Introduction to RIS Storage and Storage Tiers

The Data Storage Platform is a scalable, high-performance and distributed storage infrastructure with integrated long-term archiving capabilities. There are a number of enterprise-level features to facilitate data analysis, management, curation and retention.  All faculty involved in research have access to 5TB of free Active storage.  

See our FAQ on how to get access to the data storage platform

Storage Tiers

Storage tier refers to the performance level of the storage service. Currently there are two tiers, “Active” and “Archive”. 

Active

The Active tier is the standard storage tier you get by default. It is serviced by a number of different storage pieces including fast memory caching etc., but the way an End User should think of it is “Active storage is where I do daily work”. Researchers are provided with 5TB of free storage on the active tier.  Contact someone in the research computing group if you require additional active storage.

When you connect to your Storage allocation the standard filesystem layout is:

Yourname
     /Active
     /Snapshots

Archive

The "Archive" tier is storage where files are put away for long-term storage or data that does not need to be accessed regularly.  You need to request that the Archive tier be enabled by submitting a RIS service desk request. When you have asked for the Archive tier be enabled, the filesystem layout will change:

Yourname
    /Active
    /Archive
   /Snapshots

Snapshots

Within the “Active” storage tier there is a directory named “.snapshots” that contains one week of daily snapshots of the Active storage space. If files in your Active space get overwritten, corrupted, or mistakenly deleted, you can copy previous versions out of the .snapshots directory back into Active.

Scratch

High-performance Scratch Space is typically allocated for each lab as it is onboarded to the Compute Service. This space is restricted at the group level, which should represent an eponymous lab. /scratch1/fs1 is the fastest performing storage tier.

Home

Every compute service user is assigned a limit of 9GB of home directory space on the Compute Platform. This space is restricted at the user level.

$home – 9GB

    Data Transfer

    Using Globus for large file transfers

    Globus is a service that provides secure and reliable research data management. With Globus, users can move and share data via a single interface. 

    What can I do with Globus?

    • Transfer data: efficiently, reliably, and securely move data between systems within your site or with outside collaborators.
    • Share data with others: all you need is an email address to share data with colleagues - Globus manages authentication and access

    You can log into globus.org using WUSTL key credentials. Simply click the Globus log-in-button at the top-right of the landing page, and then select WashU as your organization.

    How to use Globus

    Using Large File Transfer (lft.wustl.edu) to share large files with collaborators.

    Large File Transfer is helpful if you need to share files that are larger than the 150GB limit in Box.

    Visit LFT

    • At the login screen click on the icon >Try Single Sign-On with SAML
    • Login using your wustl key credentials.

     

     

     

    Need more info?

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