GOCDB Regionalisation Plans

Regionalisation Plans

Introduction

Our future plans for regionalisation are described here. To see our cur current regionalisation status please visit GOCDB4 Regionalisation Status.

Separate EGI and Non-EGI Data (Data Grouping/Scoping)

• Confirmed Development

A GOCDB instance needs to differentiate between EGI and non-EGI data. A new group named EGI will be created along with tools to insert / remove data to and from a specified group. With this functionality in place NGIs will be able to store and retrieve both local and EGI level sites in the central GOCDB. (This plan is from "Design A" in https://rt.egi.eu/rt/Ticket/Display.html?id=943#txn-52051).

Notes:

• This will require GUI enhancements, allowing sites to opt-in or opt-out of the EGI group, and new request parameters for restricting the PI queries based on group memberships (e.g. “method=get_site_list_by_group&group=EGI” or “&group=local” or “&group=any”).
• This development is a pre-requisite in order to subsequently publish the appropriate data for #Regional<-->Central Synchronisation.

Use Cases:

• Users can selectively include/exclude sites/SEs from the from the whole EGI infrastructure as required, providing extensible data visibility/scoping according to groupings.

Regional GOCDB (Standalone)

• Confirmed Development

We will continue to release a standalone instance of the GOCDB for regional NGI use. This regional instance will be supported regardless of other developments. We will ensure that future developments don't conflict with requirements from NGIs by capturing the NGIs requirements.

Use Cases:

• Customisable by NGIs
• Support available centrally

Regional<-->Central Synchronisation

• Potential Development

One potential long term goal for GOCDB is to synchronise regional data with the central instance.

This would allow NGIs to deploy their own GOCDB, customise it and publish EGI data (constrained by XML schema) to the central portal. Publishing of this data would have to be transactional, most probably via a schema constrained WS/REST interface (preferable over asynch messaging which would require response queues + ACKs). The central portal would be the definitive source for all EGI information.

Notes:

• It may be necessary to have two-way synchronisation, where the central instance would also update regional instances: https://rt.egi.eu/rt/Ticket/Display.html?id=1094.
• NGI extensions and custom data would not be synchronized with the central GOCDB, therefore;
• #Separate EGI and Non-EGI Data (Data Grouping/Scoping) is necessary in order to publish the appropriate data.

Use Cases:

• NGIs customise their own GOCDB
• Single access point to input both EGI and non-EGI data, and query data.
• Central operators would need to override data published by regional GOCDBs (for https://rt.egi.eu/rt/Ticket/Display.html?id=1094)

Central Customisations

• Potential Development?

One potential development is implementing regional customisations centrally. The customisations would be visible only to specified NGIs through the grouping tools developed in "Separate EGI and Non-EGI Data".

This plan is preferable if the effort to implement NGI customisation requests is less than the effort to develop and support a synchronisation mechanism and support the NGIs in implementing the customisations themselves.

A regional non-synchronising GOCDB would still be available for NGIs with esoteric requirements.

Use Cases

• NGIs can specify custom functionality
• Customisations sharing
• User visits one portal to input both EGI and non-EGI data
• NGIs don't need to provide GOCDB effort