Research Data Storage Service
Description
The Research Data Storage Service provides researchers with on campus access to secure, resilient and redundant storage replicated in two locations for protection. One of the three service options also offers off-site backup.
The service provides 3 tiers of online data storage offering a range of features and price points
All storage is accessible from Windows, Linux and Mac OSX via the NFS protocol
The storage is accessed via the wired network and is designed to provide highly available storage capacity
Cost
The service is chargeable in advance based on the service tier, amount and duration
Charges will be made as soon as the requested storage has been delivered
Service Options
|
Basic Tier |
Silver Tier |
Gold Tier |
Snapshots Provides protection against accidental deletion or overwriting of data, allowing user to restore files from up to two weeks ago. |
No |
Yes1 Maximum of 2 weeks |
Yes1 Maximum of 2 weeks |
Off-site Backups2 For further disaster recovery protection. |
No |
No |
Yes Maximum of 3 months |
Suggested use |
For research data which can be easily recreated or downloaded from another source. |
For research data which is not so easy to recreate if accidentally deleted or overwritten. |
For research data which is not easy to recreate, where additional recovery options are required. |
Cost per TB per year |
£221 |
£265 |
£409 |
1. Snapshots allow users to restore older versions of modified or deleted files from up to two weeks ago. This provides convenient, quick recovery from accidental deletion and a good level of data integrity for most classes of data, but won't fully protect against data loss. The number and period of snapshots retained depends on the volatility of your data (maximum of 2 weeks).
2. Backups are encrypted and stored in cloud data centres within the EU. Add information about backup policies.
Requestable Items
Requestable Item |
Description |
How |
Assistance with costings for research grant proposals |
Providing costings and justifications to be used at grant submission time. |
Advice from IT Business Partner or Research Services |
Allocation and configuration of storage |
Setting up the requested tiered storage to allow the researcher to access from their chosen device (Windows, OSX, Linux) Once you have funding in place (either via research grant funding, or other source). |
Contact IT Business Partner You will need to provide details of the storage required, duration and the account code to be charged. |
User Access Management |
Configure access for authorised data users |
Contact IT Business Partner, referencing share name |
Expansion of existing storage |
Increase in the capacity of existing storage and appropriate charging |
Contact IT Business Partner, referencing share name |
Extension of storage term |
Extend the storage agreement |
Contact IT Business Partner, referencing share name |
Recovery of files from off-site backup (included in the annual charge for Gold Tier only) |
Recovering files from back up |
Contact IT Business Partner, referencing share name |
Service Limitations
Accessible on UK campuses wired network only (excluding Halls)
IT does not provide assistance in managing research data (see http://www.reading.ac.uk/internal/res/ResearchDataManagement/DataManagementPlanning/reas-DataManPlanning.aspx)
Subject to:
- Minimum subscription term of 1 month
- Minimum capacity of 0.5TB
- Minimum size increments of 0.5TB
Changing the storage tier will require a new subscription
Contiguous storage space cannot be guaranteed where storage is expanded
Please contact your IT Business Partner for advice if you need research compute services to help you analyse large datasets.
Restrictions
Storage is for research data only and is chargeable (see Service Options above).
The system is not designed for intensive processing of large volumes of data. If in doubt please contact your IT Business Partner.
IT may contact any share owners with sustained high or atypical usage to discuss their requirements and storage options. IT reserve the right to limit or throttle the service as required to maintain service levels for all users.
IT Responsibilities
Provision of storage, ensuring demands for capacity requirements are met.
Ensuring the data is highly available and protected against server room or server failure.
Customer Responsibilities
The principal researcher is responsible for following the Regulations for the Use of the University of Reading's IT Facilities and Systems when storing data on the research data storage systems.
Ensuring funding is available to cover the storage costs for the duration of the life of the research data.
Recovery of files from snapshots (Silver and Gold Tiers only).
Service Dependencies
This service depends on Estates and Facilities, who provide services essential to the functioning of the University's data centres.
Service Hours
Service Hours |
The service will be available 24/7, subject to the normal at risk period |
Support Hours |
Support will be provided in accordance with the standard IT service desk hours |
Weekly Maintenance Window |
The service will be at risk during the normal IT at risk period |
Service Level Targets
The Service Level Targets can be found in the generic Service Level Agreement Document details to follow.
How to Request This Service
This service is available to all University researchers. Initial use should be discussed with an IT Business Partner in the first instance.
Service Owner and Contact details
The main point of Contact |
Service Desk. (ext 6262, Self Service Portal) |
The Service Owner: |
Academic Compute Team Manager |
Escalations
The Table below shows the escalation routes for Service based issues for this Service
|
IT |
User |
Level 1 |
Service Desk |
Service Desk |
Level 2 |
IT Business Service Owner |
User's area IT representative (eg HoS)? |
Level 3 |
IT Directors Group |
Business Partner |