Static and Dynamic Data Models for the Storage Resource Manager v2.2

We present a conceptual model for the Storage Resource Manager, the standard interface adopted for the storage systems of the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid. This model provides a clear and concise definition of the structural and behavioral concepts underlying the interface specification and is meant to support service and application development. Different languages (natural language, UML diagrams, and simple set-theoretic and logical notation) are used to describe different aspects of the model

Storage Resource Manager version 2.2: design, implementation, and testing experience

Storage Services are crucial components of the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid Infrastructure spanning more than 200 sites and serving computing and storage resources to the High Energy Physics LHC communities. Up to tens of Petabytes of data are collected every year by the four LHC experiments at CERN. To process these large data volumes it is important to establish a protocol and a very efficient interface to the various storage solutions adopted by the WLCG sites. In this work we report on the experience acquired during the definition of the Storage Resource Manager v2.2 protocol. In particular, we focus on the study performed to enhance the interface and make it suitable for use by the WLCG communities. At the moment 5 different storage solutions implement the SRM v2.2 interface: BeStMan (LBNL), CASTOR (CERN and RAL), dCache (DESY and FNAL), DPM (CERN), and StoRM (INFN and ICTP). After a detailed inside review of the protocol, various test suites have been written identifying the most effective set of tests: the S2 test suite from CERN and the SRM-Tester test suite from LBNL. Such test suites have helped verifying the consistency and coherence of the proposed protocol and validating existing implementations. We conclude our work describing the results achieved

Data management in WLCG and EGEE

This work is a contribution to a book on Scientific Data Management by CRC Press/Taylor and Francis Books. Data Management and Storage Access experience in WLCG is described together with the major use cases. Furthermore, some considerations about the EGEE requirements are also reported

Notes from data flow workshop

Copyright @ 2009 MICEThis document summarises the discussions at the MICE Data Flow Workshop held at Brunel University on 30th June 2009. Background information about job submission and file storage on the Grid can be found in previous MICE Notes and the references therein. In particular the first two sections of Note 247 are meant to provide a gentle introduction to Grid data storage from the MICE perspective, and timid MICE may wish to read those first. The proposed data flow is described in MICE Note 252

DATUM in Action

This collaborative research data management planning project (hereafter the RDMP project) sought to help a collaborative group of researchers working on an EU FP7 staff exchange project (hereafter the EU project) to define and implement good research data management practice by developing an appropriate DMP and supporting systems and evaluating their initial implementation. The aim was to "improve practice on the ground" through more effective and appropriate systems, tools/solutions and guidance in managing research data. The EU project (MATSIQEL - (Models for Ageing and Technological Solutions For Improving and Enhancing the Quality of Life), funded under the Marie Curie International Research Staff Exchange Scheme, is accumulating expertise for the mathematical and computer modelling of ageing processes with the aim of developing models which can be implemented in technological solutions (e.g. monitors, telecare, recreational games) for improving and enhancing quality of life.1 Marie Curie projects do not fund research per se, so the EU project has no resources to fund commercial tools for research data management. Lead by Professor Maia Angelova, School of Computing, Engineering and Information Sciences (SCEIS) at Northumbria University, it comprises six work packages involving researchers at Northumbria and in Australia, Bulgaria, Germany, Mexico and South Africa. The RDMP project focused on one of its work packages (WP4 Technological Solutions and Implementation) with some reference to another work package lead by the same person at Northumbria University (WP5 Quality of Life). The RDMP project‟s innovation was less about the choice of platform/system, as it began with existing standard office technology, and more about how this can be effectively deployed in a collaborative scenario to provide a fit-for-purpose solution with useful and usable support and guidance. It built on the success of the Datum for Health project by taking it a stage further, moving from a solely health discipline to an interdisciplinary context of health, social care and mathematical/computer modelling, and from a Postgraduate Research Student context to an academic researcher context, with potential to reach beyond the University boundaries. In addition, since the EU project is re-using data from elsewhere as well as creating its own data; a wide range of RDM issues were addressed. The RDMP project assessed the transferability of the DATUM materials and the tailored DATUM DMP

Meeting the challenge of environmental data publication: an operational infrastructure and workflow for publishing data

Here we describe the defined workflow and its supporting infrastructure, which are used by the Natural Environment Research Council’s (NERC) Environmental Information Data Centre (EIDC) (http://​eidc.​ceh.​ac.​uk/​) to enable publication of environmental data in the fields of ecology and hydrology. The methods employed and issues discussed are also relevant to publication in other domains. By utilising a clearly defined workflow for data publication, we operate a fully auditable, quality controlled series of steps permitting publication of environmental data. The described methodology meets the needs of both data producers and data users, whose requirements are not always aligned. A stable, logically created infrastructure supporting data publication allows the process to occur in a well-managed and secure fashion, while remaining flexible enough to deal with a range of data types and user requirements. We discuss the primary issues arising from data publication, and describe how many of them have been resolved by the methods we have employed, with demonstrable results. In conclusion, we expand on future directions we wish to develop to aid data publication by both solving problems for data generators and improving the end-user experience

Android security framework : enabling generic and extensible access control on Android

We introduce the Android Security Framework (ASF),a generic, extensible security framework for Android that enables the development and integration of a wide spectrum of security models in form of code-based security modules. The design of ASF reflects lessons learned from the literature on established security frameworks (such as Linux Security Modules or the BSD MAC Framework) and intertwines them with the particular requirements and challenges from the design of Android’s software stack. ASF provides a novel security API that supports authors of Android security extensions in developing their modules. This overcomes the current unsatisfactory situation to provide security solutions as separate patches to the Android software stack or to embed them into Android’s mainline codebase. As a result, ASF provides different practical benefits such as a higher degree of acceptance, adaptation, and maintenance of security solutions than previously possible on Android. We present a prototypical implementation of ASF and demonstrate its effectiveness and efficiency by modularizing different security models from related work, such as context-aware access control, inlined reference monitoring, and type enforcement

A Multi-Agent System Architecture for Sensor Networks

The design of the control systems for sensor networks presents important challenges. Besides the traditional problems about how to process the sensor data to obtain the target information, engineers need to consider additional aspects such as the heterogeneity and high number of sensors, and the flexibility of these networks regarding topologies and the sensors in them. Although there are partial approaches for resolving these issues, their integration relies on ad hoc solutions requiring important development efforts. In order to provide an effective approach for this integration, this paper proposes an architecture based on the multi-agent system paradigm with a clear separation of concerns. The architecture considers sensors as devices used by an upper layer of manager agents. These agents are able to communicate and negotiate services to achieve the required functionality. Activities are organized according to roles related with the different aspects to integrate, mainly sensor management, data processing, communication and adaptation to changes in the available devices and their capabilities. This organization largely isolates and decouples the data management from the changing network, while encouraging reuse of solutions. The use of the architecture is facilitated by a specific modelling language developed through metamodelling. A case study concerning a generic distributed system for fire fighting illustrates the approach and the comparison with related work