ASTRONOMY

As even the larger European countries could not afford to build a laboratory as big as CERN, so in 1954 the centre was founded as one of Europe's first joint ventures and today it counts 20 member states in its ranks. CERN provides the 10,000 scientists who work there with the tools necessary for their research, and developments at CERN have boosted, or provided the catalyst for research into cancer therapy, medical and industrial imaging, electronics, new manufacturing processes, along with the development of the World-Wide Web. These are just some of the many technologies with which CERN have been involved. CERN's data storage infrastructure includes mainly a NAS-like set up: many applications rely on Linux PC servers, each with 5 to 14TB of SATA discs in a RAID configuration, currently providing more than 7,000TB of usable capacity. However, for more demanding applications, in particular for the metadata describing the contents of the bulk storage systems, CERN uses databases implemented as Oracle Real Application Clusters. Five instances each consist of about 30 PC servers with no local storage and about 30 RAID subsystems connected by a redundant Fibre Channel network. In addition, tapes and external RAID systems are used for backup, archiving and long term data retention. "As a leading research centre in the world, CERN must provide its scientists with best-in-class IT facilities around the clock, seven days a week, and, although the volume of data generated at the laboratory grows incessantly we cannot compromise on performance and reliability when we add capacity," said Dr Helge Meinhard, Technical Co-ordinator for Server Procurement, IT Department at CERN. "Infortrend's EonStor was the solution to tick all the boxes. A key point was that it also provided us with the ability to access the RAID storage from a number of different servers." This was a very important requirement for CERN. The IT Department at CERN aimed at ensuring the research team had the best possible systems to work with, whilst working within a strict budget and tight deadlines. The Infortrend EonStor RAID subsystems provide the CERN team with an excellent compromise between cost, reliability and technical features. In addition, the ease of use of the systems provided by the front panel LCD display was particularly important before the introduction of the central management facility. All of the benefits were further enhanced by comprehensive technical support provided by Infortrend's technical team. "The CERN IT team demanded that the chosen vendor met a very strict list of criteria and the Infortrend products were comprehensively evaluated versus a number of other established RAID manufacturers; this is a very competitive market, especially when it comes to such high-profile customers. Therefore, we are very pleased to have been selected to help further the course of science," said Rick Dudson, Director of Sales at Infortrend Europe.