The Nordic Data Grid Facility, or NDGF, is a common e-Science infrastructure provided by the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Iceland) for scientific computing and data storage. It is the first and so far only internationally distributed WLCG Tier1 center, providing computing and storage services to experiments at CERN.[1]
Nordic Data Grid Facility traces its history back to end-2001, being intrinsically related to the NorduGrid 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.[2] 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. NDGF team includes software experts who take part in various Grid middleware development.
In 2012 NDGF became a part of a wider initiative, the Nordic e-Infrastructure Collaboration.[3]
Users and operations
NDGF Tier1 is a production Grid 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 Tier1 operates a Grid interface for the sharing of these resources.
Currently, most computational resources of NDGF Tier1 are accessible through ARC middleware. Some resources are also available via AliEn software. Distributed storage facility is realised through dCache storage management solution.
Today, the dominant user community of the NDGF Tier1 is the High Energy Physics - the ALICE, ATLAS and CMS Virtual Organizations - through the operation of the Nordic Tier1, which together with the Tier0, CERN, and the other 12 Tier1s collects, stores and processes the data produced by the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.[4][5]
NDGF Tier1 was hosted by NORDUnet in 2006-2011, and since 2012 is hosted by NordForsk.[8]
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.
See also
NeIC, the organisation operating NDGF Tier-1 since 2012
NorduGrid collaboration, provider of the ARC middleware
NORDUnet, the NDGF hosting organisation in 2006-2011
^"European Grid Infrastructure resource providers". 2010. Retrieved 20 December 2011.
^Field, Laurence; et al. (2010). "Towards sustainability: An interoperability outline for a Regional ARC based infrastructure in the WLCG and EGEE infrastructures". Journal of Physics: Conference Series. IOP Publishing Ltd. 219: 062051. doi:10.1088/1742-6596/219/6/062051.
dCache, system for storing and retrieving massive data
January 06, 2023
nordic, data, grid, facility, ndgf, common, science, infrastructure, provided, nordic, countries, denmark, finland, norway, sweden, iceland, scientific, computing, data, storage, first, only, internationally, distributed, wlcg, tier1, center, providing, comput. The Nordic Data Grid Facility or NDGF is a common e Science infrastructure provided by the Nordic countries Denmark Finland Norway Sweden and Iceland for scientific computing and data storage It is the first and so far only internationally distributed WLCG Tier1 center providing computing and storage services to experiments at CERN 1 Contents 1 History 2 Users and operations 3 NDGF vs NorduGrid 4 See also 5 References 6 External linksHistory EditNordic Data Grid Facility traces its history back to end 2001 being intrinsically related to the NorduGrid 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 2 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 NDGF team includes software experts who take part in various Grid middleware development In 2012 NDGF became a part of a wider initiative the Nordic e Infrastructure Collaboration 3 Users and operations EditNDGF Tier1 is a production Grid 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 Tier1 operates a Grid interface for the sharing of these resources Currently most computational resources of NDGF Tier1 are accessible through ARC middleware Some resources are also available via AliEn software Distributed storage facility is realised through dCache storage management solution Today the dominant user community of the NDGF Tier1 is the High Energy Physics the ALICE ATLAS and CMS Virtual Organizations through the operation of the Nordic Tier1 which together with the Tier0 CERN and the other 12 Tier1s collects stores and processes the data produced by the Large Hadron Collider at CERN 4 5 Since 2010 NDGF Tier1 is a part of the European Grid Infrastructure 6 7 NDGF Tier1 was hosted by NORDUnet in 2006 2011 and since 2012 is hosted by NordForsk 8 NDGF vs NorduGrid EditMany 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 See also EditNeIC the organisation operating NDGF Tier 1 since 2012 NorduGrid collaboration provider of the ARC middleware NORDUnet the NDGF hosting organisation in 2006 2011References Edit Bird Ian 2011 Computing for the Large Hadron Collider Annual Review of Nuclear and Particle Science 61 99 118 doi 10 1146 annurev nucl 102010 130059 Buch Rene Fischer Lars Gronager Michael Smirnova Oxana 2006 The Nordic Data Grid Facility META UNINEtt Sigma AS 1 14 17 NordForsk hosts new organisation for Nordic eInfrastructure cooperation NordForsk Worldwide LHC Computing Grid sites CERN 2002 Archived from the original on 24 December 2011 Retrieved 20 December 2011 Fischer Lars Gronager Michael Kleist Josva Smirnova Oxana 2008 A Distributed Tier 1 Journal of Physics Conference Series IOP Publishing Ltd 119 052016 doi 10 1088 1742 6596 119 5 052016 European Grid Infrastructure resource providers 2010 Retrieved 20 December 2011 Field Laurence et al 2010 Towards sustainability An interoperability outline for a Regional ARC based infrastructure in the WLCG and EGEE infrastructures Journal of Physics Conference Series IOP Publishing Ltd 219 062051 doi 10 1088 1742 6596 219 6 062051 NordForsk External links EditNDGF Tier 1 page CERN host of the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid dCache system for storing and retrieving massive data Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Nordic Data Grid Facility amp oldid 1085036313, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
