Data Storage Services

Owned by Lisa Stafford, created
Last updated: Oct 31, 2023
2 min read
1 Overview | 2 ARCC Hosted Research Data Storage | 2.1 Alcova | 2.2 Pathfinder | 3 ARCC’s Data Management Related Services and Tools | 3.1 Globus | 3.2 SMB/CIFS Data Transfer over GUI - (AKA: “That’s right! I COULD just copy/paste”) | 3.3 Command Line Tools

Overview

This page is a gateway to UW ARCC hosted storage, along with links to other storage related topics, resources and services.

ARCC Hosted Research Data Storage

ARCC offers research data storage as a core service. We currently offer two data storage services catering to different use cases:

Alcova

Alcova is a high performance data storage service geared toward project-oriented data storage. This service allows researchers to reliably store and exchange data with anyone located anywhere in the world. Additionally, Alcova provides storage for published research data.

Pathfinder

Pathfinder is a low-cost storage solution that enables a Cloud-like presence for research data hosted by ARCC. ARCCs newest data storage system is Pathfinder. The system is built to be expandable and provides data protection. Its core functionality is hosting onsite backups as well as enabling data sharing and collaboration.

 

While not data storage, ARCC maintains a number of services and tools that can improve and automate data management, transfer, and/or sharing. These services are detailed below:

Globus

Globus is knowns as SaaS (Software as a Service) and may be used to share, transfer, and sync research files and data between repositories.
Globus comes in many flavors:

  • Globus Online (a web browser based platform)

  • Globus CLI (Command Line Interface)

  • Globus Connect Personal (A client installation available for Linux, Mac, and PC)

  • Globus Plus (An upgraded version of Globus allowing expanded functionality over personal Globus endpoints)

Detailed information for using Globus can be found here.


SMB/CIFS Data Transfer over GUI - (AKA: “That’s right! I COULD just copy/paste”)

With so many complicated terms an acronyms, sometimes we forget that you can still do things the way you’ve always done them.

To connect to our Beartooth or Alcova file shares the old fashion way, you can map or browse to them in file explorer on Windows, or Connect to Server on Mac. These methods will require an on-campus connection, or active connection to Wyosecure VPN. Click here for directions.

Command Line Tools

ARCC HPC allows for several command line tools for file and data management and transfer. These are listed below and links are provided detailing each tool’s specific use case and documentation.