RDS is accessible via SFTP using the following servers:

• research-data-ext.sydney.edu.au

• research-data-int.sydney.edu.au

• hpc.sydney.edu.au (for transfers between Artemis HPC and RDS only)

Use hpc.sydney.edu.au for data transfers between Artemis HPC and RDS only. Use research-data-ext.sydney.edu.au or research-data-int.sydney.edu.au for transfers between RDS and any other location.

The path to your RDS directory on all three servers is /rds/PRJ-<Project>, where <Project> is your abbreviated project name as specified in the corresponding Researcher Dashboard (DashR) project (do not include the angle brackets).

There are many ways of establishing a SFTP session. You can use any of the below methods to access RDS via SFTP. If you need to access to an internal service (research-data-int-int or hpc) from off-campus, first connect to the University VPN, then connect to the relevant internal service.

Connecting to RDS using WinSCP (Windows only)

WinSCP is a freely available SFTP client. You can download a copy from their website: https://winscp.net. During installation, WinSCP will ask you whether you wish to use the "Commander" interface or the "Explorer" interface. We recommend choosing the "Explorer" interface as it provides a simpler and more intuitive user experience.

To transfer data from your local computer to RDS using WinSCP, follow these steps:

1. Open the WinSCP app. A window will open called "Login". Select New Site. 
2. Select the SFTP file protocol in the File Protocol field.
3. Type research-data-ext.sydney.edu.au in the Host field.
4. Type your UniKey in the User name field.
5. Type your UniKey password in the Password field.
6. Click Login.
7. You will receive a warning asking you whether you want to continue connecting to an unknown server and add its host key to a cache. Click Accept. If you wish, you can check that the displayed rsa2 key fingerprint is correct. The correct value is: ssh-rsa 2048 nyYBBEjCFYpxDMSSXkVqJnsfBgJy+co5QZHoacYhrMQ
8. You will then begin connecting to the server. If the connection is successful, you will see an authentication banner saying the service is for authorised users only. Click continue if this banner appears.

If you successfully logged on, and if you chose the "Explorer" WinSCP user interface, you will be in the /home/<unikey> directory on the research-data-ext.sydney.edu.au SFTP server. The final step is to change directories to your RDS directory:

    12. Type /rds/PRJ-<Project> in the Address bar, remembering to replace <Project> with your short project name, as specified in Researcher Dashboard (DashR).

To transfer data between RDS and your local computer, drag and drop files between your computer's file explorer and WinSCP window.

Connecting to RDS using CyberDuck (Windows and Mac)

Download Cyberduck from https://cyberduck.io, then open Cyberduck and connect to RDS:

1. Click Open Connection.
2. Select SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol) from the drop-down menu at the top of the Open Connection box.
3. In the Server field, type research-data-ext.sydney.edu.au.
4. In the Username field, type your UniKey.
5. In the Password field, type your UniKey password.
6. Click Connect.
7. When the Unknown fingerprint box appears, click the Always check box in the lower-left hand corner, then click Allow.

If you successfully logged in, you will see a directory listing of /home/<UniKey>.

      8. Press Ctrl + g, then type /rds/PRJ-<Project>, remembering to replace <Project> with your short project name, as specified in Researcher Dashboard (DashR).

You can then transfer data to and from your local computer and RDS by dragging and dropping files between your computer’s file explorer and the Cyberduck window.

Connecting to RDS using command-line SFTP

If you have access to a Linux terminal, you can use the command line program sftp to transfer files between your local computer and RDS. Open a Linux Terminal, such as Cygwin on Windows, or the built-in Terminal apps on MacOS or Linux, and type the following to connect to RDS:

sftp <UniKey>@research-data-ext.sydney.edu.au

remembering to replace <UniKey> with your UniKey. This will start a command-line SFTP session. Your terminal will change to look like this:

sftp>

You can use SFTP commands to navigate the filesystem on your local and remote computers. A summary of SFTP commands is shown in the table below. If you connected using the SFTP command above, your local computer is your computer and the remote computer is the remote server that mounts RDS.

Using scp or rsync

scp and rsync can be used on research-data-int.sydney.edu and hpc.sydney.edu.au only. research-data-ext.sydney.edu.au only allows SFTP connections. An example rsync command to transfer data from your local computer to RDS is:

rsync -tvxPr /path/to/my/files <UniKey>@research-data-int.sydney.edu.au:/rds/PRJ-<Project>/