Data Reservoir: utilization of multi-gigabit backbone network for data-intensive research

We propose data sharing facility for data intensive scientific research, "Data Reservoir"; which is optimized to transfer huge amount of data files between distant places fully utilizing multi-gigabit backbone network. In addition, "Data Reservoir" can be used as an ordinary UNIX server in local network without any modification of server softwares. We use low-level protocol and hierarchical striping to realize (1) separation of bulk data transfer and local accesses by caching, (2) file-system transparency, i.e. interoperable whatever in higher layer than disk driver, including file system. (3) scalability for network and storage.This paper shows our design, implementation using iSCSI protocol[1] and their performances for both 1Gbps model in the real network and 10Gbps model in our laboratory.