The Globus project has announced the end of their support for the open source Globus Toolkit starting in January 2018:

This page documents impacts of this change for NCSA. Please edit freely.

Join us 11am Tuesday June 20 in room 3100 to discuss.

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Q&A

Is NCSA a Globus subscriber?

Yes. NCSA has 1 "Unlimited Provider Subscription" etc. in part via the Blue Waters PAID program

What does this mean for Globus endpoints at NCSA?

Later in 2017, NCSA system administrators will need to update their Globus endpoints to Globus Connect Server version 5, which will not depend on the open source Globus Toolkit.

What does this mean for GridFTP?

Globus will be replacing GridFTP with Globus Connect, using Globus cloud services for data transfer. Two-party GridFTP transfers would need to migrate to 3-party Globus Connect transfers.

What does this mean for GRAM?

Does NCSA use GRAM?

What does this mean for GSI-OpenSSH?

While GSI-OpenSSH is maintained by NCSA, the GSI-OpenSSH software has a strong dependency on the GSI GSSAPI library provided by the Globus Toolkit. If the GSI GSSAPI library is no longer supported, then GSI-OpenSSH can no longer be supported.

See 1705SSHwithGlobusAuthUser.pdf for a description of the Globus planned replacement for GSI-OpenSSH.

What does this mean for MyProxy?

NCSA could continue to support MyProxy as an independent component. It would require some effort to modify MyProxy to eliminate Globus Toolkit dependencies.

If X.509 certificate-based services are being phased out, do we still need MyProxy?

Good question!

What does this mean for the Grid Security Infrastructure (GSI) and X.509 certificates?

Globus is replacing GSI with OAuth2-based Globus Auth.

In any case, SSL/TLS certificates will still be needed for HTTPS services. See NCSA Certificate Requests for details on getting those certificates.

Will any other services use X.509 certificates after Globus fully transitions to Globus Auth?

Good question!

Will the community continue to support the Globus Toolkit after 2018?

Since the Globus Toolkit is open source, it's possible that "the community" could organize to support the Globus Toolkit (perhaps with a name change) without involvement of the Globus project beyond 2018. NCSA could play a role.

What other toolkits or workflows may be impacted by this?

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