This page contains the instructions relevant for the party that wishes to provide data in SANE, a role we shall further refer to as the 'data provider'. The data provider is the only role that can upload data, give access to the data, and release output results. 

1. Accept the SANE Collaboration invite

The researcher has been given the task of initiating the request for a SANE collaboration (see Requesting a SANE project). This is done intentionally for two reasons: 1) to alleviate the effort from the data provider, 2) to make sure funding is available through the researcher (the data providers should not need to have their own budget) Once these steps are completed, you will receive an invitation to the SANE Collaboration, which you should accept.

2. Invite data provider(s)

As a data provider, you might want to add more data providers to the project. The steps to achieve this are as follows:

  1. Go to the Admins tab on your SRAM Collaboration page
  2. Click on "Invite admins"
  3. Add the e-mail address(es) of the data provider(s) in the Invitees section
  4. Make sure the Admin option is selected for the role
  5. Make sure the following groups are selected in the "Group membership":
    • src_co_admin
    • src_co_developer
    • (optionally) src_ws_admin (to allow Claim Ownership and workspace management rights)
  6. Click on the Invite button

3. Prepare the upload environment

  1. After you to log in to the SURF Research Cloud portal you will note a couple workspaces are available to you:
    • Data server: this is the secure storage server on which your sensitive data will reside and be made available in the Researcher's environment
    • Data provider portal: this is the web portal from which you can upload data, upload scripts, and inspect results
    • In the Storage tab you will find a SANE Storage object. This is a virtual volume that is attached to the Data Server
    • In the Networks tab you will find a SANE Network object. This is a virtual private network that is used to connect all SANE systems and is the core of the network restrictions that applies to SANE.
  2. For each of the items listed in step 1, you will need to Claim Ownership by clicking on the three dots on the tile and selecting this option, as shown in the image below:


    Some information on why this step is necessary can be found in this FAQ

4. (Optional) Add Python or R packages to Tinker SANE user workspace

Researchers often require additional software packages to extend the functionality of their analysis environment or to support specific research workflows. In Tinker SANE, you can streamline this process by automatically installing a predefined set of Python packages when a new researcher environment is created.

Tinker SANE includes a default collection of commonly used Python packages for data analysis and scientific computing. In addition, researchers can define their own custom package lists by following the same file format.

If you choose to support a researcher’s request for additional Python packages, please refer to the detailed guide: Adding Python packages to Tinker SANE.

To modify the list of available R packages, please refer to the guide: Adding R packages to Tinker SANE.

  • Adding packages from a list is only possible in newly created Tinker SANE environments. For existing environments, you can either create a new environment or manually install the required packages (see Step 6). This limitation exists because adding packages to an existing environment might interfere with the current package setup.
  • This feature is currently only available for Tinker SANE environments and is not supported in Blind SANE environments.

5. Upload the sensitive data and scripts

  1. From the Research Cloud portal, find the Data Provider Portal in the dashboard. Click on the "Access" button
    If you recently logged in with SRAM you will automatically be signed in to the Data Provider Portal (single-sign-on). If not, you will need to log in with SRAM.

    You will be faced with the following view:

  2. Upload the sensitive data into the source folder, either by clicking on the upload button in the top right corner, or by dragging and dropping your file(s) 
  3. (Optional) Upload any scripts or code that the Researcher might have requested into the scripts folder


The data (and scripts) are now made available in the SANE data server, which will be attached to the SANE analysis environments (either Tinker or Blind).

Alternative for large files (>10 GB)

Setting up SSH keys

For the following steps make sure you have set up your SSH key configuration according to the steps outlined here.

For larger datasets (typically above 10 GB), uploading through the Data Provider Portal may be less practical. In that case, you can transfer files directly to the Data Provider Portal server using SCP, SFTP, or rsync.

The IP address of the Data Provider Portal is displayed in the workspace details within the Research Cloud portal. The username you find under Profile

Using SCP

Copy a file to the server:

scp my_dataset.zip <username>@<portal-ip>:/data/sane-data/source

Copy a directory recursively:

scp -r my_dataset/ <username>@<portal-ip>:/data/sane-data/source

Using SFTP

Connect to the server:

sftp <username>@<portal-ip>:/data/sane-data/source

Upload a file:

put my_dataset.zip

Upload a directory:

put -r my_dataset

Using rsync (recommended for large transfers)

rsync can resume interrupted transfers and only retransmits changed data.

rsync -avP my_dataset.zip <username>@<portal-ip>:/data/sane-data/source

For directories:

rsync -avP my_dataset <username>@<portal-ip>:/data/sane-data/source/

Once the transfer is complete, the uploaded files will be available on the Data Provider Portal and can be selected and imported into the workspace using the normal data staging workflow.

6. Invite researcher(s)

Now that the basic setup for a SANE project has been set, it is time to invite researchers who have the right to access the data in this SANE Collaboration.

  1. Go to the Members tab on your SRAM Collaboration page
  2. Click on "Invite members"
  3. Add the e-mail address(es) of the researcher(s) in the Invitees section
  4. Make sure the Member is selected for the role, and make sure no groups are selected in the "Group membership" (the groups that a Researcher belongs to will be automatically assigned)
  5. Click on the Invite button

The researchers can now follow the Researcher instructions. Go ahead and notify the researcher that the data is ready to be analysed.

7. Review output results

The researcher will place the output results in the folder located in the directory /results  and will request the data provider to disclose the results (e.g. via e-mail). The data provider uses the SANE Data Provider Portal to review these output results by opening the results folder and inspecting the results. The data provider can download approved output data through the browser interface, and send them to the researcher outside of SANE (e.g. via e-mail or SURF Filesender). 



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