Difference between revisions of "AuristorJustification"

Latest revision as of 16:32, 5 October 2020

OpenAFS (OAFS) Concept

OAFS is a distributed file system. Its principal components are ;

Database servers : provides information on authorization, and directory and file locations on file servers
File servers : stores all data in discrete "volumes", with associated quotas
Client software : connects OAFS clients to database servers and file servers over a network. Every client has access to every file in AFS, subject to the permissions attached to the identity of the user logged into the client

An OAFS "cell" is a group of database servers and file servers sharing the same cell name.

OAFS was designed for highly-distributed wide area network (WAN) use. A cell can be concentrated in one physical location, or be widely geographically dispersed. A client in one cell can be given various levels of access to the data in other cells.

The recent work-from-home scenarios highlight the need for remote access to home and project directory trees with strong access control.

OAFS software is a free and open source, dating from 2000.

AuriStorFS is a superset of OAFS.

OpenAFS History at NJIT

AFS was deployed at NJIT as a commercial product from 1995 to 2000, and as OAFS since 2000. It is deeply woven on a very large scale into NJIT's academics, research, web, database, other services, and systems administration.

The academic cell, cad.njit.edu, has about 27.3TB of research data, 5.2TB user data, and 1.5TB applications data, in about 37,600 volumes.

Decline of OAFS Community Support

Over the last several years, support of OAFS by volunteer programmers has declined, with consequences to security fixes, keeping current with operating systems, bug fixes, and the additions of needed features.

Proposed Use Of AuriStorFS

AuriStor [1] sells AuriStorFS, a commercial implementation of OAFS with important enhancements in performance, security, capacities, authorization, permissions, and administration. Performance and capacity enhancements are especially important in high performance computing (HPC), where there are already serious limitations in OAFS with respect to the number of files that can be in one directory, and read/write speeds to/from disk.

An AuriStor contract will provide security and bug fixes, support for current operating systems, new features as they become available, and technical support.

Due to the much greater efficiency of AuriStorFS file servers compared to OAFS file servers, far fewer than the current 30 file servers will be needed.

AuriStorFS Cost Schedule

AuriStorFS pricing is based on the number of cells, the number file servers and database servers in addition to base amounts, and the number of user identities in the cell.

Cell : $21,000/year
File server in addition to 4 file servers : $2,500/year
Database server in addition to 4 database servers : $2,500/year
Up to 15,000 user identities : $7,100/year
On-site consultant : $1.500 for 8 hours, plus travel and hotel

NJIT Cost for AuriStorFS

One cell : $21,000/year
4 file servers : N/C
4 data base servers : N/C
15,000 user identities : $7,100/year

Total yearly cost : $28,100

Notes

Based on usage experience, additional file servers may be needed.
To guarantee the successful cutover from OAFS to AuriStorFS, as well as to expedite this process, an on-site consultant should be budgeted for 2 8-hour days, at a one-time cost of $3,000 + travel from/to New York City. The first day would be for planning, the second day for the actual cutover.

Implementation

Consultation with AuriStor technical staff should be scheduled for early July 2020, with implementation of AuriStorFS planned for mid-July 2020.

It may be possible to perform the cutover from OAFS to AuriStorFS with no interruption at all of AFS services, depending on the outcome the meeting(s) with AuriStor technical staff.