1. Jens G Jensen CCLRC/RAL AHM Nottingham 2005Storage Middleware HEPiX Meta-Summary (and Storage Middleware) Jens Jensen GridPP16 QMUL 27-29 June 2006

2. Jens G Jensen CCLRC/RAL AHM Nottingham 2005Storage Middleware SRM status dCache @ HEPiX –Both Patrick Fuhrmann and Michael Ernst attended –Chimera should improve database Remove need to du PNFS No DPM @ HEPiX (except for GridPP talks)

3. Jens G Jensen CCLRC/RAL AHM Nottingham 2005Storage Middleware dCache features Promised SRM 2.1 again –We need to test Because we can Improve 2.2 maturity PNFS cleanup promised xrootd in beta, no security VOMS ready for testing Performance –Good transfer rates –Scales to large numbers of files –Scales to large files –Can improve requests rate ( DESY ~50, T1 ~11 )

4. Jens G Jensen CCLRC/RAL AHM Nottingham 2005Storage Middleware Procurement Procure by specint, rather than by number of boxen Maximise performance/running-costs ratio –Running costs = power –Opteron vs Xeon, 2cores vs hyperthreading, brand names, blade systems Fast parallelism – debugging/algorithms

5. Jens G Jensen CCLRC/RAL AHM Nottingham 2005Storage Middleware CPU FNAL running 32 and 64 bit software on 64 bit CPU –32 bit apps on 64 bit OS can improve performance SL will support x86_64 but not IA64

6. Jens G Jensen CCLRC/RAL AHM Nottingham 2005Storage Middleware Storage Tape vs disk –Adapt easilier to customer demand with tape –Easy to expand (cost of media) –HSM facilitate utilisation –Different mechanics Distributed filesystems –Security –Performance –Applicability

7. Jens G Jensen CCLRC/RAL AHM Nottingham 2005Storage Middleware Filesystems Most SEs performance improve with XFS –But XFS not supported in SL Look at journaling file systems –Size of code –Maturity of code –Application to small/large files –Fragmentation and extents –Size of developer base –Width of deployment –Reports of stability and robustness –Performance

8. Jens G Jensen CCLRC/RAL AHM Nottingham 2005Storage Middleware Loose ends Good GridPP representation –Technical talks on storage and data transfer and optimisation and monitoring Randall Sobie from IHEPCCC interested in non-HEP use of HEP Grid –Told him about biomed running on GridPP SL4 discussions – roadmap Networking – GARR (Italian NREN) –Repromised reservations

9. Jens G Jensen CCLRC/RAL AHM Nottingham 2005Storage Middleware Authentication Enough interest to keep as track OTP implementation integrated at BNL Certificates and Kerberos at CERN –Windows integrated Certificates and Kerberos (Active Directory) at RAL

10. Jens G Jensen CCLRC/RAL AHM Nottingham 2005Storage Middleware HEPiX references More technical summary at spring hepsysman http://hepwww.rl.ac.uk/sysman/may2006/agenda.html HEPiX web site –http://hepix.caspur.it/spring2006/agenda.php

11. Jens G Jensen CCLRC/RAL AHM Nottingham 2005Storage Middleware CASTOR Finally seems to stabilise Upgraded yesterday –SRM not working yet – different problem this time Being tested by CMS (Thanks Dave N!) Developer version vs ops version –And the CERN strange loops –Support from developers, not ops Needs site expertise to run and diagnose

12. Jens G Jensen CCLRC/RAL AHM Nottingham 2005Storage Middleware Recommendations for Allocations Ongoing between storage group and UB –Very good input & response from (subset of) UB Provide canonical ratio of storage –Most sites have storage shortfall –Absolute number unimportant Physical allocations –So support the large site VOs physically –The rest can share the allocation

13. Jens G Jensen CCLRC/RAL AHM Nottingham 2005Storage Middleware Recommendations for Allocation Alternatives to physics brainstormed –Ask for quotas implemented –Make (some) SRM2 spaces do quotas –Smallish allocations that can be reallocated –Use soft or filesystem quotas –Cheat: publish only appropriate fraction as free Recommendations document –2 nd draft in prepn

14. Jens G Jensen CCLRC/RAL AHM Nottingham 2005Storage Middleware Monitoring Need to monitor more than SFT –SFT does local SE only –Depends on availability of CE Asked Dave Kant to deploy a test –Currently runs put, get, advDel

15. Jens G Jensen CCLRC/RAL AHM Nottingham 2005Storage Middleware Metrics Space available Space used –Files in permanent storage Number of files written, read Data rates –But those depend on other stuff

16. Jens G Jensen CCLRC/RAL AHM Nottingham 2005Storage Middleware Storage Middleware in GridPP3 DPM –~year old, also SRM –Very small developer/support team dCache –Mature, but SRM 2s not deployed yet CASTOR –Lots of recent changes with new stager –RAL has run HEAD till recently which is probably not a good idea –Support issues

17. Jens G Jensen CCLRC/RAL AHM Nottingham 2005Storage Middleware Software Maturity Disk cache Grid FTP SRM 1.1 SRM 2.1 SRM 2.2 DPM~1 year 0 years dCache~10 years Java simple Simple ~1year 0 years -1 years CASTORLarge rewrite Globus wuftpd Simple ~1year 6m un tested 0 years

18. Jens G Jensen CCLRC/RAL AHM Nottingham 2005Storage Middleware Support Support is often reactive –Queries are expected to come in –Admins (or users) are expected to submit them Proactive during SRM deployment –Bugging admins –Sending support people out to help admins Support for deployment –Is more proactive; need to align with releases

19. Jens G Jensen CCLRC/RAL AHM Nottingham 2005Storage Middleware Support Carrots and sticks –Some admins go solo –Dont benefit from existing experience Optimising, setup, filesystems,… Needs much more effort to do a good job –SEs often remain broken in weird setups Storage support in GridPP3 –Seems to be entirely reactive –No way to influence deployment

20. Jens G Jensen CCLRC/RAL AHM Nottingham 2005Storage Middleware Support How to proactivate –The Stick (LCG monitoring accounting – uptime) Escalation … ? –Work with DB and dteam –Superheroes (faster than a speeding bullet) Focus on essential SRM implementations –dCache, DPM, CASTOR

21. Jens G Jensen CCLRC/RAL AHM Nottingham 2005Storage Middleware Storage Group Mailing list –~50 members Weekly phone conf –Core group ~7-10 Loads of wiki stuff Publications Presentations and dissemination Special thanks to core: Edinburgh: Greig Glasgow: Graeme Durham: Mark Lancaster: Matt, Brian RAL Tier1: Derek RAL Storage: Owen, Jiri

22. Jens G Jensen CCLRC/RAL AHM Nottingham 2005Storage Middleware Standardisation SRM working group –SRM is the protocol –All implementations are represented LCG data management –Cover interactions with higher layer gin-data –Organisation formerly known as GGF –Currently not high priority, SRB and SRM islands remain separate

23. Jens G Jensen CCLRC/RAL AHM Nottingham 2005Storage Middleware NGS convergence Is happening more in SRM than SRB (storage) NGS deploying SRM – DPM –Oxford (OK) –IC LeSC, Belfast, Soton –64 bit kit, recompiling on Solaris, etc. Dedicated mailing list ETF-SRM We provide support

24. Jens G Jensen CCLRC/RAL AHM Nottingham 2005Storage Middleware Problems Unreachable disk –What does available mean Meeting experiment CPU/storage ratios Can we prevent people from shooting themselves in the foot Accounting != rocket science, but needs higher priority