CQUni Research Data Storage Options
Did you know that there are Federal Government Obligations, especially federal funding grants such as ARC and NHMRC, as well as CQ University Policy that requires research data to be managed and preserved at least 5 years? In some cases, particularly health and medical data, research data may need to be stored for 25 years or even longer!
Within CQUniversity, there are now a number of options to assist researchers with managing and preserving research data. In regards to research data management, it is suggested that you check out the ‘Research Data Management’ section of this website. A Research Data Management Plan is required to access CQUniversity’s Dedicated Local Research Data storage infrastructure.
Depending on the user case, research requirements and needs, there are a number of research data storage options that are available. The following table provides help to determine with solution is best for you.
| Requirements | Dedicated local Research Data Storage service | High Performance Computing Storage (not suitable for permanent research data storage) | QCIF QRIScloud | AARNet’s CloudStor service |
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*Do you require data storage for archiving purposes? | Y | N | Y | N |
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**Are you working with very large datasets? | Y | Y | Y | Y (You can store up to 1TB for free, any more and it will come at a cost) |
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***Are you using active data? | Y | Y | Y | Y |
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Are you using sensitive data (eg, identifiable data, commercial in confidence, etc) | Y (This is the most recommended service for supporting sensitive data) | Y
(Though HPC storage can support sensitive data, it is not a recommended service to support this) | Y (Though QRISCloud Service can support sensitive data, it is not a recommended service to support this) | Y (Though CloudStor Service can support sensitive data, it is not a recommended service to support this) |
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Are you sharing your data with researchers at CQUniversity? | Y | Y | Y | Y |
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Are you sharing your data with researchers NOT at CQUniversity? | Y | N | Y | Y |
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Do you require remote access? | Y
(Through the use of the VPN client) | Y (Through the use of the VPN client) | Y | Y |
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| Do you require storage that is physically close to computing facilities for processing purposes? | N | Y | Y | N |
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Note
*Archiving purposes is data that requires permanent storage and will be stored and remain unchanged
**Large Data Set are considered to be more than 100GB’s of data
***Active data is the term given to a data set that is currently being used and produced as part of ongoing research – for example, data that is frequently accessed, modified and/or being added to.
| | About | Benefits | Limitations |
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Dedicated local Research Data Storage service | - In early 2014, CQUni installed and commissioned our first dedicated research storage infrastructure providing significant storage capacity (over 100TB)
- Designed to store data which is actively being developed, as well as completed managed data collections (in particular, datasets that are confidential / non publishable)
- To gain access to this facility, you will need to fill out a Research Data Management Plan.
| - Data is stored at our local Campus, thus there are no data sovereignty issues
- Provides access to significant amounts of storage capacity (e.g. 10 TB)
- Facilities are located behind our corporate firewalls, thus providing an extra layer of security
- Only CQUni staff have access to the servers (unlike what occurs with external cloud providers)
| - Extremely difficult to provide access to data for external collaborators
|
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High Performance Computing Storage | - The HPC System is not designed to permanently store files and data, but rather to provide access to significant capacity near computing resources, thus allowing heavy processing, simulation and data analysis of any data stored on the system
| - Provides significant storage near computing high performance computing facilities
| - Not designed for permanent storage, nor for any other user case, other than to be used in conjunction with the HPC system
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QCIF QRIScloud and RDS Storage | - QRISCloud and RDS Storage is designed to store large national “open” data collections considered to be of “national significance”
- QRISCloud is a data storage and cloud computing service run by the Queensland Cyber Infrastructure Foundation (QCIF). To apply for QRIScloud storage for your research data collection, contact TaSAC
- Merit based allocation designed to store large national “open” data collections considered to be of “national significance”
- QRISCloud (Queensland Research and Innovation Services Cloud -http://www.qcif.edu.au/services/qriscloud) provides ‘RDSI’ data storage to the Queensland research community
| - QRISCloud also provides significate compute capability near this substantial storage capacity
- provides the infrastructure to tackle research opportunities that ‘institutional’ facilities simply could not handle
- Provides data access to research communities, both nationally and internationally
- All data is kept ‘On-shore’ and stored on data centres throughout Australia, thus there are no data sovereignty issues
| - QCIF staff (system administrators) have access to the system, thus this external cloud provider can access your data
- Not recommended for the storage for highly sensitive or confidential research data
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AARNet’s CloudStor service | - Australia’s Academic and Research Network’s (AARNet) Cloudstor service enables researchers to store, access and share small or large files at high speed
- Designed to store individual research data and can be considered as additional method for backing up precious research data
- For more information, please visit https://www.cqu.edu.au/eresearch/data-services/aarnet-cloudstor
Note: All data stored on Cloudstor is subject to AARNet's Content Policy (see http://www.aarnet.edu.au/about-us/policies) and as with most online data storage services, AARNet accepts no liability for any loss or damage to data stored using this service and provides no guarantee or warranty as to the security or availability of the service. Please ensure you take appropriate steps to secure and backup your data. | - Provides 1 TB of free ‘research only’ storage to each CQUniversity researcher
- Data is stored on the AARNet network and provides high speed connectivity
- There are no data costs in regards to network traffic (when connected to a University network)
- Avoids any sovereignty issues – as the data is store on Australian Data centres
- CloudStor can be used as a replacement for Dropbox
- Provides anywhere, anytime access to data via a web browser
- There is support for synchronising clients for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux and mobile clients available for Android and IOS.
- Can be used to sync data on multiple machines (such as work computer, laptop and home computer)
- Can be used as a research data sharing tool
- Share a single file or directory with another CloudStor user. This means you can easily share data to other Australian research collaborators
- Share a single file with anyone using a shareable link – has the capability to share very large (multiple GB’s in size) files
- Provides the ability to password protect the download link, as well as setting an expiration date (i.e., download link only available for a week)
| - AARNet staff (system administrators) has access to the system, thus this external cloud provider can access your data
- It is not recommended to store large “project” based research collections
- Not recommended for the storage for highly sensitive or confidential research data
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Research data is precious, therefore here are a few tips to ensure the safety and security of any research data:
- Researchers should always try to keep three copies of their research data
- At least two different copies should be stored in two separate geographical locations
- Storing data on services such as ‘Dropbox’ and other U.S. services, enables the U.S. Government access to the data due to the ‘patriot act’. Even if the data is hosted on a data centre outside of the United States
- Some ‘free’ services have been known to block accounts, in which major issues have arisen with retrieving the data hosted on these services.
