Introducing Globus Subscription Management
February 20, 2024 | Vas Vasiliadis
We are excited to release features for managing Globus subscriptions! A Globus subscription gives you access to data management and compute capabilities well beyond file transfer. When you associate your storage and compute resources with a Globus subscription you gain access to many advanced features, including the ability to share data, monitor usage via the management console, up/download data via HTTPS, deploy multiple Globus flows, and initiate transfers between two Globus Connect Personal (GCP) collections.
Prior to today’s release, subscribers had to rely on Globus staff for subscription management tasks such as authorizing subscription managers and allowing users to deploy multiple flows. Our new Globus Subscription Management capability allows you—the subscription manager—to manage your own subscriptions. As a subscriber, you now have full control over users affiliated with your subscriptions, making it easier for everyone at your institution to take advantage of all that subscriptions offer. Researchers can more easily discover whether their organization is a subscriber, see what features are available, and associate their own storage and compute resources with that subscription. This helps grow adoption and maximizes the value the institution derives from the subscription.
If you are affiliated with an organization that has a Globus subscription, you may request to join their subscription group. As a member of that group, you will be able to create more than one Globus flow, enable data sharing from your GCP or Globus Connect Server (GCS) mapped collections, and initiate transfers between two GCP collections.
Administrators and managers of a subscription group can associate any Globus resources (storage endpoints, flows, search indexes, compute endpoints, etc.) at their institution with a subscription. Administrators can manage group membership and roles, and configure subscription groups to fit institutional policies. And since Globus subscription management is based on Globus Groups, you can automate these tasks using the Globus APIs or command line interface.
Release Plan
We are releasing Globus subscription management features in two phases. In Phase 1, subscription groups will be available for viewing so that subscription administrators and managers can verify that their subscription group is set up properly. During this period, subscription group membership and roles will not impact any current subscription management privileges or access to premium features, with the exception that subscription group members will be able to create multiple Globus flows. In Phase 2, Globus subscription management will take full effect. For example, you will need to be a subscription group administrator or manager to associate your subscription with someone else’s storage endpoint.
Phase 1 – February 21, 2024
- Subscription administrators and managers will be notified via email when they are added to a Globus subscription group in their respective roles.
- Subscription administrators and managers can add, invite, approve, and remove group members, and configure certain parameters of their respective groups.
- Existing Globus Plus group members will become members of a subscription group. Subscription group membership confers all the privileges of Globus Plus and is effectively replaced by Globus subscription groups.
- Subscription group members (including administrators and managers), will not yet be able to associate their subscription with any GCS endpoint or GCP mapped collection. Current subscription management policies and functionality will remain in effect.
- Upon flow creation, the flow author’s subscription will be automatically associated with the flow. If a user is a member of more than one subscription group, they will need to select a subscription to associate with their flow before creating a flow. Existing flows are unaffected.
What you need to do today: If you are a subscription administrator, you must review your Globus subscription groups and contact Globus to resolve any issues before Phase 2 is implemented. You should also modify the subscription group description to align with institutional messaging and policies. The default description text explains this in greater detail.
Phase 2 – March 6, 2024
- Subscription administrators and managers can associate unsubscribed Globus resources with their subscription, regardless of administrative rights on that resource.
- Globus subscription group members can associate their own GCS endpoints and GCP mapped collections with their subscription to enable guest collections and perform transfers between GCP collections.
In summary, we believe Globus subscription management will add a new level of convenience for subscription administrators and managers, bring greater visibility to the subscriptions within your institution, increase adoption of Globus by your researchers, and maximize the value of your subscriptions. We know many of you are eagerly awaiting its release and we look forward to your feedback as you start using this new service. Please direct your comments to outreach@globus.org and any technical or support-related questions to support@globus.org. Frequently asked questions