This will work either without authentication, or with SSL authentication, depending upon the web server. Access to anonymous ftp or http servers is provided in the usual way, with no authentication. In the future, we may decide to support GASS servers that can run as root, so as to provide access to multiple Globus users. However, we don't intend to support this type of access initially. Read of a remote file using conventional Unix file input functions Achieved by copying the entire file from the remote to local system when opening the file.
Reference counting via tags on open and close is used to manage cache.
There is no persistent cache daemon. Allow users to manage the cache remotely, via GRAM requests. Support customized GASS servers. A simple gass-server will be provided to give access to remote files. However, a user should be able to extend the GASS server capabilities to return data from any data source.