Facilitated by Jisc
Open to staff from Janet-connected sites involved in network operations or in communities conducting data-intensive science
Monthly meetings via Teams
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.
How to join
Next community call: The data challenges of supporting world-class science with LSST
Date: 2pm on Friday 30th January 2025
Speaker: George Beckett, University of Edinburgh
We will be using Teams for this webinar.
Please register to attend in advance.
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
Abstract
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory is a new observatory in Northern Chile which, over the next 10 years, will capture the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) – the most detailed optical survey of the Southern Sky ever undertaken. The observatory is led by the US National Science Foundation and Department of Energy, but involves significant in-kind contributions from various international groups; including a consortium representing all UK astronomy departments, which is making one of the largest contributions.
When complete the survey will constitute around 400 Petabytes of images, catalogues, and scientific measurements, which will support the full range of astronomy research: everything from giving unprecedented insight into the make-up of dark energy through to cataloguing and measuring tens of thousands of previously undetected asteroids that travel through our solar system.
LSST is also an epic-scale computing challenge and will require a disparate set of data technologies and techniques to extract insight from the survey observations, mixing traditional analysis with leading-edge, artificial-intelligence techniques. Astronomers will access the survey via a small number of data Access centres including one here in the UK, headquartered in Edinburgh, but with an expectation to exploit services from across UKRI’s digital research Infrastructure.
In this talk, we describe and quantify some of the key data challenges facing the Rubin-UK team and highlight the opportunities for science to exploit the UK’s leadership-scale academic network and research-computing capabilities.
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.