VOSpace user guide

Abstract

The initial idea from which we started was to provide users with a tool to be able to easily recover their data previously stored into a tape library. The project structure then evolved into something more complex and led to the development of a VOSpace implementation compliant with the IVOA VOSpace specification[1]. The current VOSpace allows users to store and retrieve data using local, hot and cold storage points: • a local storage point stores data uploaded through the VOSpace User Interface • hot and cold storage points store data uploaded asynchronously using a transfer node. Both local and hot storage points rely on the Lustre[2] parallel file system. Retrieving data from a local storage point is immediate since users just have to launch a download, so this operation is synchronous. Conversely, data stored into hot or cold storage points must be retrieved asynchronously. More precisely, the VOSpace creates symbolic links to make data available from hot storage points. In this way there is no need to perform a copy. Data stored into cold storage points (e.g. a tape library), instead, must be recalled. This report describes all the operations and the functionalities of the current INAF VOSpace implementation from the user point of view.