What options for data storage are available to IU Researchers?

There are various options available for data storage at IU. The best option will depend on the size of your files, level of security needed, and whether other people on your team also need to have access.

First, critical to understanding what type of data storage is appropriate for your needs, is understanding the data classification. By default, research data are considered restricted data, though there may be some instances in which your data are not restricted. You can use the RCData Sharing and Handling Tool Provides guidance on data storage, sharing, disposal & classification catalog entrydirect link RC Data Sharing and Handling Tool to understand which storage options are available based on the level of security that your data needs.

Once you know the classification of your data, you can use the RCData Storage Finder Tool to guide to you the best data storage options catalog entrydirect link RC Data Storage Finder tool to evaluate and compare available storage options that will fit your needs.

Options for data storage available to IU researchers include: 

• RCHome directory space Home directory space is intended for low-capacity, low-performance uses catalog entrydirect link RC Home directory space : Home directory space is intended for low-capacity, low-performance uses, such as storing documentation, configuration files, source files, and data files needed to run batch and/or interactive jobs on IU’s Research Supercomputers.
• RCSlate catalog entrydirect link RC Slate : Slate is a centralized, high performance Lustre file system designed for the persistent storage of scholarly data to meet the needs of data-intensive workflows and analytics running on Indiana University’s Research Supercomputers. Space on Slate is not subject to a purge policy. However, data are not backed up by Research Technologies or any other entity in UITS.
• RCSlate-Project: catalog entrydirect link RC Slate-Project: The Slate-Project high performance file system is a centralized storage environment supporting extreme, data-intensive, performance-demanding (Big Data) workflows running on Indiana University’s Research Supercomputers.
• RCSlate-Scratch Temporary storage for data-intensive workflows on IU research supercomputers catalog entrydirect link RC Slate-Scratch : Slate-Scratch is a large-capacity, high-throughput, high-bandwidth Lustre-based file system designed for the temporary storage of computational data to meet the needs of data-intensive workflows and analytics running on Indiana University’s Research Supercomputers.
• RCGeode Project: catalog entrydirect link RC Geode Project: Geode-Project is a fee-based Research Technologies service providing disk-based persistent storage allocations to research projects using Indiana University’s Research Supercomputers. Geode-Project allocations are hosted on Geode, which is co-located at the IU data centers in Bloomington and Indianapolis. Files stored in Geode-Project space are replicated, by default, at each data center. Project space users can access Geode-Project directly from all IU Research Supercomputers and remotely from personal workstations connected to the IU campus network.
• RCScholarly Data Archive: catalog entrydirect link RC Scholarly Data Archive: The Indiana University Scholarly Data Archive (SDA) provides extensive capacity for storing and accessing research data. The SDA is a distributed storage service co-located at IU data centers in Bloomington and Indianapolis, providing IU researchers with large-scale archival or near-line data storage, arranged in large files, with two copies of data made by default (for disaster recovery).
• RCGlobus: Transfer data between accounts on research supercomputers & research storage systems catalog entrydirect link RC Globus: Globus is a web app you can use to transfer data between your accounts on IU’s research supercomputers and storage systems. You can also use it to transfer data between IU’s supercomputers and research storage systems and your personal computer, as well as transfer data between Google at IU My Drive or Microsoft OneDrive at IU and your accounts on IU’s supercomputers and storage systems.
• RCGoogle at IU Shared Drives Simple, secure location to store files catalog entrydirect link RC Google at IU Shared Drives : Google at IU Shared Drives are a paid storage option for faculty and staff. The sharing settings allow secure collaboration on files and folders. (Note that Google My Drive is not considered an appropriate location for storing research data.)
• RCMicrosoft Secure Storage Secure storage option for institutional data catalog entrydirect link RC Microsoft Secure Storage : At Indiana University, institutional data must be stored in a non-individual storage space, such as Microsoft Teams at IU, rather than in individually owned storage space
• RCCloud Storage (Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure) Cloud storage options available at IU catalog entrydirect link RC Cloud Storage (Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure) : Cloud computing is the delivery of shared, on-demand computing services over the internet (“the cloud”) to offer faster innovation, flexible resources, and economies of scale. Cloud services include servers, storage, databases, networking, software, analytics, intelligence, and more. You typically pay only for what you use, helping lower your operating costs, run your infrastructure more efficiently, and scale as your business needs change. This lets people access and share information at any time from multiple devices, rapidly deploy computing services without purchasing hardware, temporarily leverage massive computing power, and more. Indiana University has contracts with Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure. If you use these platforms for research purposes, you’re required to get your AWS, Google Cloud, and/or Azure accounts through IU’s contracts.
• RCResearch Database Complex: Supports MySQL and PostgreSQL databases & data-intensive applications catalog entrydirect link RC Research Database Complex: The Indiana University Research Database Complex supports research-related MySQL and PostgreSQL databases and data-intensive applications that require databases. 
• RCRestricted-Access Data Remote Server (RADaRS) Secure research enclave for analyzing sensitive datasets catalog entrydirect link RC Restricted-Access Data Remote Server (RADaRS) : RADaRS is a secure enclave for analysis of sensitive and restricted-use data. Input to and output from RADaRS is managed by a data custodian; researchers access the server remotely to conduct analyses within the secure environment. 

You can learn more about each of these storage options in the RCCompute and Storage Resources Research Technologies compute and storage resources catalog entrydirect link RC Compute and Storage Resources Knowledge Base.