Skip to main content

GEOS Home Directory Migration

Now that we are transitioning from the GEOS domain to the AUTH domain, users must move their data stored under the legacy GEOS home directory path to their desired destinations if their server is re-provisioned under the AUTH domain:

/net/snowflake.geos.tamu.edu/stor/homes/<username>

In this document a recommended method for transferring the data "rsync over SSH" is explained, which is secure, efficient, and preserves file attributes

Prerequisites​

  • You must have access to your new AUTH-domain server
  • Your GEOS account must still be active on the source server
  • Ensure adequate disk space in the destination

Pull Data From the Destination Host​

Pulling data from the old GEOS location to the new AUTH server, ie. running rsync from the new AUTH server is quite reliable. This avoids UID/GID mismatch issues

SSH into your new AUTH-domain server​

ssh <username>@<new-auth-server>

Create a directory for the migrated files​

You could migrate directly into your home folder but this way allows you to review your data on the destination. It is also useful when you want to keep the data in separate loacations as you might already have data in your home directory on the destination server and you don't want the old data to be merged

mkdir -p ~/old_home_backup

"~" sign here denotes your home directory on the new server with a typical path like /home/username. In this way you are creating the "old_home_backup" directory in your home directory and migrating the old data there

Pull your data from the old GEOS server​

rsync -avh --progress <username>@snowflake.geos.tamu.edu:/stor/homes/<username>/ ~/old_home_backup/

The following is the explanation of the options of the "rsync" command:

  • -a: Archive mode — preserves permissions, timestamps, symlinks
  • -v: Verbose output
  • -h: Human-readable sizes
  • --progress: Shows real-time transfer progress

Optional step for safety: Use "--dry-run" option​

If you want to see what will happen before really copying any files you can use the "--dry-run" option with the "rsync". This will not copy your files but will just mimic

rsync -avh --dry-run <username>@snowflake.geos.tamu.edu:/stor/homes/<username>/ ~/old_home_backup/

After the Migration​

Verify the files​

ls -lah ~/old_home_backup/

Confirm total size​

du -sh ~/old_home_backup/

Perform an incremental sync​

Even after you successfully copied all your data to the new destination you may run an incremental "rsync" just to double check. This will copy only the missing and modified files and will not start copying from scratch. You will be using the same command with the same options

rsync -avh --progress <username>@snowflake.geos.tamu.edu:/stor/homes/<username>/ ~/old_home_backup/

The home directories on the servers that are members of the AUTH domain​

Please note that in the new configuration standard where servers are members of the AUTH domain, home directories are local to each machine and not shared across all systems like they were previously. If users need or want data to be available across multiple machines, it would need to be stored on and accessed from shared research storage. Users are responsible for their own backups.

Getting help​

If you need help with this process, send an email to artsci-help@tamu.edu.