Speaker
Description
Detailed analysis
StoRM is a storage resource manager implementing the SRM interface version 2.2. It is designed to work on generic disk based storage systems separating the data management layer from the underlying storage systems. StoRM provides a flexible, configurable, scalable and high performance SRM solution. It supports standard Grid access protocols as well as direct access (native POSIX I/O call, that is "file://" protocol) on data fostering the integration of non Grid aware application providing local access on shared storage. Another important characteristic of StoRM is the it doesn't use a database to store the namespace, as done by other implementations as dCache and DPM, but uses an algorithm working only in memory. The physical location of a requested data is computed without querying any database service but evaluating a configuration file, an XML schema that describes the storage namespace and input parameters as the logical identifier and SRM attributes. Indeed, StoRM relies on the underlying file system structure to identify the physical data position. For this reason we consider StoRM a solution which is efficient and reliable.
Impact
Being able to use the file protocol allows to use the now increasingly popular cluster file systems like GPFS and Luster. The jobs can directly access the files needed without having to transfer them to the local disk space. The advantage in terms of performance and network load is very great. StoRM's architecture also allows a simple scaling model, as it is possible to add Front-End components if needed, making StoRM usable even in large centers such as the Tier-1. One of the last feature is developed to support hierarchical storage solution when they are configured as GPFS and TSM. This is the solution adopted by the Italian Tier-1.
Conclusions and Future Work
StoRM project will be part of EMI,and so it will be supported as a software solution in the European grid middleware. Moreover, a special focus will be placed in ensuring the fulfillment of any new requirements coming from the many users who are using, or will adopt, StoRM as a solution.
| URL for further information | http://storm.forge.cnaf.infn.it |
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| Keywords | SRM, Storage Element |
