{"id":350,"date":"2014-06-02T07:29:36","date_gmt":"2014-06-02T07:29:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rds.itservices.manchester.ac.uk\/?page_id=350"},"modified":"2025-11-05T10:34:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T10:34:12","slug":"copying-files-between-cifs-and-nfs-shares","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ri.itservices.manchester.ac.uk\/rds\/user-faq\/copying-files-between-cifs-and-nfs-shares\/","title":{"rendered":"Copying Files between (CIFS and NFS) Shares"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/h2>\n

Reminder: In the following notes, the term “share” means a “storage area” – i.e., Research Data Storage that has been allocated to you.<\/p>\n

Research Data Storage is provided in two “flavours”: NFS shares<\/em> are available only<\/em> on Research IT run Linux systems, such as the compute platforms – the CSF and iCSF. CIFS(SMB) shares<\/em> are not available on these systems but can be mapped as network drives<\/em> on your desktop\/laptop.<\/p>\n

Some people have both types of storage. This page details how to transfer files between a CIFS(SMB) share and an NFS share.<\/p>\n

The information here also applies if you have additional Research Data Storage NFS shares (e.g., extra storage on the HPC platforms) and wish to move a large number of files efficiently between that and your CSF\/iCSF home directory. By using the “rds-ssh” server, you reduce the load on the compute system login nodes.<\/p>\n

rds-ssh Overview<\/h2>\n

Both flavours of storage – CIFS(SMB) shares and Linux NFS shares – are available on a server named rds-ssh<\/em>. This makes it easy to copy files from one flavour of storage to the other simply by logging in to the rds-ssh<\/em> server and doing the file copy there.<\/p>\n

It is not<\/em> necessary to map either share onto your desktop\/laptop to copy files from one share to another. In fact we discourage doing this. By doing the copy on the rds-ssh server (details below) you ensure the file transfer takes place entirely within the data-centre and is usually much faster than transfers over the campus network (or your home broadband) via your desktop\/laptop.<\/p>\n

How To Copy Files Efficiently between CIFS(SMB) and NFS Shares<\/h2>\n

This is a summary of the procedure to efficiently copy files from one storage share to another – by using the rds-ssh server:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Obtain an account on the RDS-SSH service<\/a>, please contact us via our Connect Portal Form<\/a>, select \u201cProvide Access to Existing Storage\u201d from the drop-down menu in the form and indicate in the text that you require an RDS-SSH account.<\/li>\n
  2. Log-in to the RDS-SSH service by using an SSH client (on MS Windows this could be Mobaxterm or PuTTY; on Linux\/MacOS use the command-line ssh<\/code>)<\/li>\n
  3. On the rds-ssh server, run the following command (to ensure all of your required CIFS(SMB) shares are available):\n
    mount-my-cifs<\/pre>\n
    If anything is missing please contact us via our Connect Portal Form<\/a>. Note that your NFS storage will already be available, it is only the CIFS(SMB) storage that you have to mount<\/em> because it requires your<\/em> password to mount it – the sysadmins cannot bypass this security.<\/li>\n
  4. On the rds-ssh server, copy files from one share to another \u2014 see the examples below.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    See below for more details on how to copy files between your storage areas once you’ve done the above steps. You can do the copy at the Linux command-line<\/a> or using a graphical file browser<\/a>.<\/p>\n
    How NOT To Do it!<\/h2>\n
    When copying files from one RDS share to another, it is important to ensure the copy is taking place on the RDS-SSH server<\/em> and not via your local desktop\/laptop<\/em>.<\/p>\n
    At no<\/strong> point should you download the files to your desktop\/laptop from one share then upload it to another! This can be terribly slow because you usually have only a slow network connection to your desktop\/laptop (and you actually transfer the files twice over that slow network – download then upload).<\/p>\n
    If you have mapped-as-a-drive<\/em> one or both shares to your desktop, it is still quicker to log in to the rds-ssh server and do the copy there. Doing the copy on your desktop\/laptop means the files go over your local network (e.g., the campus network or your home broadband.) This could be slow. By logging in to the rds-ssh server, the files only ever go over the fast data-centre network.<\/p>\n
    <\/a><\/p>\n
    How TO do it method 1 \u2014 Using the rds-ssh server’s command-line<\/h2>\n
    Here we log in to the rds-ssh server (using any ssh tool) and do the file copying on the rds-ssh server’s command-line:<\/p>\n
    ssh username<\/em>@rds-ssh.itservices.manchester.ac.uk\r\n         #\r\n         # Use your own central username (and password, then DUO, when prompted)\r\n<\/pre>\n
    We are now at the rds-ssh home directory. If you have a CSF\/iCSF account this will be the same home directory used on those machines.<\/p>\n
    Your other RDS shares will be available in the \/mnt\/<\/code> directory. The RI Team will have given you the exact path names.<\/p>\n
    Once you’ve logged in to rds-ssh, if your have CIFS(SMB)<\/strong> storage shares, run:<\/p>\n
    [username<\/em>@gorg ~]$  mount-my-cifs\r\n                         #\r\n                         # If asked, enter your<\/em> UoM password to make the CIFS(SMB) storage available.\r\n                         # The Research IT sysadmins cannot do this for you.\r\n<\/pre>\n