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The Mass Data Storage (MDS) system was acquired to support supercomputer users and other types of data intensive projects on a case by case basis. The University Computing Committee particularly requested that the needs of the MSSSO MACHO project be catered for if possible.
The MDS is intended to work in concert with the fast magnetic disks of other systems by providing inexpensive on-line, albeit slower, access to archive data. The MDS is not a replacement for group or departmental disks for either general use or for specific projects unless approved as detailed below. It follows that departments and groups should not consider MDS as a replacement for their existing fileserver disaster recovery procedures. The MDS will manage all archival data in a failsafe manner but should not be used to store routine backups of departmental fileserver data.
The policy for access is set out below. Decisions on access will be made by the Head, ANU Supercomputer Facility (ANUSF) in consultation where necessary with the Director, Information Technology Services and the Chair, High Performance Computing Advisory Committee (HPCAC).
Project eligibility
Projects:
1) must involve personnel from the ANU Faculties, Institutes or Centres.
2) must have data archival requirements which warrant on-line storage but whose retrieval does not require real-time response.
3) must have data capacity requirements which are exceptional and can not reasonably or more cost effectively be provided by departmental fileservers or a research group's own systems.
4) must not place an unacceptable load on the campus network(s).
5) must not adversely affect the MDS subsystem by inappropriate usage patterns (eg. using the MDS cpu for other than file transfer or simple file management, persistence in thrashing MDS cpu by loading and extracting data at an unrealistic rate).
Approved users of the University's supercomputer facilities will have access to the MDS through file systems made available on those computers. Such users must also abide by the above guidelines.
Projects not conforming to the above requirements but whose value to the University is deemed sufficiently advantageous may in special circumstances be approved by the Head, ANUSF in consultation with the Director, ITS and the Chair, HPCAC.
Projects whose characteristics change substantially over time may have their eligibility reassessed by the Head, ANUSF in consultation with the Director, ITS and the Chair, HPCAC, and where appropriate the project may be required to satisfy its demands by other means.
