Architecture Introduction

last modified on Mai 30, 2012

Introduction

As one of the Community Grid projects of the first D-Grid call, TextGrid established a Virtual Research Environment for the Humanities in Germany. This VRE is part of a larger infra- structure enabling the collective utilisation and exchange of data, tools and methods – with a strong focus on text-oriented research. The central component of this infrastructure is a grid- based repository ensuring the sustainable availability of and access to research data, the so- called TextGrid Repository. This repository has proven itself as a stable and reliable storage device. While currently providing Bitstream Preservation on a very basic level, TextGrid aims for a repository solution that supports the curation and long-term preservation of research data. With the proposal for the second project phase (2009-2012), TextGrid committed itself to implement the long-term storage architecture to be developed by the WissGrid project, an- other D-Grid project bringing together the five academic communities of the first D-Grid call to develop generic solutions and blueprints for academic grid communities and users. This report gives an overview of the concepts and technical solutions developed by WissGrid – as far as TextGrid is concerned – and describes the technical context and measures for the im- plementation of these solutions with the TextGrid infrastructure. For a better understanding of the chosen implementation strategy we'll start with an overview of the basic concepts in TextGrid.
Since the interaction with WissGrid and the implementation of the WissGrid solutions is a highly dynamical process, this report is considered to be a living document, to be updated (more or less) regularly.