This document provides an overview of the Globus platform and APIs for developers. It describes Globus Auth for identity and access management, the Globus Transfer API for file sharing and transfer, and the Globus Python SDK. It covers authentication flows, scopes, and how to programmatically activate endpoints and get user consent for data access using the Transfer API and SDK. The document recommends additional Globus documentation, code samples, and other support resources for developers to integrate Globus capabilities into their applications.

1. Rachana Ananthakrishnan
May 11, 2022
Getting Started with Globus
for Developers

2. Globus Auth API
(Group Management)
…
Globus
Transfer
API
Globus
Connect
Data Discovery
File Sharing
File Transfer & Replication
Globus Platform-as-a-Service
Integrate file transfer and sharing
capabilities into scientific web
apps, portals, gateways, etc...

3. Data centric applications leveraging Globus
3

4. Globus Auth API
(Group Management)
…
Globus
Transfer
API
Globus
Connect
Data Discovery
File Sharing
File Transfer & Replication
Globus Platform-as-a-Service

5. Globus Auth: Foundational IAM service
• Brokers authentication and authorization among…
– End-users
– Identity providers: enterprise, external (federated identities)
– Services: resource servers with REST APIs
– Apps: web, mobile, desktop, command line clients
– Services acting as clients to other services
• Support high assurance service for use with
protected data (e.g. HIPAA protected data)
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6. Based on widely used web standards
• OAuth 2.0 Authorization Framework (a.k.a. OAuth2)
• OpenID Connect Core 1.0 (a.k.a. OIDC)
• Access via OAuth2 and OIDC libraries of your choice
– Google OAuth Client Libraries (Java, Python, etc.), Apache
mod_auth_openidc, etc.
– Globus Python SDK
6
docs.globus.org/api/auth

7. Fundamental Concepts
• Scopes
– APIs that client is requesting access to
• Consents
– Authorizes a client to access a service, within limited scope, on
the resource owner's behalf
• Multiple methods for user to grant consent depending
on the type of application
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8. Authorization Code Grant
8
Portal (Client)
Globus Transfer
(Resource Server)
Globus Auth
(Authorization
Server)
5. Authenticate using client id
and secret, send authorization
code
Browser (User)
1. Access
portal
2.
Redirects
user
3. User authenticates and
consents
4. Authorization
token
6. Access tokens
7. Authenticate with access
tokens to invoke transfer
service as user

9. Browser
Native App Grant
9
Native App
(Client)
1. Run
application
2. URL to
authenticate
3. Authenticate and
consent
4. Auth code
5. Register
auth code
6. Exchange
code
7. Access tokens
8. Authenticate with access
tokens to invoke transfer
service as user App/Service
(Resource Server)
Globus Auth
(Authorization Server)

10. Native App Grant with Refresh Tokens
10
Native App
(Client)
App/Service
(Resource Server)
Globus Auth
(Authorization Server)
1. Run
application
2. URL to
authenticate
Browser
3. Authenticate and consent
4. Auth code
5. Register
auth code
6. Exchange code,
request refresh tokens
7. Access
tokens and refresh tokens
9. Exchange refresh token
for new access tokens
8. Store refresh tokens
10. Access tokens
11. Authenticate with access
tokens to invoke service as user

11. Confidential Client Credential Grant
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1. Authenticate with app
client id and secret
2. Access Tokens
Application,
Science Gateway,
Data Portal
(Client)
3. Authenticate as app
with access tokens to invoke
service (on behalf of authorized
user, within a given scope)
Globus Transfer
(Resource Server)
Globus Auth
(Authorization Server)

12. Globus APIs
• Auth
• Groups
• Transfer
• Search
• Timer
• Flows
• GCS Manager
Base URL
Scopes

13. Globus Transfer API
• Globus Web App consumes public Transfer API
• Resource named by URL (standard REST approach)
– Query params allow refinement (e.g., subset of fields)
• Globus APIs use JSON for documents and resource
representations
• Requests authorized via OAuth2 access token
– Authorization: Bearer asdflkqhafsdafeawk
docs.globus.org/api/transfer
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14. Globus Python SDK
• Python client library for the Globus Auth and Transfer
REST APIs
• globus_sdk.TransferClient class handles connection
management, security, framing, marshaling
from globus_sdk import TransferClient
tc = TransferClient()
globus-sdk-python.readthedocs.io/en/stable/
globus.github.io/globus-sdk-python
14

15. TransferClient higher-level calls
• One method for each API resource and HTTP verb
• Largely direct mapping to REST API
endpoint_search(filter_fulltext=None,
filter_scope=None,
num_results=25,
**params)
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16. TransferClient low-level calls
• Thin wrapper around REST API
– post(), get(), update(), delete()
get(path, params=None, headers=None, auth=None,
response_class=None)
o path – path for the request, with or without leading slash
o params – dict to be encoded as a query string
o headers – dict of HTTP headers to add to the request
o response_class – class response object, overrides the client’s
default_response_class
o Returns: GlobusHTTPResponse object
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17. GCSv4: endpoint activation
• Activating endpoint means binding a credential to an
endpoint for login
• Host endpoints require activation to get a X.509
certificate for use with the endpoint
– MyProxy OAuth
• Auto-activate
– Globus Connect Personal and shared endpoint use Globus-
provided credential
– Must auto-activate before any API calls to endpoints
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18. GCSv5: consent for data access by transfer
• Mapped collection requires user consent
• In addition to transfer service scope, user must
consent to a scope specific to the mapped collection
• Scope format:
– urn:globus:auth:scope:transfer.api.globus.org:all[*https://auth.gl
obus.org/scopes/COLLECTION_UUID/data_access]
• Consent is required for each new mapped collection
accessed by a particular applications
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19. Scopes in Globus SDK
• Scope Builder
• MutableScope objects
globus-sdk-python.readthedocs.io/en/stable/scopes.html

20. Jupyter Notebook Walkthrough

21. Support resources
• Globus documentation: docs.globus.org
• GitHub: github.com/globus
• Migrating applications to use GCSsv5:
docs.globus.org/globus-connect-server/migrating-to-
v5.4/application-migration/
• Sample code: github.com/globus/automation-
examples
• YouTube channel: youtube.com/user/GlobusOnline