Ceph Storage Research Core

The Center for Research Computing is excited to introduce new storage services at Kennesaw State University, aimed at supporting our researchers.

  • The size of the new storage is around 4.3PB.
  • 30% of the storage is shared with the Open Science Data Federation (OSDF) so that the researchers can share their datasets.
  • The shared storage can be used for sharing datasets with your private collaborators or publicly.
  • There is no specified data size limit for storage on the OSDF.
  • 70% of the storage will be used for KSU researchers only. 
  • This local storage has a cost of $28 per TB/year.
  • Researchers who lack funding may apply for vouchers.
KSU Ceph Storage Notes

Storage on the KSU Ceph storage is organized by project.  A PI is required to request the storage in 1 TB increments.  The storage can be accessed via your computer (Mac, Windows or LInux) through a networked SMB share. 

Each project will have three directories: users, repository, workplace. A user folder is created for each user under the users directory to be accessed by that user only. The PI has access (read/write) to all directories. Repository can be only written by the PI but accessible (read) only group members. Workplace can be read or written by all group members.

  • A private project directory is created for the project where the PI owns all the data in the three sub-directories of the project:
    • Project example: \\cephprdsmb01\projects\ProjectName\
    • A user account can be created for the PI and other users
      • User example: \\cephprdsmb01\projects\ProjectName\users\NetID
    • A shared repository directory writeable only by the PI
      • Repository example: \\cephprdsmb01\projects\ProjectName\repository
    • A shared workspace directory where project members can read and write
      • Workspace example: \\cephprdsmb01\projects\ProjectName\workspace

The KSU side of the Ceph research data cluster is not meant for storing sensitive or confidential data.  While the storage uses erasure encoding to help prevent loss during disk failures, the storage is not backed up, so there are risks to using this storage as your only long-term archive storage.  Please keep other copies of your data elsewhere.  The Office of Resarch and the Center for Research Computing are not responsible for lost data.

To request access to a KSU Ceph Storage space
  1. Create a billable account or request a voucher with the Research Core Billable Account form.
  2. Add Ceph storage service to your account with the Research Core Service Request form.
  3. Add users to the service with the Research Core Service Management form.

Note: Faculty PI can request others persons to have a user account within the project.  This will also get them access to the workspace (r/w) and the repository (read only).

Accessing your KSU Ceph Storage space

Instructions are available to access the KSU portion of the Ceph cluster for Windows, Mac, Linux and HPC users.

OSDF Ceph Storage Notes

The OSDF side of the Ceph cluster can be used for free when you have storage needs with parties external to KSU.  If you already have an OSDF namespace, see our Ceph-Pelican guide.

Contact Tom Boyle or Ramazan Aygun to get a namespace for your project.

To get access to the KSU Ceph Storage
  1. Create a billable account or request a voucher with the Research Core Billable Account form.
  2. Add Ceph storage service to your account with the Research Core Service Request form.
  3. Add users to the service with the Research Core Service Management form.

Note: Faculty PI can request others persons to have a user account within the project.  This will also get them access to the workspace (r/w) and the repository (read only).

General Storage Documentation

If you are not familiar with the many solutions available at KSU for storing, accessing and sharing data, please look at the KSU Storing Dating and Sharing information from UITS.

If you are not familiar with the USG's data security regulations, please look at USG Data Governance and Management information.

General Storage Solutions from KSU UITS

Other Storage research based offerings can be found on our Resources page, under Storage.

For storage available to all KSU Faculty, Staff and Students, see the UITS Data Management page.  The Data Storage Matrix there is especially useful.

UITS Knowledge base also offers guidance on KSU storage and software.