Patricia Mergen, James Davy, André De Mûelenaere Royal Museum of Central Africa Tervuren, Belgium

Who we are Important, unique, multidisciplinary Institution focusing on the past and present societies and natural environments of Africa, in particular Central Africa.

Some Figures ! (2009) staff members ( 118 scientists) - Exhibitions : visitors - Education and Culture : participants - In the Media : 405 press releases and TV/Radio Shows

Some Facts ! Not just a Museum ! But also - a Research Institute, - a Library, - an Education Center, … Human SciencesBiologyEarth sciencesOthers - Archaeology - Ethnography - Colonial History - Contemporary History - Social Anthropology - Linguistics - Ethnomusicology - Vertebrates - Entomology - Invertebrates non-insects - Wood Biology - Molecular Biology - Biodiversity Information and Cybertaxonomy - General Geology - Cartography - Geochemistry - Isotope Geology - Geomorphology - Library - Collection Management - Publications - Education - Communication - Museology - ICT ….

10,000,000 animal specimens 6,000,000 insects 800,000 fish 400,000 19th century photos of Rwanda, Burundi and DR Congo 650 films about DR Congo, Rwanda and Burundi from 1940 to ,000 Rock samples 180,000 ethnographic objects 60,000 specimens of woody plants 40,000 aerial photographs 20,000 geological maps 16,000 minerals 8,000 musical instruments 4,000 works of art 2 km of historical archives (including over 10,000 letters and photographs, 88 diaries and notes of -among others- Stanley) Unique and priceless heritage !

Collection Human Sciences  TMS (The Museum System), commercial, licenses per user  Test Open Collection Archives (free systems with module for Natural Sciences, but not optimal …. Human Sciences

Natural Sciences (Earth and Biological Sciences) -Each unit its own system for collection management (MS SQL, PostgreSQL, Access, File Maker, Dbase, … - export to ICT in MS SQL  website for public - export to PostgreSQL  GBIF, GIS services … - Ongoing test of RBINS DarWIN 2 system for collection management - Projects ; VM machines with mirroring in NBGB (Meise), negotiation ongoning with NHML for external back-ups.

17/03/2011 André De Mûelenaere - ICT 8 Starting point : storage survey Based on the survey a several years ago, a total capacity of 22TB has been foreseen by the different sections of the RMCA : Based on the survey a several years ago, a total capacity of 22TB has been foreseen by the different sections of the RMCA : Existing storage : 9TB Existing storage : 9TB Geology : 3,5TB Geology : 3,5TB Musicology : 700GB Musicology : 700GB Publications : 100GB Publications : 100GB Zoology : 4,6TB Zoology : 4,6TB Linguistics : 1TB Linguistics : 1TB Collections Management : 2,6TB Collections Management : 2,6TB Administration : 30GB Administration : 30GB Africa institute : 65GB Africa institute : 65GB Prehistory : 105GB Prehistory : 105GB History : 278GB History : 278GB TOTAL 21986GB rounded up to 22TB TOTAL 21986GB rounded up to 22TB But was before BHL-Europe, Open Up!, Cartesius and areal Photographs projects !!!  need to scale up But was before BHL-Europe, Open Up!, Cartesius and areal Photographs projects !!!  need to scale up

17/03/2011 André De Mûelenaere - ICT 9 Virtualization using VMware Old situation : Old situation : VM1 : 12GB RAM, 10TB, 14 VM (2003) VM1 : 12GB RAM, 10TB, 14 VM (2003) VM2 : 12GB RAM, 200GB, 8 VM (2005) VM2 : 12GB RAM, 200GB, 8 VM (2005) VMi3 : 2GB RAM, 36GB, 1 VM (gift from FUNDP Namur) VMi3 : 2GB RAM, 36GB, 1 VM (gift from FUNDP Namur) VMi4 : 2GB RAM, 36GB, 1 VM (gift from FUNDP Namur) VMi4 : 2GB RAM, 36GB, 1 VM (gift from FUNDP Namur) VMi5 : 2GB RAM, 36GB, 1 VM (gift from FUNDP Namur) VMi5 : 2GB RAM, 36GB, 1 VM (gift from FUNDP Namur) VMi6 : 2GB RAM, 36GB, 1 VM (gift from FUNDP Namur) VMi6 : 2GB RAM, 36GB, 1 VM (gift from FUNDP Namur) New systems : New systems : Cluster of 4 physical servers : 4x16GB RAM with VMotion & DRS Cluster of 4 physical servers : 4x16GB RAM with VMotion & DRS SAN Storage : 5TB FC + 22TB SATAII SAN Storage : 5TB FC + 22TB SATAII Automated Backup library Automated Backup library Present situation : Present situation : All VM hosts (1-6) have been migrated onto the new SAN system All VM hosts (1-6) have been migrated onto the new SAN system SAN storage is available and ready to use, we have to put policies in place to start using it along with backup procedures SAN storage is available and ready to use, we have to put policies in place to start using it along with backup procedures

6 levels in the SAN configuration 17/03/2011 André De Mûelenaere - ICT 10 Storage Group RAID array LUN RAID array Datastore Virtual Disk Partition

Storage strategy FC disks vs SATAII disks vs backup tapes The SAN storage offers ca 22TB of raw SATAII disks, ca 5TB of raw FC disks and ca 37,5TB of raw tape storage (which can be extended with additional magazines) The SAN storage offers ca 22TB of raw SATAII disks, ca 5TB of raw FC disks and ca 37,5TB of raw tape storage (which can be extended with additional magazines) These storage can all be extended, there are still free slots in the SAN These storage can all be extended, there are still free slots in the SAN The raw storage has to be diminished with an appropriate number of Hot Spare disks (3 disks for the moment) The raw storage has to be diminished with an appropriate number of Hot Spare disks (3 disks for the moment) FC disks will be used for virtual machines that needs performance and fast access FC disks will be used for virtual machines that needs performance and fast access SATAII disks will be used to store low resolution copies of the digitized collections and frequently accessed archives SATAII disks will be used to store low resolution copies of the digitized collections and frequently accessed archives tapes storage will be used for the storage of huge original copies of digitized collections and not frequently accessed archives tapes storage will be used for the storage of huge original copies of digitized collections and not frequently accessed archives We need a strong policy to decide on which storage every data will be placed We need a strong policy to decide on which storage every data will be placed 17/03/2011 André De Mûelenaere - ICT 11

Conclusion and follow up We have now sufficient disk space for the core needs of our institution We have now sufficient disk space for the core needs of our institution We have to decide on which storage the sets of data will be placed We have to decide on which storage the sets of data will be placed Based on the policies we will put in place, the datas can be moved from one storage to another (typically from online towards nearline and offline storages) Based on the policies we will put in place, the datas can be moved from one storage to another (typically from online towards nearline and offline storages) Every section will be asked to define on which storage their datas will be placed and from that point we will be able to move forward and organize our datas and their access Every section will be asked to define on which storage their datas will be placed and from that point we will be able to move forward and organize our datas and their access 17/03/2011 André De Mûelenaere - ICT 12