Persistent Archives Research: A Project in the Virtual Archives Laboratory
One of the research projects in the Virtual Archives Laboratory (VAL) is the Persistent Archives project. This research is a joint partnership between NARA, the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) and the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies (UMIACS) to design and test an architecture for a Federated Persistent Archives. The architecture addresses the requirements for large scale, long term preservation of electronic records.
The Persistent Archives research at NARA focuses on developing the attributes of a persistent system that will continue to operate over a long period of time and is primarily concerned with the issues of scalability, extensibility, and evolvability. In keeping with these aims, the Virtual Archives Laboratory provides a safe, secure environment suitable for testing prototype persistent archives applications and systems.
Cutting Edge Technology and Forward-Focused Initiatives
The prototype system leverages the SDSC's Storage Resource Broker technology (SRB), (a middleware application that uses grid and metadata technologies to transparently manage data), and the metadata catalog (MCAT) to manage NARA designated data collections. ERA has elected to use SDSC's InQuisitor (InQ) interface to manage files. The system makes the storage and retrieval of the data at these locations transparent to users. One of the key features of the SRB is that it is designed to be scalable, modular and infrastructure independent.
Using these technologies, ERA research has set up a prototype system that runs off of servers at NARA, SDSC, and UMIACS. Over the course of the first phase of this initiative, several terabytes of data collections will be ingested, registered and replicated among the three sites over high speed connections.
Research Partnerships
Partnerships are an important part of the Research program. We have established key partnerships with Federal agencies, state and local governments, universities, other national archives, the scientific community, and private industry, including: the National Science Foundation, SDSC, UMIACS, Georgia Institute of Technology, Army Research Laboratory, Digital Library Federation, Department of Defense, Global Grid Forum, Institute of Electrical & Electronic Engineers, International Research on Permanent Authentic Records in Electronic Systems, Library of Congress, NASA, National Computational Science Alliance, and NIST.
ERA will use the VAL to test products in the marketplace and as a vehicle to gather research knowledge.
Page Last Updated: 07/08/08
