sett quick start guide

Initial setup

  1. Install sett following the instructions given in Installing sett on your local computer.

  2. Run sett-gui.

  3. If you do not already possess a private/public PGP key pair, go to the Keys tab and create one following the instructions given in the Generate a new public/private PGP key pair section. You should see your new key listed in the Private keys and Public keys fields of the Keys tab.

    BioMedIT

    Your PGP key must be registered with the BioMedIT portal before it can be used to encrypt, decrypt, or sign data packages. Please see the Register your public PGP key in the BioMedIT portal section for details.

  4. If not already done, download the public PGP key of the recipient(s) to whom you intend to send data (or from whom you will receive data). In sett-gui, go to the Keys tab and click on the Download keys icon, then search for your contact’s key by either entering the email or fingerprint associated with your contact’s PGP key.

  5. Just after downloading you contact’s PGP key, verify it to make sure that it is genuine. This can be done by either:

    • If you are a BioMedIT user: in sett-gui, select your contact’s key in the Public keys list (under the Keys tab) and check that its status is approved by looking for the green text: “This key is approved”.

    • Alternatively, contact the key owner and verify the key fingerprint with them.

Getting a recipient’s PGP key

In order to encrypt data for a given recipient, you must first obtain a copy of their public PGP key. Public PGP keys are non-sensitive and can be freely exchanged.

  1. Go to the Keys tab of the sett interface and click on the Download key icon.

  2. A pop-up will appear, were you can search your recipient’s key by email or key fingerprint.

BioMedIT

Please make sure that your recipient’s key is approved. A green text “This key is approved” should be displayed when the key is selected in the Keys tab of sett-gui. Only approved keys can be used within BioMedIT.

sett-gui quick start

Encrypting data

  1. Go to the Encrypt tab of the sett interface.

  2. Add one or more files and directories to encrypt by clicking the Add files or Add directories icons.

  3. Select your own PGP key in the Sender field. This is the key that will be used to sign the encrypted data.

  4. Add one or more Recipients by selecting them in the drop-down menu and clicking on +. These are the keys that will be used to encrypt the data, i.e. only these recipients will be able to decrypt the data.

    BioMedIT

    The selected Recipients must be approved Data Managers of the project for which data is being encrypted.

  5. DTR ID: specifying a valid Data Transfer Request ID is mandatory when a data package is transferred into the BioMedIT network. For other destinations, the DTR ID field can be left empty (or set to any arbitrary value), and the Verify DTR checkbox must be disabled (in the Settings tab).

    BioMedIT

    The Verify DTR checkbox should always be enabled, since a valid DTR ID is required by the BioMedIT network.

  6. Purpose: purpose of the data transfer, please select either PRODUCTION or TEST, or leave it empty.

    BioMedIT

    This filed is mandatory.

  7. Suffix and Location: optionally, a custom suffix can be specified and will be appended to the file name. The location where the output file should be saved can also be specified.

  8. Compression level slider: select the amount of compression to apply to the input data when packaging it. Compression values range between 0 (no compression) and 9 (highest compression). Higher compression level result in smaller encrypted output files but require more compute time. If compression is not required, e.g. because the input data is already in a compressed form, then the compression level should be set to 0 in order to speed-up the packaging task.

  9. Click Package & Encrypt to run the encryption workflow on your data.

Transferring data

  1. Go to the Transfer tab of the sett interface.

  2. Select one or more files to transfer using the Add files button.

  3. Select the transfer Protocol to be used (sftp, s3 or liquid files).

  4. Enter the required transfer Parameters information depending on the selected protocol.

    BioMedIT

    For transfers into the BioMedIT network the transfer protocol and associated parameters are provided by your local BioMedIT node.

  5. Click Transfer selected files to start transferring your files.

Decrypting data

  1. Go to the Decrypt tab of the sett interface.

  2. Select one or more files to decrypt using the Add files button.

  3. Specify your desired Output location.

  4. Click on Decrypt selected files.

sett command line quick start

The main commands to encrypt, transfer and decrypt data with sett CLI are given here. Note that key management is not implemented in the CLI. Please use sett-gui or the gpg command.

# Data encryption:
sett encrypt --sender <sender key fingerprint or email> --recipient <recipient key fingerprint or email> --dtr-id <data transfer ID> --purpose <purpose> --output <output file/directory name> <files or directories to encrypt>

# Data transfer.
# to SFTP server:
sett transfer --protocol sftp --protocol-args '{"host": "HOST", "username":"USERNAME", "destination_dir":"DIR", "pkey":"PRIVATE_RSA_SSH_KEY"}' <files to transfer>
# to S3 server ('session_token' is STS credentials specific):
sett transfer --protocol s3 --protocol-args '{"host": "localhost:9000", "secure": false, "bucket":"BUCKET", "access_key":"ACCESS_KEY", "secret_key":"SECRET_KEY", "session_token":"SESSION_TOKEN"}' <files to transfer>
# to liquid-files server:
sett transfer --protocol liquid_files --protocol-args '{"host": "HOST", "subject": "SUBJECT", "message": "MESSAGE", "api_key":"APIKEY", "chunk_size": 100}' <files to transfer>

# Data decryption:
sett decrypt --output_dir <output directory> <files to decrypt>