Access data in place through guest collection?

[Ken Carlile]

This is a long shot, but is there a way to read the data in a guest collection without copying it via Globus sdk or cli? I have a VIP to whom data movement is an anathema, but he would super like to give select people outside his group (but within the organization/network) access to some of his data. 

Thanks, 

Ken

[Ken Carlile]

To clarify, this would be for an application (neuroglancer) to be able to read and display the images in a dataset. 

[Rick Wagner]

Hi Ken,

If you have HTTPS enabled on the Guest Collection, users can view or download files via their browser. That works well in some cases where the end users don’t want to (or can’t) install something like Globus Connect Personal. Of course, the data still moves, it’s just going over HTTPS to the end user’s device.

If neuroglancer can read files over HTTPS, then you might be able to make this work. The issue will be handling the access token from the application. That can be done in various ways, and the level of effort will depend on the application.

—Rick

[Ken Carlile]

Hi Rick, thanks!

That's kind of what I was thinking. Neuroglancer can read files over https, but I'm certain that it currently doesn't handle the access token part of it. That's why we have developers on staff, though, at least in theory. 

--Ken

[Rick Wagner]

Ken,

I took a quick look at neuroglancer and see that some of its data services (clients, essentially) already handle bearer tokens as part of their HTTPS requests:

  https://github.com/google/neuroglancer/blob/7bc3a78ac3f99f927987acbd63e719a78cf69781/src/datasource/boss/api.ts#L28

My first attempt at this would be to use the Globus JavaScript SDK to add a new Globus data service to neuroglancer. Then you can handle auth, tokens, listing files, etc.

--Rick

[Joe Bottigliero]

Hey Ken, 

Since you mentioned Neuroglancer specifically, I wanted to mention I have a pull request open that would add Globus as a datasource that you or your team might find useful.

It's likely drifted from the trunk at this point, but the core concepts around integrating with GCS HTTPS access remain the same.

Best,

Joe

[Ken Carlile]

I guess I'm not the only one with crazy ideas! This looks exactly like what I was thinking about. 

Thanks!