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The Virtual Archives Laboratory (VAL) is a joint
partnership between NARA, The San Diego SuperComputer Center (SDSC) and the
University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies (UMIACS) to
design and test an architecture for a Federated Persistent Archives
which can address the requirements for large scale, long term archiving of
electronic records.
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The Persistent Archives research at NARA focuses on
developing the attributes of a persistent system that will continue to
operate over a long period of time and is primarily concerned with the issues
of scalability, extensibility, and evolvability. In keeping with these aims,
the Virtual Archives Laboratory provides a safe, secure environment suitable
for testing prototype persistent archives applications and systems.
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Research Partnerships
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Partnerships are an important part of Persistent Archives
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research plan. NARA
is working closely with the SDSC and
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UMIACS in conducting research using the VAL as a virtual
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testing ground. ERA will use the VAL to test products in
the
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marketplace and as a
vehicle to gather additional research
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knowledge. It is envisioned to be an environment where
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people can do research on electronic records issues.
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Cutting Edge Technology and Forward-Focused
Initiatives
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One of the current projects being tested out in the VAL is
a prototype system that leverages the SDSCs Storage Resource Broker
technology (SRB), (a middleware application that uses grid and metadata
technologies to transparently manage data,) and MCAT metadata catalog to
manage NARA-designated data collections. ERA has elected to use SDSCs InQ
(InQuisitor) interface to manage files. The system makes the storage and retrieval of the data
stored at these locations transparent to users. One of the key features of
the SRB is that it is designed to be
scalable, modular and infrastructure independent.
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Utilizing these technologies, ERA research has set up a
prototype system that runs off of servers at NARA, SDSC, and UMIACS. Over the
course of the first phase of this initiative, several terabytes of data
collections will be ingested, registered and replicated among the three sites
over high speed connections.
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