This is an example of a Docker container to run anonymous grid-ftp in a server.

Deploying the container

Configuring the Gridftp container is through enviroment variables. The default configuration of running:

./start_server.sh

Will start a Gridftp sever on the IP corresponding to the hostname, port 2801. incoming data ports 50000-51000, mouting ./data as the /data in the container, and MTU 1500.

To customize the configuration, set the following variables in the environment or the .env file before running start_server.sh file

Public IP: IP address to which Gridftp will listen to.

export PUBLIC_IP=10.10.1.2

Incoming data ports: Requires setting three values:

export GLOBUS_HI_DATA_TCP_PORT=50123
export GLOBUS_LOW_DATA_TCP_PORT=50000
export GLOBUS_TCP_PORT_RANGE=50000,50123

Main gridftp port:

export GLOBUS_CONNECT_PORT=2801
export GLOBUS_LOW_DATA_TCP_PORT=50000
export GLOBUS_TCP_PORT_RANGE=50000,50123

Location of default Host to container folder mapping

For origin in the host:

export GLOBUS_DATA_FOLDER_HOST="${HOME}/my_data_folder"

Location to map it in the container:

export GLOBUS_DATA_FOLDER_CONTAINER=/data

Network interface MTU

MTu of the network interface of the container can be set by exporting:

export MTU=9000

IMPORTANT: the Docker installation must be configured to accept large MTU values, this is done by modifying the /etc/docker/daemon.json file, setting or adding the MTU property:

{
  "mtu": 9000
}

For more details: Docker config

Notes about network performance

• Always specify the interface to which the server will listens to: Default configuration makes Grid-ftp to listen to 1000 ports (50000-51000), in Docker this implies 1000 open sockets between the public interface and the docker bridge (one per port). If no specific network interface is specified, n*1000 sockets are opened (n=number of network interfaces).

• Consider reducing the grid-ftp open ports. Even for a single interface, 1000 connections can be a challenge for a mid-range host. This is done by setting the enviroment variable:

export GLOBUS_TCP_PORT_RANGE=min,max

• NAT style configurations is required: The container has a private IP. If grid-ftp is not informed of its public IP, it will ask clients to connect to its private IP instead. This is done with the configuration pragma:

data_interface public_ip