Navigating on iPOP-UP/IFB server on Mac OS

Create a mounting point

You can create a mounting point on your computer that point to your project on iPOP-UP or IFB server.

Install macFUSE and SSHFS

Documentation on osxfuse website. I tested only with SSHFS 2.5.0 and macFUSE 4.5.0.

Download the dmg files and install them.

Allow system extension in Security and Privacy

Create a directory

The examples are given for iPOP-UP cluster, but it works for IFB core as well using core.cluster.france-bioinformatique.fr instead of ipop-up.rpbs.univ-paris-diderot.fr.

In a terminal, you first create a directory on your computer. It will be the mounting point for your project folder. In the terminal type:

mkdir ipop_mount_point

or create the folder using Finder.

Create the connection with sshfs

For safety reason, this has to be done each time you open your session.

If you are using an admin account:

sshfs -o allow_other,defer_permissions,volname=iPOP-UP username@ipop-up.rpbs.univ-paris-diderot.fr:/shared/projects/awesome ipop_mount_point

Otherwise you have to switch to an admin account first and use sudo:

su admin_account

Enter the associated password, then mount the disk:

sudo sshfs -o allow_other,defer_permissions,volname=iPOP-UP username@ipop-up.rpbs.univ-paris-diderot.fr:/shared/projects/awesome ipop_mount_point

For instance:

umr_user@openroam-prg-lm-1-146-182 ~ % su mi
Password:
mi@openroam-prg-lm-1-146-182 umr_user % sudo sshfs -o allow_other,defer_permissions hennion@ipop-up.rpbs.univ-paris-diderot.fr:/shared/projects/bi4edc ipop
Password:
The authenticity of host 'ipop-up.rpbs.univ-paris-diderot.fr (81.194.29.40)' can't be established.
ED25519 key fingerprint is SHA256:f/k86uKA1/tC/WXHPyd+g/ldN+2lttUqPX4D3mXkgKU.
This key is not known by any other names
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no/[fingerprint])? yes
hennion@ipop-up.rpbs.univ-paris-diderot.fr's password:

Open the Finder and go to the folder you created as mounting point, it will now appear as a disk named iPOP-UP. Inside, you will see the files from your project.

Edit your files

You can now modify your files directly using a text editor. Be careful, never use word processor (like Microsoft Word or LibreOffice Writer) nor Rich text editors to modify your code and never copy/past code to/from those softwares. Use only text editors and UTF-8 encoding. On MacOS, you can use TextEdit software with Plain text formatting (option in Preference for new files, Format menu for the current file).

Disconnect

The server will be disconnected when you switch off your computer or log out.

You can also disconnect your sshfs mounting point using umount. Following the previous example:

umount ipop_mount_point

ipop_mount_point folder is not linked anymore to the server.

Security warning
Never leave your computer unsupervised with your session open and iPOP-UP server connected.