General information

bwDataArchiv is a state service offered by KIT for the long-term storage of research data that is currently not or only rarely used. The data is stored on magnetic tapes within the infrastructure of the SCC and stored in so-called magnetic tape libraries. The service is available to all KIT employees and members of the participating institutions. Further information is available on the general bwDataArchive homepage.

Technical restrictions

The use of magnetic tapes as a storage medium results in some unique technical characteristics and restrictions (www.rda.kit.edu/english/transmit.php). The storage and retrieval of data on magnetic tapes is sequential, i.e. new data is always appended to the end of the previously written medium and, unlike hard disks, gaps created by deletion are not filled. For this reason, data should not be changed after initial storage if possible. The service is therefore neither suitable for active editing of data nor for storing data that is being actively processed. The OU directory and LSDF services are available at KIT for this purpose.

Files are also read sequentially, which means that reading many small files takes longer than reading a few or a single large file. Small files should therefore be combined into larger archive files where possible. For this reason, the service should also not be used to store PC or server backups. KIT employees can use the specialized SCC backup service for this purpose.

Costs

As the KIT archiving service, bwDataArchiv is part of the basic IT equipment for KIT members. For participating universities and other external institutions, fees are charged according to the contractually agreed fee schedule.

Services included

• bwDataArchive account, which remains active even after leaving KIT and allows access to the stored data. Active storage is only possible as long as the university account used for registration is active.
• Personal storage area for one user
• Access to the storage via SFTP
• Geo-redundant storage of data: One copy of each file is kept at the North Campus and one at the South Campus.
• Long-term storage of data: Stored data is kept securely for 10 or more years.

Services not included

• Encrypted data storage: All data is written to the storage media unencrypted. The user is responsible for the appropriate encryption of their data.
• Sharing files / Shared group storage: Only the account holder has access to the stored data, no data can be shared with other users and it is not possible to grant multiple users access to a single shared storage area.
• Versioning: No snapshots or similar of the data are kept. File changes and deletions cannot be undone.

Organizational requirements

• For KIT members: A KIT account or KIT service account is required for registration. KIT accounts are automatically activated for registration with bwDataArchiv. The activation of a KIT service account must be requested from the SCC ServiceDesk.
• To register as a member of a Baden-Württemberg university, a local university account with bwDataArchiv authorization is required. Universities in the state of Baden-Württemberg require a valid user agreement with KIT in order to grant their employees this user authorization for bwDataArchiv. Further information can be found on our homepage.