When I retrieve files from SDA using HSI, why am I getting "*** get: Error -1 on transfer"?

When using HSI to transfer files from or to SDA, you may get one of the following error messages:

*** get: Error -1 on transfer

***put: Error -1 on transfer

The most likely cause of these errors is the use of a firewall.

Another possible cause is a mismatch between your host's name and its external (public) IP address. HSI uses the default hostname/IP address to transfer data. Some systems (such as Big Red) have a private IP address associated with the hostname, which can't be used for file transfer with HPSS. Other systems are set up for stand-alone use, and have their hostname resolve to localhost (127.0.0.1) in /etc/hosts. One way to fix this is to set the environment variable HPSS_HOSTNAME to the public IP address on the local computer (the one that is meant to be used for data transfers). This is done automatically on Big Red. Another way is to modify either the hostname or the hosts file to make sure that the name resolves to the public IP address.

In Unix, an easy way to determine if your hostname is set correctly is to query it, using the hostname command, and then ping it to find the address using the host's default name lookup:

One way to bypass the firewall or hostname issue, and to confirm that it is one of these issues, is to use HSI's firewall bypass feature. To do this, execute the following command in HSI:

Use this command only to diagnose network problems, or in cases where the firewall cannot be disabled. Transfers using this method are less efficient than normal transfers.

If your firewall requires specific port ranges for transfers, you can set a port range in the environment variable HPSS_PFTPC_PORT_RANGE before executing HSI. For example, to set the port range to ports 50000-51000, use:

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