iRODS User Group Meeting 2021

June 8 – 11, 2021 (All Day)
  • Online

Automating Data Management Flows with iRODS and Globus

Major research instruments operating at ever higher resolutions are generating orders of magnitude more data in relatively short timeframes. As a result, the research enterprise is increasingly challenged by what should be mundane tasks: describing data for downstream discovery and making the data accessible (often with appropriate access controls) to the broader research community. The ad hoc methods currently employed place undue burden on scientists and system administrators alike, and it is clear that a more robust, scalable approach is required.

The Globus platform-as-a-service (PaaS) and, specifically, the Globus Flows service is increasingly used to easily build and execute automated data flows in this context. We will describe how Globus platform services may be used in conjunction with iRODS's robust storage capabilities to facilitate automated flows that: (a) stage data to intermediate storage, (b) extract and ingest metadata into an index for downstream discovery, and (c) manage access permissions to allow secure sharing of the data with collaborators. We will use a Jupyter notebook to demonstrate how Globus services are combined in this scenario, providing attendees with actionable code that may be easily repurposed for their needs. We will also illustrate how such an automated flow can feed into downstream data portals, science gateways, and data commons, enabling search and discovery of data by the broader community.