613463eab2f0d885c6dd96+83/alice.txt":https://{{ site.arvados_workbench_host }}/collections/887cd41e9c613463eab2f0d885c6dd96+83/alice.txt
84 h2(#arv-get). Using arv-get
86 You can view the contents of a collection using @arv keep ls@:
89 <pre><code>/scratch/<b>you</b>$ <span class="userinput">arv keep ls c1bad4b39ca5a924e481008009d94e32+210</span>
90 var-GS000016015-ASM.tsv.bz2
93 <pre><code>/scratch/<b>you</b>$ <span class="userinput">arv keep ls 887cd41e9c613463eab2f0d885c6dd96+83</span>
100 Use @-s@ to print file sizes rounded up to the nearest kilobyte:
103 <pre><code>/scratch/<b>you</b>$ <span class="userinput">arv keep ls -s c1bad4b39ca5a924e481008009d94e32+210</span>
104 221887 var-GS000016015-ASM.tsv.bz2
108 Use @arv keep get@ to download the contents of a collection and place it in the directory specified in the second argument (in this example, @.@ for the current directory):
111 <pre><code>/scratch/<b>you</b>$ <span class="userinput">arv keep get c1bad4b39ca5a924e481008009d94e32+210/ .</span>
115 You can also download indvidual files:
118 <pre><code>/scratch/<b>you</b>$ <span class="userinput">arv keep get 887cd41e9c613463eab2f0d885c6dd96+83/alice.txt .</span>
122 With a local copy of the file, we can do some computation, for example computing the md5 hash of the complete file:
125 <pre><code>/scratch/<b>you</b>$ <span class="userinput">md5sum var-GS000016015-ASM.tsv.bz2</span>
126 44b8ae3fde7a8a88d2f7ebd237625b4f var-GS000016015-ASM.tsv.bz2
132 Use @arv-mount@ to take advantage of the "File System in User Space / FUSE":http://fuse.sourceforge.net/ feature of the Linux kernel to mount a Keep collection as if it were a regular directory tree.
135 <pre><code>/scratch/<b>you</b>$ <span class="userinput">mkdir mnt</span>
136 /scratch/<b>you</b>$ <span class="userinput">arv-mount --collection c1bad4b39ca5a924e481008009d94e32+210 mnt &</span>
137 /scratch/<b>you</b>$ <span class="userinput">cd mnt</span>
138 /scratch/<b>you</b>/mnt$ <span class="userinput">ls</span>
139 var-GS000016015-ASM.tsv.bz2
140 /scratch/<b>you</b>/mnt$ <span class="userinput">md5sum var-GS000016015-ASM.tsv.bz2</span>
141 44b8ae3fde7a8a88d2f7ebd237625b4f var-GS000016015-ASM.tsv.bz2
142 /scratch/<b>you</b>/mnt$ <span class="userinput">cd ..</span>
143 /scratch/<b>you</b>$ <span class="userinput">fusermount -u mnt</span>
147 You can also mount the entire Keep namespace in "magic directory" mode:
150 <pre><code>/scratch/<b>you</b>$ <span class="userinput">mkdir mnt</span>
151 /scratch/<b>you</b>$ <span class="userinput">arv-mount mnt &</span>
152 /scratch/<b>you</b>$ <span class="userinput">cd mnt/c1bad4b39ca5a924e481008009d94e32+210</span>
153 /scratch/<b>you</b>/mnt/c1bad4b39ca5a924e481008009d94e32+210$ <span class="userinput">ls</span>
154 var-GS000016015-ASM.tsv.bz2
155 /scratch/<b>you</b>/mnt/c1bad4b39ca5a924e481008009d94e32+210$ <span class="userinput">md5sum var-GS000016015-ASM.tsv.bz2</span>
156 44b8ae3fde7a8a88d2f7ebd237625b4f var-GS000016015-ASM.tsv.bz2
157 /scratch/<b>you</b>/mnt/c1bad4b39ca5a924e481008009d94e32+210$ <span class="userinput">cd ../..</span>
158 /scratch/<b>you</b>$ <span class="userinput">fusermount -u mnt</span>
162 Using @arv-mount@ has several significant benefits:
164 * You can browse, open and read Keep entries as if they are regular files.
165 * It is easy for existing tools to access files in Keep.
166 * Data is downloaded on demand, it is not necessary to download an entire file or collection to start processing
170 You are now ready to proceed to the next tutorial, "running a crunch job.":tutorial-job1.html