2024-12-12 –, Mission 1
Integrating SURF Research Cloud with Research Data Management services powered by Yoda (and iRODS) enables RDM-rich driven research. Data handling is then taken care of by the collaboration between the data management platform and the compute platform. Our data management platform is powered by Yoda (and iRODS), which provides advanced features like data provenance, metadata management, policy enforcement, and secure access control. This ensures that all data is traceable, reproducible, and managed according to the specific needs of the users and their research projects’ policies.
The Research Cloud platform facilitates the creation and management of Virtual Research Environments (VRE). When users create a VRE and log in, they are automatically authenticated to the Yoda server, allowing their data to be ready for their applications to interact with it simplifying the user experience and enhancing data accessibility. By bringing the data platform closer to the compute platform, this integration supports adherence to FAIR best practices throughout the entire research lifecycle.
This integration work required close collaboration between the SURF Research Cloud (SRC), SURF Research Access Management (SRAM), and Data Management Services (DMS) teams. SRAM introduced a new device token flow to enhance secure authentication processes. The SRC platform uses this flow to authenticate the right users to specific servers based on information retrieved from a registry server, taken care of by DMS. To maintain uninterrupted access, SRC takes care of token renewal, ensuring continuous user authentication on the VREs.
This functionality is already in use by Erasmus University, integrating their Yoda server with their Research Cloud environment.
I have been a member of the Data Management Services (DMS) team at SURF since 2021, where I focus on developing and integrating data management solutions. My work primarily involves leveraging iRODS and Yoda to optimize data workflows, ensure integration with SURF’s infrastructure, and incorporate existing SURF services within iRODS.
During my PhD research on cancer therapy resistance, I experienced firsthand the data management challenges faced by researchers. In my presentation at Advanced Compute Day, I will discuss the solutions developed by DMS to bring data and compute together using SURF's infrastructure. This initiative is a collaborative effort among three groups: DMS, SURF Research Cloud, and SRAM.