The File Exchange Interface (FEI) is a kerberized client/server application used to move files between remote sites and a data center (MIPL).
MIPL administers FEI Servers which control and monitor access to files on MIPL Working Mission Storage (WMS). Remote sites run the FEI Client, distributed with VICAR or as a stand alone tar distribution package, to transfer files to and from their home institutions and MIPL.
FEI works with Kerberos and maintains it's own user access controls, thus users do not need accounts on a MIPL machine to acquire their data, as is the case with FTP. And unlike FTP, the FEI user never needs to know the location of data within MIPL. FEI stores and controls access to data by File Type, the user need only know the type of file they want and the FEI server knows where to find it within MIPL.
FEI also provides a way to automatically get files to your home institution as soon as they are generated in MIPL via an FEI subscription. A subscription for a File Type is easily submitted once by the user and runs continually, retrieving new files for that File Type as they are generated.
To run FEI, users are required to: