News

The San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at UCSD has released version 2.1.2 of the SDSC Storage Resource Broker (SRB) middleware package, which enables scientists to create, manage, and collaborate with flexible, unified "virtual data collections" that may be stored on heterogeneous data resources that are distributed across a network.

The principal new feature is a script that automates installation of both the SRB and accompanying Metadata Catalog, or MCAT, on Linux and Mac OS X platforms. This important new capability, written by DAKS researcher Wayne Schroeder, greatly simplifies the procedure to initially set up the SRB, letting scientists quickly start managing their data collections.

For example, SDSC researcher John Helly and colleagues are using this feature to create a stand-alone SRB and MCAT installation running on a laptop that they will use for data management on oceanographic expeditions. "This is important because when you're collecting data at sea, there are no second chances," said Arcot Rajasekar, director of SDSC's DAKS Data Grids Technologies group.

In addition to bug fixes, other new features include support for the latest version of the Postgres database (7.3.3) for running the MCAT; support for Mac OS X builds; and a port of the SRB client to the Tru64 Unix operating system, used in the NSF TeraGrid at the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center (PSC).

SRB version 2.1.2 and the user manual and release notes are available online at http://www.npaci.edu/DICE/SRB/. Version 2.1.2 is supported on the following platforms: UNIX, including Linux Redhat 7.3; Solaris; AIX; SGI; and Macintosh OS X; as well as Microsoft Windows 2000.

Developed by researchers in the DAKS Data Grids Technologies lab at SDSC, the SRB is being used in projects across numerous Federal agencies, from helping astronomers integrate multi-terabyte image collections in the NSF's National Virtual Observatory and enabling NIH-funded neuroscientists to share brain data across the country in the Biomedical Informatics Research Network, to developing persistent archives that ensure long-term access to electronic Federal records for the National Archives and Records Administration, and helping education in the NSF National Science Digital Library.

The SRB is proven, production software, with more than 1,500 registered users at more than 50 sites. Some 50 active projects are managing 66 terabytes of data collections in nearly 10 million files at SDSC. The SRB team at SDSC includes Reagan Moore, co-director of SDSC's DAKS program, DAKS Data Grids Technologies group director Arcot Rajasekar, Sheau-Yen Chen, Charles Cowart, Lucas Gilbert, Arun Jagatheesan, George Kremenek, Roman Olschanowsky, Vicky Rowley, Wayne Schroeder, Michael Wan, and Bing Zhu. - Paul Tooby.