High Performance Clustered Storage for Image Management

描述（由申请人提供）：项目概述/摘要我们建议购买并运行一个高性能存储集群，作为波士顿地区多个机构的研究人员的共享资源。存储集群将根据越来越多的参与高通量活细胞和固定细胞成像、基于细胞的筛选（“高含量筛选”）和自动图像分析（“机器视觉”）的显微镜专家的需求进行定制。具体项目包括创建“数字鱼”，以电子形式捕捉斑马鱼的发育历史，正常细胞和转化细胞中信号转导电路的快速细胞分析，微管蛋白和肌动蛋白细胞骨架的斑点显微镜和大规模RNAi筛选参与苍蝇发育的新基因。拟议的存储集群的主要用户目前依赖于HMS IT提供的通用网络附加存储，缺乏下一代成像项目所需的容量和性能。由EMC Celerra NAS组成的现有基础设施已经达到了绝对的设计极限，并且过于繁琐和昂贵而无法扩展。相比之下，建议的120 TB IQ12000x-EX存储集群（来自华盛顿州西雅图市的Isilon公司）代表了复杂性和成本之间的理想权衡，并且可扩展到3pb。Isilon通过将标准硬件与专有的、高度优化的操作系统和执行文件系统、卷管理器和RAID管理器功能的软件堆栈相连接，实现了低成本和高性能。Isilon集群的高级功能将使多个位置的用户能够在直观和无缝的用户环境中存储和管理图像数据。该产品非凡的简单性也将减轻HMS IT人员科学家和存储管理人员的现有负担。拟议的Isilon集群的总体好处是，它将解决主要用户对更多基于磁盘的计算机存储的迫切需求，显著提高这些用户管理可用空间的能力，并支持不断增长的新用户社区。数据存储和处理对于光学显微镜和图像分析的创新越来越重要。因此，建立Isilon集群的科学依据是强有力的，而且迫切需要。此外，这台机器是由美国的一个行业设计和制造的，而这个行业目前正经历着需求的迅速下降；因此，我们将帮助维持美国在经济部门的就业，这对科学计算的未来至关重要。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Project Summary/Abstract We propose to purchase and operate a high performance storage cluster as a shared resource for investigators at multiple institutions in the Boston area. The storage cluster will be customized to the needs of a growing community of microscopists involved in high throughput live and fixed-cell imaging, cell-based screening ("high content screening") and automated image analysis ("machine vision"). Specific projects include creation of a "digital fish" that captures in electronic form the development history of Zebrafish, rapid cell-based analysis of signal transduction circuits in normal and transformed cells, speckle microscopy of the tubulin and actin cytoskeleton and large-scale RNAi screening for new genes involved in fly development. The major users of the proposed storage cluster currently rely on a general purpose, network attached storage provided by HMS IT that lacks the capacity and performance needed for next-generation imaging projects. The existing infrastructure, consisting of EMC Celerra NAS has reached its absolute design limits and is too cumbersome and expensive to expand. In contrast, the proposed 120 TB IQ12000x-EX Storage Cluster (from Isilon Inc, Seattle WA) represents the ideal tradeoff between sophistication and cost, and is expandable to >3 petabytes. The Isilon achieves its low cost and high performance by linking standard hardware to proprietary, highly optimized operating systems and software stacks that perform the funcitons of a filesystem, volume manager, and RAID manager. The advanced features in the Isilon cluster will make it possible for users at multiple locations to store and manage image data within an intuitive and seamless user environment. The remarkable simplicity of the product will also ease the existing burden on staff scientists and storage managers in HMS IT. The overall benefit of the proposed Isilon cluster is that it will address an acute requirement for more disc-based computer storage among major users, increase dramatically the ability of these users to manage the space that is available and support a growing community of new users. Data storage and processing are increasingly critical for innovation in optical microscopy and image analysis. The scientific rationale for the Isilon Cluster is therefore strong and the need immediate. Moreover, the machine is designed and manufactured in the United States by an industry that is currently experiencing rapidly falling demand; thus, we will help to sustain a US- based employment in a sector of the economy that is critical to the future of scientific computing. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Large scale live and fixed cell microscopy is playing an increasingly important role in cell biology, gene identification and drug discovery. Next generation imaging projects are as dependent on the computer systems that manage and process digital data as they are on the microscopes used to collect data. The sophisticated, expandable and US-manufactured clustered computer storage system requested in this proposal is necessary for continued innovation in the laboratories of a user group known nationally for its expertise in microscopy, and to meet the growing needs of a large community of investigators new to digital microscopy.