New Service: Long Term Storage
Long Term Storage (LTS) is a new service offered by the IT Services for ETH Zurich data which can/should not be deleted.
LTS is an extension to the storage portfolio and is intended for long-term storage of valuable data. The service, based on tape technology, is highly scalable, energy-efficient and cost-effective. The new service makes the risk of LTS data manageable. Responsibilities are clearly defined and geo-redundancy ensured.
Definition of LTS
LTS is not an archive since the service is missing metadata. It is also clearly different from the ETH library’s digital long-term archiving Service (“Digital Curation“). LTS is purely a data repository for the ETH Zurich and no NAS service (Network Attached Storage – NAS). StrongBox, a product by the company Crossroads Systems, is used for this service. Data is written onto strong boxes via NFS or CIFS. After one hour, the data is offloaded to tape. The existing Strongbox structure at ETH Zurich allows for a maximum of 64 instances. Each service unit receives a share in NFS and/or CIFS. The LTS service is obtainable via the ISL.
Related Links
◾ Newsletter inside|out fifth issue 3/2014 “New service for the ETH: Long Term Storage – Green Data Repository”
◾ Backup, archiving and long-term storage: What is the difference? (post in the ITS-Blog)
◾ Information regarding LTS service and SLA
◾ FAQ LTS
◾ Data Storage and Storage Services – We manage and store your data.
Questions at ITEK
The ITEK (IT Experts Commission) is a body dealing with IT issues at ETH Zurich. Questions and answers at the presentation of the new service.
◾ Question: Can the user delete data? To delete data, a deletion request must be made to the LTS service. This process ensures that no data will be deleted by mistake.
◾ Question: Are NFS and CIFS shares separate? Yes, the Strongbox cannot support mixed mode.
◾ Question: Is the writing quality of the tapes monitored? Yes, there is quality monitoring of the tapes.
◾ Question: What is the definition of Long Term? For the ITS Long Term means 5 to 10 years. Data management is not available.
◾ Question: How quickly can data be retrieved? This is a shared resource and access times differ depending on the load. Waiting time is in the range of hours, not days.
◾ Question: Down to what level can rights be given? Rights can be assigned to the Institute and lower. The ISL is responsible for the top level of LTS only.
Contact
Dr. Tilo Steiger, Manager Storage, ITS System Services (ID SD)
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