Building the Archives of the Future

Why SRB and iRODSWhy SRB and iRODS

The Case of the TPAP

National Archives and Records AdministrationElectronic Records Archives (ERA) Program

Building the Electronic Records Archives

ERA Vision

ERA will be a comprehensive, systematic, and dynamic means of

preservingpreserving and providing continuing accesscontinuing access

to any typeany type of electronic record free from dependencefree from dependence

on any specific hardware or software, created anywherecreated anywhere in the Federal Government.

National Archives and Records AdministrationElectronic Records Archives (ERA) Program

Building the Electronic Records Archives

• ERA Requirements– Scalability

• 10 Trillion Digital Objects, 350 Petabytes

– Evolvability• Change Components Without Disrupting the System

– Extensibility• Deal with 4,000+ File Formats and Those Still to be Invented

– Manageability• Must be able to Invoke NARA Policy with Changes Over

Time

National Archives and Records AdministrationElectronic Records Archives (ERA) Program

Building the Electronic Records Archives

• Beyond the Current State of the Art

• ERA Research for Risk Mitigation– 50 Research Partnerships– World Class Computer Scientists and

Engineers– White House Coordinated Research Activity

National Archives and Records AdministrationElectronic Records Archives (ERA) Program

TPAP

• Transcontinental Persistent Archives Prototype (TPAP)– Testbed Used for Many Research

Collaborations– 10 Years (Multiple Generations of Software)– Migrating from SRB to iRODS (Greater Policy

Flexibility)– 7-node Data Grid– 10 M+ Unique Files

National Archives and Records AdministrationElectronic Records Archives (ERA) Program

Lessons Learned - Questions to Ask

• Scalability– How Many Bytes Can the Software Manage?– How Many Digital Objects Can the Software

Manage?– Will it Scale Down (e.g., Run on a Laptop)?– Will it Scale Up (e.g., Run on a

Supercomputer)?

National Archives and Records AdministrationElectronic Records Archives (ERA) Program

Lessons Learned - Questions to Ask

• Evolvability– How Do You Export the Data From the

System?– How Many Generations of the Software Have

They Migrated Records Across?– What Software Environments Does it Operate

Across?

National Archives and Records AdministrationElectronic Records Archives (ERA) Program

Lessons Learned - Questions to Ask

• Extensibility– Have the Developers Been Able to Extend the

Software to Work Seamlessly with New:• File Formats• Operating Systems• Database Software• User Interfaces

National Archives and Records AdministrationElectronic Records Archives (ERA) Program

Lessons Learned - Questions to Ask

• Manageability– What Archival/Records Management Policies

Does the Software Support?– Can You Easily Customize the Software to

Support Your Repository’s Policies?

National Archives and Records AdministrationElectronic Records Archives (ERA) Program

Your Contact in the ERA Program Management Office

Mark Conrad mark.conrad@nara.gov

ERA CommunicationsERA Communications

ERA.Program@nara.gov