Nordic Data Grid Facility
Encyclopedia
The Nordic Data Grid Facility, or NDGF, is a collaboration between the Nordic countries (Denmark
, Finland
, Norway
, Sweden
and Iceland
).
The motivation for NDGF is to ensure that researchers in the Nordic countries can create and participate in computational challenges of scope and size unreachable for the national research groups alone.
project. Success of the latter indicated need for a larger pan-Nordic facility, with storage resources being of high priority. This need has been addressed by establishing a pilot NDGF infrastructure, which was operational in 2002-2005, and provided distributed storage in addition to the NorduGrid
computing resources. During this phase, NDGF committed to provide a Nordic Tier1 (regional computing center) for the Worldwide LHC
Computing Grid project at CERN
. Specifics of this Tier1 are such that it has to be an internationally distributed Facility. The Nordic Data Grid Facility in its present function as a provider of the Nordic Grid Infrastructure was established in April 2006 by the Nordic Research Councils. It came into operation on June 1, 2006, and its initial priority is to live up to the original commitment of establishing the Nordic Tier1, with the traditional focus on storage facilities. A large team of developers is meant to assist in Grid middleware development, complementing NorduGrid
efforts.
facility that leverages existing, national computational resources and Grid infrastructures.
To qualify for support research groups should form a Virtual Organization, a VO. The VO provides compute resources for sharing and NDGF operates a Grid interface for the sharing of these resources.
Currently, most computational resources of NDGF are accessible through ARC
middleware. Some resources are also available via AliEn
software and gLite
middleware. Distributed storage facility is realised through dCache storage management solution.
Today, the first operational user of the NDGF is the Nordic High Energy Physics community - the ALICE
, ATLAS
and CMS
Virtual Organizations - through the operation of the Nordic Tier-1, which together with the Tier-0, CERN
, and the other 10 Tier-1s collects, stores and processes the data produced by the Large Hadron Collider
at CERN
.
NDGF is hosted by NORDUnet
.
NDGF vs NorduGrid
Many confuse NDGF and NorduGrid
- which is not surprising, especially since in its second phase NDGF was proposed to assume the name "NorduGrid". It was however decided to distinguish between the mostly development-oriented project, NorduGrid
, and the mostly operations-oriented one, NDGF. As a rule of thumb, NDGF provides mostly services, while NorduGrid
provides mostly ARC
middleware.
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
and Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
).
The motivation for NDGF is to ensure that researchers in the Nordic countries can create and participate in computational challenges of scope and size unreachable for the national research groups alone.
History
Nordic Data Grid Facility traces its history back to end-2001, being intrinsically related to the NorduGridNorduGrid
] NorduGrid is a collaboration aiming at development, maintenance and support of the free Grid middleware, known as the Advanced Resource Connector .- History :...
project. Success of the latter indicated need for a larger pan-Nordic facility, with storage resources being of high priority. This need has been addressed by establishing a pilot NDGF infrastructure, which was operational in 2002-2005, and provided distributed storage in addition to the NorduGrid
NorduGrid
] NorduGrid is a collaboration aiming at development, maintenance and support of the free Grid middleware, known as the Advanced Resource Connector .- History :...
computing resources. During this phase, NDGF committed to provide a Nordic Tier1 (regional computing center) for the Worldwide LHC
Large Hadron Collider
The Large Hadron Collider is the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator. It is expected to address some of the most fundamental questions of physics, advancing the understanding of the deepest laws of nature....
Computing Grid project at CERN
CERN
The European Organization for Nuclear Research , known as CERN , is an international organization whose purpose is to operate the world's largest particle physics laboratory, which is situated in the northwest suburbs of Geneva on the Franco–Swiss border...
. Specifics of this Tier1 are such that it has to be an internationally distributed Facility. The Nordic Data Grid Facility in its present function as a provider of the Nordic Grid Infrastructure was established in April 2006 by the Nordic Research Councils. It came into operation on June 1, 2006, and its initial priority is to live up to the original commitment of establishing the Nordic Tier1, with the traditional focus on storage facilities. A large team of developers is meant to assist in Grid middleware development, complementing NorduGrid
NorduGrid
] NorduGrid is a collaboration aiming at development, maintenance and support of the free Grid middleware, known as the Advanced Resource Connector .- History :...
efforts.
Users and resources
NDGF is a production GridGrid computing
Grid computing is a term referring to the combination of computer resources from multiple administrative domains to reach a common goal. The grid can be thought of as a distributed system with non-interactive workloads that involve a large number of files...
facility that leverages existing, national computational resources and Grid infrastructures.
To qualify for support research groups should form a Virtual Organization, a VO. The VO provides compute resources for sharing and NDGF operates a Grid interface for the sharing of these resources.
Currently, most computational resources of NDGF are accessible through ARC
Advanced Resource Connector
Advanced Resource Connector is grid computing middleware introduced by NorduGrid. ARC is an open source software distributed under the Apache License.- History :...
middleware. Some resources are also available via AliEn
Alien (software)
Alien is a computer program that converts between different Linux package formats, written by Joey Hess.-Features:Alien supports conversion between Linux Standard Base, RPM, deb, Stampede , Solaris and Slackware packages...
software and gLite
GLite
gLite is a middleware computer software project for grid computing used by the CERN LHC experiments and other scientific domains. It was implemented by collaborative efforts of more than 80 people in 12 different academic and industrial research centers in Europe...
middleware. Distributed storage facility is realised through dCache storage management solution.
Today, the first operational user of the NDGF is the Nordic High Energy Physics community - the ALICE
Alice
Alice may refer to:* Alice , including a list of notable people called Alice-Books and comics:* Alice , the heroine of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass...
, ATLAS
Atlas
An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a map of Earth or a region of Earth, but there are atlases of the other planets in the Solar System. Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats...
and CMS
Content management system
A content management system is a system providing a collection of procedures used to manage work flow in a collaborative environment. These procedures can be manual or computer-based...
Virtual Organizations - through the operation of the Nordic Tier-1, which together with the Tier-0, CERN
CERN
The European Organization for Nuclear Research , known as CERN , is an international organization whose purpose is to operate the world's largest particle physics laboratory, which is situated in the northwest suburbs of Geneva on the Franco–Swiss border...
, and the other 10 Tier-1s collects, stores and processes the data produced by the Large Hadron Collider
Large Hadron Collider
The Large Hadron Collider is the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator. It is expected to address some of the most fundamental questions of physics, advancing the understanding of the deepest laws of nature....
at CERN
CERN
The European Organization for Nuclear Research , known as CERN , is an international organization whose purpose is to operate the world's largest particle physics laboratory, which is situated in the northwest suburbs of Geneva on the Franco–Swiss border...
.
NDGF is hosted by NORDUnet
NORDUnet
NORDUnet is an international collaboration between the Nordic national computer networks for research and education. The members of NORDUnet are:* SUNET of Sweden* UNINETT of Norway* FUNET of Finland* Forskningsnettet of Denmark* RHnet of Iceland...
.
NDGF vs NorduGridNorduGrid] NorduGrid is a collaboration aiming at development, maintenance and support of the free Grid middleware, known as the Advanced Resource Connector .- History :...
Many confuse NDGF and NorduGridNorduGrid
] NorduGrid is a collaboration aiming at development, maintenance and support of the free Grid middleware, known as the Advanced Resource Connector .- History :...
- which is not surprising, especially since in its second phase NDGF was proposed to assume the name "NorduGrid". It was however decided to distinguish between the mostly development-oriented project, NorduGrid
NorduGrid
] NorduGrid is a collaboration aiming at development, maintenance and support of the free Grid middleware, known as the Advanced Resource Connector .- History :...
, and the mostly operations-oriented one, NDGF. As a rule of thumb, NDGF provides mostly services, while NorduGrid
NorduGrid
] NorduGrid is a collaboration aiming at development, maintenance and support of the free Grid middleware, known as the Advanced Resource Connector .- History :...
provides mostly ARC
Advanced Resource Connector
Advanced Resource Connector is grid computing middleware introduced by NorduGrid. ARC is an open source software distributed under the Apache License.- History :...
middleware.
See also
- NorduGridNorduGrid] NorduGrid is a collaboration aiming at development, maintenance and support of the free Grid middleware, known as the Advanced Resource Connector .- History :...
collaboration, provider of the ARCAdvanced Resource ConnectorAdvanced Resource Connector is grid computing middleware introduced by NorduGrid. ARC is an open source software distributed under the Apache License.- History :...
middleware - NORDUnetNORDUnetNORDUnet is an international collaboration between the Nordic national computer networks for research and education. The members of NORDUnet are:* SUNET of Sweden* UNINETT of Norway* FUNET of Finland* Forskningsnettet of Denmark* RHnet of Iceland...
, the NDGF hosting organisation
External links
- NDGF homepage
- CERN, host of the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid
- dCache, system for storing and retrieving massive data