TG-16: Grace period for review of existing storage by xRAC peer review
Anke Kamrath (SDSC)
Craig Stewart (IU)
Richard Moore (SDSC)
Thomas Bettge (NCAR)
David Hart (SDSC)
D. Scott McCaulay (IU)
Stephen Simms (IU)
Most Recently Revised 31 May 2007
Procedure for a grace period for xRAC review of existing TeraGrid usage of persistent
storage media
Status: Ready for RPF vote
Abstract
The separate policy TG-15 establishes a new policy for allocation of TeraGrid persistent storage
resources via the xRAC review committees. This proposed procedure may be undertaken, at the
discretion of a Resource Provider, to obtain peer review and xRAC approval of current researcher
use of persistent storage facilities at TeraGrid RP sites. For future reporting purposes, usage
approved by the appropriate xRAC allocation committee should be reported as “NSF allocated
usage.” RPs may, at their discretion, remove data stored at their site as of 1 July 2008 if an
allocation has not been sought and approved by the appropriate xRAC committee.
stewart@iu.edu,kamratha@sdsc.edu
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TG-15: Proposed policy ready for RP Forum vote
May 10, 200
1. Problem statement and proposed process
1.1
Current state of affairs as regards storage and TeraGrid
Because there has not been a consistent mechanism for peer-reviewed allocation of storage
resources, there are existing uses of persistent storage (persistent spinning disk and tape) that
have never been subjected to NSF-endorsed peer review.
1.2
Proposed Procedure for a grace period allowing peer review of existing usage
We propose establishing a grace period during which existing usage of TeraGrid-accessible
persistent storage resources may remain in place, over the course of time from now till 1 July
2008. (“Teragrid-accessible” is unambiguously defined in TG-15).
This proposed procedure may be undertaken, at the discretion of a Resource Provider, to obtain
peer review and xRAC approval of current researcher use of persistent storage facilities at
TeraGrid RP sites. In future usage reports, For future reporting purposes, usage approved by the
appropriate xRAC allocation committee should be reported as “NSF allocated usage.”
The levels of usage and appropriate allocation committees are as established in TG-15.
TeraGrid RPs may, at their discretion, remove data stored at their site as of I July 2008 if an
allocation has not been sought and approved by the appropriate xRAC committee. If this course
of action is pursued, there should be notification of the possibility of such removal given as early
as possible, and no later than 6 months prior to removal of data.
1.3
Proposed Timeline
18 June 2007
Anytime after 18 June
13 July 2007
4-6 September 2007
12 October 2007
~18 January 2008
1 July 2008
stewart@iu.edu,kamratha@sdsc.edu
POPS enhancements to support Storage
Allocations completed; POPS begins to accept
proposals to September xRAC meetings.
TeraGrid RPs determine course of action to
pursue regarding existing usages of TeraGridaccessible persistent storage, and begin
making notifications as appropriate to existing
users
Proposals due in POPS for September xRAC
meetings.
xRAC meetings at NSF
Proposals due for Dec. 2007 MRAC meeting.
Awards to start 01 January 2008.
Proposals due for Mar. 2008 xRAC meetings.
Awards to start 01 April 2008.
TeraGrid RPs may begin removing data when
usage has not been endorsed via an xRAC
allocation and when potentially affected users
have had notification over a period of at least 6
months prior to such removal.
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TG-15: Proposed policy ready for RP Forum vote
May 10, 200
2. Associated Proposals
Related proposal TG 15 creates the basic policy and process for future new allocations of
persistent TeraGrid storage resources.
3. Security Considerations
This document introduces no new security considerations.
4. Resources and Staff Effort Required
Each RP will have to determine whether or not to work with its existing users of persistent storage
facilities to obtain xRAC allocations, and will additionally have to decide whether or not to
eliminate data stored at its site without the endorsement of an xRAC allocation.
GIG and RP staff with allocatable persistent storage resources will need to expend effort to
update some documentation and notification on this process as a process in which individual
TeraGrid RPs may engage. Documentation that will require updates will include:
 Allocation policies documents.
 Instructions, guidance for preparing proposal documents.
 TeraGrid User Info: Access pages
 TeraGrid User Portal
 TeraGrid Resource Catalog, Data: Storage pages
 TeraGrid Knowledge Base
 Relevant RP documentation
 TeraGrid Wiki (for staff information)
RP and GIG staff will have to expend effort in Communication with researchers. This will include
news postings, Web pages, knowledge-base articles, direct contact and other mechanisms to
ensure that PIs with storage needs are aware of the new requirements. Communication with the
xRAC reviewers will also be necessary.
5. Scaling
The proposed process is manageable for existing RPs. RPs added to the TeraGrid in the future
may decide to pursue a similar grace period and xRAC vetting process, wither on their own or via
consultation with the NSF.
6. Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Science Foundation Office of Cyberinfrastructure, grant
number 0503697 “ETF Grid Infrastructure Group: Providing System Management and Integration
for the TeraGrid,” and by the following additional grants:
 IU: This work was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0338618,
0504075, and 0451237. This research was supported in part by the Indiana METACyt
Initiative and the Indiana Genomics Initiative. The Indiana METACyt Initiative and the Indiana
Genomics Initiative of Indiana University are supported in part by Lilly Endowment, Inc. This
work was supported in part by Shared University Research grants from IBM, Inc. to Indiana
University as well as a hardware grant by STK, Inc. to Indiana University.
 SDSC: This work was supported at SDSC by the National Science Foundation under Grant
No. 0503944 and 038741.
stewart@iu.edu,kamratha@sdsc.edu
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TG-15: Proposed policy ready for RP Forum vote

May 10, 200
NCAR: The National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the National Science
Foundation. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this
publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National
Science Foundation.
7. Author Information
Craig Stewart
Associate Dean, Research Technologies
Chief Operating Officer, Pervasive Technology Labs
Office of the Vice President for Information Technology and CIO
Indiana University
601 E Kirkwood Ave
Bloomington IN 47405
stewart@iu.edu
Richard Moore (SDSC)
Division Director, Production Systems
University of California, San Diego
9500 Gilman Dr., MC 0505
La Jolla, CA 92093-0505
rlm@sdsc.edu
Thomas Bettge (NCAR)
National Center for Atmospheric Research
1850 Table Mesa Drive
Boulder, CO 80305
bettge@ucar.edu
David Hart (SDSC)
D. Scott McCaulay
University Information Technology Services
2711 E. Tenth Street
Bloomington, IN 47408-2671
smccaula@indiana.edu
Anke Kamrath (SDSC)
Division Director, User Services
University of California, San Diego
9500 Gilman Dr., MC 0505
La Jolla, CA 92093-0505
kamratha@sdsc.edu
David Hart (SDSC)
Assistant Director, User Services
University of California, San Diego
9500 Gilman Dr., MC 0505
La Jolla, CA 92093-0505
dhart@sdsc.edu
Stephen Simms
University Information Technology Services
2711 E. Tenth Street
Bloomington, IN 47408-2671
ssimms@indiana.edu
stewart@iu.edu,kamratha@sdsc.edu
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