Deploying a distributed data storage system on the UK National Grid Service using federated SRB

As Grid enabled applications enter into production, there is a growing need for a distributed data access systems that are able to provide an efficient and large storage capabilities to Grid applications which have the capacity to migrate between multiple machines. The SDSC Storage Resource Broker (SRB) provides a software infrastructure to supports access to data distributed across multiple storage repositories. It virtualizes the data space and aids users in accessing data on multiple possibly geographically dispersed storage space thus acts as a Data Grid platform for data collaboration between organizations. This paper explains the details behind the data federation strategy between the NGS sites for improving efficiency and robustness. It discusses about how the system has been designed for interoperability with grid applications and describes the ways in which the system can be utilized. Finally, the future directions for the NGS SRB are described