Personal and Project Data

isginf maintains highly available file server with NFS and SMB/CIFS connectivity.

This file server is integrated with the rest of our services.

Backup and Restore

All files are backed up to tape daily. We also have daily snapshots of all files.

If you need to recover files you can first check on the snapshot server and copy the data over yourself. For a restore from tape please contact our service desk.

For the location of your storage check in the section with information targeted at individual research groups.

Access and security

Groups that use the iiStore cluster for file services need to be aware of the customization options and configuration of their storage.

Filesystems

The number of filesystems and their size depends on the amount and type of data:

The maximum supported size of a file system is about 1TB. If there is more data it needs to be distributed in a meaningful fashion over several filesystems. Larger filesystems are technically possible but are difficult to handle for backup and recovery operations (e.g. fsck).
Groups that have project directories and want to control data usage using disk quota are advised to put home directories and project data on separate filesystems.

Disk Usage

Nagging Mails

For file systems on iiStore an additional nagging quota may be active. This quota is not enforced technically but you (and your ITC) are informed by mail when your nagging disk quota on a particular file system is exceeded. For more information see here.

The nagging disk quota limits can be viewed in your user account details for your group here.

Service Host Name

The data of a particular group is accessed using a dedicated IP with one or more host names. The default is fs.{ou}.inf.ethz.ch where {ou} is replaced by the LDAP OU of the group, e.g. fs.isg.inf.ethz.ch.

A unique IP with one or more host names is also used to access the snapshots. In this case the default is restore.{ou}.inf.ethz.ch.

NFS

By default all home directories are exported individually using a unique netgroup that can be customized by the user or by IT Coordinators. Export of other data is managed by isginf.

Security

Access to data exported by NFS is only restricted by IP addresses. We advise you not to put sensitive data such as exam questions and solution, password files or sensitive personal information in places that are exported via NFS.

For groups that do not use NFS, e.g. groups that exclusively use Windows, we recommend to disable NFS. Individual users can also empty their personal netgroup to prevent access via NFS to their home directories.

SMB/CIFS

All data is by default also shared with SMB/CIFS. The share names for data other than user data can be defined by the group.