sda-cli

SDA-CLI

This is the Sensitive Data Archive (SDA) Command Line Interface (sda-cli). This tool was created to unify and simplify the tools needed to perform the most common user actions in the SDA.

This tool can be used to encrypt and upload data when submitting to the archive, and to download and decrypt with retrieving data from the archive.

It is recommended to use precompiled executables for sda-cli which can be found at https://github.com/NBISweden/sda-cli/releases

To get help on the usage of the tool, please use the following command

./sda-cli help

Usage

The main functionalities implemented in this tool are explained in the following sections.

Encrypt

The files stored in the SDA/BP archive are encrypted using the crypt4gh standard. The following sections explain how to encrypt and upload files to the archive.

Download the crypt4gh public key

The files that are uploaded to the SDA/BP services, need to be encrypted with the correct public key. Depending on the service you want to use, this key can be downloaded using this command if you are uploading to the SDA:

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NBISweden/EGA-SE-user-docs/main/crypt4gh_key.pub

or this command if you are uploading to Big Picture:

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NBISweden/EGA-SE-user-docs/main/crypt4gh_bp_key.pub

Encrypt file(s)

Now that the public key is downloaded, the file(s) can be encrypted using the binary file created in the first step of this guide. To encrypt a specific file, use the following command:

./sda-cli encrypt -key <public_key> <file_to_encrypt>

where <public_key> the key downloaded in the previous step. The tool also allows for encrypting multiple files at once, by listing them separated with space like:

./sda-cli encrypt -key <public_key> <file_1_to_encrypt> <file_2_to_encrypt> <file_3_to_encrypt>

This command comes with the -continue option, which will continue encrypting files, even if one of them fails. To enable this feature, the command should be executed with the -continue=true option.

Encrypt file(s) with multiple keys

To encrypt files with more than one public keys, repeatedly use the -key flag, e.g.

./sda-cli encrypt -key <public_key1> -key <public_key2> <file_to_encrypt>

will encrypt a file using two keys so that it can be decrypted with either of the corresponding private keys. Encryption with more than two keys is possible, as well. Another option is to provide as argument to -key a file with concatenated public keys generated e.g. from a command like

cat <pub_key1> <pub_key2> > <concatenated_pub_keys>

Passing a combination of the above arguments is allowed, as well:

./sda-cli encrypt -key <concatenated_public_keys> -key <public_key3> <file_to_encrypt>

Note: The encrypt command will create four files containing hashes (both md5 and sha256) for the encrypted and unencrypted files, respectively.

Developers' Notes: The tool is creating a key pair when encrypting the files. This key pair is temporary for security reasons.

Upload

Download the configuration file

Once your files are encrypted, they are ready to be submitted to the SDA/BP archive. The s3 storage requires users to be authenticated, therefore a configuration file needs to be downloaded before starting the uploading of the files.

The configuration file can be downloaded by logging in with a Life Science RI account:

• For BigPicture use https://login.bp.nbis.se/

Follow the dialogue to get authenticated and then click on Download inbox s3cmd credentials to download the configuration file named s3cmd.conf. The configuration file should be placed in the root folder of the repository.

Upload file(s)

Now that the configuration file is downloaded, the file(s) can be uploaded to the archive using the binary file created in the first step of this guide. To upload a specific file, use the following command:

./sda-cli upload -config <configuration_file> <encrypted_file_to_upload>

where <configuration_file> the file downloaded in the previous step and <encrypted_file_to_upload> a file encrypted in the earlier steps. The tool also allows for uploading multiple files at once, by listing them separated with space like:

./sda-cli upload -config <configuration_file> <encrypted_file_1_to_upload> <encrypted_file_2_to_upload>

Note that the files will be uploaded in the base folder of the user.

Upload folder(s)

One can also upload entire directories recursively, i.e. including all contained files and folders while keeping the local folder structure. This can be achieved with the -r flag, e.g. running:

./sda-cli upload -config <configuration_file> -r <folder_to_upload>

will upload <folder_to_upload> as is, i.e. with the same inner folder and file structure as the local one, to the archive.

It is also possible to specify multiple directories and files for upload with the same command. For example,

./sda-cli upload -config <configuration_file> -r <encrypted_file_1_to_upload> <encrypted_file_2_to_upload> <folder_1_to_upload> <folder_2_to_upload>

However, if -r is omitted in the above, any folders will be skipped during upload.

Upload to a different path

The user can specify a different path for uploading files/folders with the -targetDir flag followed by the name of the folder. For example, the command:

./sda-cli upload -config <configuration_file> -r <encrypted_file_1_to_upload> <folder_1_to_upload> -targetDir <upload_folder>

will create <upload_folder> under the user's base folder with contents <upload_folder>/<encrypted_file_1_to_upload> and <upload_folder>/<folder_1_to_upload>. Note that the given <upload_folder> may well be a folder path, e.g. <folder1/folder2>, and in this case <encrypted_file_1_to_upload> will be uploaded to folder1/folder2/<encrypted_file_1_to_upload>.

As a side note it is possible to include all the contents of a directory with /., for example,

./sda-cli upload -config <configuration_file> -r <folder_to_upload>/. -targetDir <new_folder_name>

will upload all contents of <folder_to_upload> to <new_folder_name> recursively, effectively renaming <folder_to_upload> upon upload to the archive.

Encrypt on upload

It is possible to combine the encryption and upload steps into with the use of the flag --encrypt-with-key followed by the path of the crypt4gh public key to be used for encryption. In this case, the input list of file arguments can only contain unencrypted source files. For example the following,

./sda-cli upload -config <configuration_file> --encrypt-with-key <public_key> <unencrypted_file_to_upload>

will encrypt <unencrypted_file_to_upload> using <public_key> as public key and upload the created <file_to_upload.c4gh> in the base folder of the user.

Encrypt on upload can be combined with any of the flags above. For example,

./sda-cli upload -config <configuration_file> --encrypt-with-key <public_key> -r <folder_to_upload_with_unencrypted_data> -targetDir <new_folder_name>

will first encrypt all files in <folder_to_upload_with_unencrypted_data> and then upload the folder recursively (selecting only the created c4gh files) under <new_folder_name>.

Notes: The tool calls the encrypt module internally, therefore similar behavior to that command is expected, including the creation of hash files. In addition,

• For encryption with multiple public keys, concatenate all public keys into one file and pass it as the argument to encrypt-with-key.
• If the input includes encrypted files, the tool will exit without performing further tasks.
• The encrypted files will be created next to their unencrypted counterparts.
• The tool will not overwrite existing encrypted files. It will exit early if encrypted counterparts of the source files already exist with the same source path.
• If the flag --force-overwrite is used, the tool will overwrite any already existing file.
• The cli will exit if the input has any un-encrypred files. To override that, use the flag --force-unencrypted.

Get dataset size

Before downloading a dataset or a specific file, the sda-cli tool allows for requesting the size of each file, as well as the whole dataset. In order to use this functionality, the tool expects as an argument a file containing the location of the files in the dataset. The argument can be one of the following:

1. a URL to the file containing the locations of the dataset files
2. a URL to a folder containing the urls_list.txt file with the locations of the dataset files
3. the path to a local file containing the locations of the dataset files.

Given this argument, the dataset size can be retrieved using the following command:

./sda-cli datasetsize <urls_file>

where urls_file as described above.

List files

The uploaded files can be listed using the list parameter. This feature returns all the files in the user's bucket recursively and can be executed using:

./sda-cli list -config <configuration_file>

It also allows for requesting files/filepaths with a specified prefix using:

./sda-cli list -config <configuration_file> <prefix>

This command will return any file/path starting with the defined <prefix>.

Download

The SDA/BP archive enables for downloading files and datasets in a secure manner. That can be achieved using the sda-cli tool and the process consists of the following two steps

Create keys

In order to make sure that the files are downloaded from the archive in a secure manner, the user is supposed to create the key pair that the files will be encrypted with. The key pair can be created using the following command:

./sda-cli createKey <keypair_name>

where <keypair_name> is the base name of the key files. This command will create two keys named keypair_name.pub.pem and keypair_name.sec.pem. The public key (pub) will be used for the encryption of the files, while the private one (sec) will be used in the decryption step below.

NOTE: Make sure to keep these keys safe. Losing the keys could lead to sensitive data leaks.

Download file

The sda-cli tool allows for downloading file(s)/datasets. The URLs of the respective dataset files that are available for downloading are stored in a file named urls_list.txt. sda-cli allows to download files only by using such a file or the URL where it is stored. There are three different ways to pass the location of the file to the tool, similar to the dataset size section:

1. a direct URL to urls_list.txt or a file with a different name but containing the locations of the dataset files
2. a URL to a folder containing the urls_list.txt file
3. the path to a local file containing the locations of the dataset files.

Given this argument, the whole dataset can be retrieved using the following command:

./sda-cli download <urls_file>

where urls_file as described above. The tool also allows for selecting a folder where the files will be downloaded, using the outdir argument like:

./sda-cli download -outdir <outdir> <urls_file>

Note: If needed, the user can download a selection of files from an available dataset by providing a customized urls_list.txt file.

Decrypt file

Given that the instructions in the download section have been followed, the key pair and the data files should be stored in some location. The last step is to decrypt the files in order to access their content. That can be achieved using the following command:

./sda-cli decrypt -key <keypair_name>.sec.pem <file_to_decrypt>

where <keypair_name>.sec.pem the private key created in the relevant section and <file_to_decrypt> one of the files downloaded following the instructions of the download section.

Developers' section

This section contains the information required to install, modify and run the sda-cli tool.

Requirements

The sda-cli is written in golang. In order to be able to modify, build and run the tool, golang (>= 1.20) needs to be installed. The instructions for installing go can be found here.

Build tool

To build the sda-cli tool run the following command from the root folder of the repository

go build

This command will create an executable file in the root folder, named sda-cli.

Create new release

The github actions include a release workflow that builds binaries for different operating systems. In order to create a new release, create a tag either using the graphical interface or through the command line. That should trigger the creation of a release with the latest code of the specified branch.

In order for the automatic release to get triggered, the releases should be of the format vX.X.X, e.g. v1.0.0.

Update releaser

Before pushing a change to the releaser, make sure to run the check for the configuration file, running:

goreleaser check -f .goreleaser.yaml