Research network engineering (RNE) community group
A community for sharing best practices in building network infrastructures to support cutting edge research.
Facilitated by Jisc
Open to staff from Janet-connected sites involved in network operations or in communities conducting data-intensive science
Monthly meetings via Zoom
About the community
Researchers at Janet-connected sites often have challenging network requirements. One notable case is an ever-increasing need for them to move large volumes of data to other organisations on the Janet Network or beyond.
The systems and network engineering knowledge required to design, build and operate effective platforms for such data transfers is not insignificant.
The broad aim of the RNE community is to discuss and share best practices in research networking, bringing together those with experience in the area with those who may be new to the subject, along with engineers and performance specialists from Jisc.
Topics might include examples of Science DMZ implementations, how to gather network performance measurements, and comparisons of software transfer tools. Ultimately, we hope to enable all Jisc members to make optimal use of their Janet connection to support their research requirements.
Aims of the community
Our aims are to:
- Present and discuss examples of network engineering practices in support of research
- Discuss the tools, software and concepts behind Science DMZ principles
- Arrange and report on data transfer tests in varying scenarios
- Explore new technical solutions
- Foster collaboration between communities, within Janet and internationally
These aims will be discussed and updated at the group's first meeting. The RNE community will meet on a regular, monthly basis to allow members to share and discuss ideas, best practices and any issues they face.
Who should join
The community is open to:
- Network managers
- Campus network engineers
- Campus IT staff supporting data intensive research
- Members of research communities seeking to share large volumes of data
No prior experience in the area is assumed.
Join the community group
To get involved, submit the research network engineering community registration request form.
Next community call
Scientific data management with Rucio
Date and time: Friday 25 October 2024 at 2pm BST
Our speakers are Martin Barisits (CERN) and Tim Noble (STFC).
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
Abstract
Rucio is a project developed at CERN to manage data from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). It provides services and associated libraries for allowing scientific collaborations to manage large heterogenous volumes of data spread across facilities at multiple institutions and organisations.
The biggest Rucio installation for LHC’s ATLAS experiment is responsible for more than 1 exabyte of data, stored in a billion files, distributed over 120 data centres globally. Rucio is also used for many other large scale science projects, including the SKA, Vera Rubin, Belle II, VIRGO, LIGO and DUNE.
Rucio is policy driven. Users declare what data is needed and where. Rucio then orchestrates data movement until the declarations are satisfied. It supports distributed management to ensure no unique point of failure, with automatic rebalancing and data replication. As we heard in a previous RNE talk last year, it is well integrated with CERN’s FTS, but is loosely coupled to the point of being able to work with other storage transfer tools.
In this RNE session, Rucio team leader and architect Martin Barisits of CERN will describe Rucio - what it is, how it works, and how you can deploy and use it to manage distributed data for your project. We will then hear Tim Noble of STFC present on his experience of deploying multi-virtual organisation (VO) Rucio at RAL and offer his thoughts and advice on how Rucio can benefit other VOs and projects.
We’ll ensure plenty of time for discussion.
Past event resources
For access to past slide decks and meeting recordings please join the Teams community.
By request: If you would like a copy of any materials used at any of our RNE community calls, please email Tim Chown (tim.chown@jisc.ac.uk)
Find out more
If you have any questions about the community please email the community facilitators at netperf@jisc.ac.uk
To hear about RNE community news and events, or to discuss ideas or challenges you may have with other members of the community, sign up to the JiscMail list.