Ceph High-Performance Storage Cluster

使用低温电子显微镜（cryo-EM）、低温电子断层扫描（cryo-ET）、用于高分辨率脑成像（连接组学）的连续切片扫描电子显微镜、基因组和单细胞的DNA测序以及光片显微镜的尖端科学产生了越来越多的数据量。这些数据使许多新的发现成为可能，但它们的数量造成了重大的技术问题，因为数据需要存储，处理和分析才能变得有用。在LMB，我们每年都会生成数PB的高价值科学数据集，这些数据集通常需要存储、处理和分析几个月，然后才能发布和存档。这些数据集的大小在存储和处理它们方面产生了独特的技术问题。首先，存储系统需要有足够的容量，以便能够同时容纳许多数据集，因为存储系统为整个LMB提供服务。其次，处理和分析大多数时候使用LMB的并行计算集群，这需要存储系统快速并且同时可从数百到数千个计算节点进行并行访问。出于这些目的，我们建议投资一个满足所有这些标准的大型Ceph集群存储系统，同时最大限度地提高成本效益，并且没有供应商锁定。Ceph是社区驱动的，并由其他具有大量数据需求的科学组织（如瑞士日内瓦的CERN）使用和支持。

Cutting edge science using cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM), cryo electron tomography (cryo-ET), serial-section scanning electron microscopy as used in high-resolution brain imaging (connectomics), DNA sequencing of genomes and single cells and light sheet microscopy produces ever increasing amounts of data. These data are enabling many new discoveries, but their volume creates signficant technical problems since the data need to be stored, processed and analysed to become useful. At the LMB, we generate multiple petabytes of high-value scientific datasets each year and these datasets often need to be stored, processed and analysed for several months before they can be published and then archived. The very size of these datasets creates unique technical problems in storing and processing them. First, the storage system needs to have enough capacity to be able to hold many datasets at once, since the storage system serves the entire LMB. Second, processing and analysis most of the time use the LMB's parallel compute cluster that requires the storage system to be fast and acessible from hundreds to thousands of compute nodes at the same time, for their parallel access. For these purposes we propose to invest in a large Ceph cluster storage system that fulfils all of these criteria, while being maximally cost effective, and without vendor lock-in. Ceph is comminity driven and used and supported by other scientific organisations with large data requirements such as CERN in Geneva, Switzerland.