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{{Short description|Grid computing infrastructure}}

The '''Nordic Data Grid Facility''', or '''NDGF''', is a common [[eScience|e-Science]] infrastructure provided by the Nordic countries ([[Denmark]], [[Finland]], [[Norway]], [[Sweden]] and [[Iceland]]) for scientific computing and data storage. It is the first and so far only internationally distributed [[Worldwide LHC Computing Grid|WLCG]] Tier1 center, providing computing and storage services to experiments at [[CERN]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Bird|first=Ian|year=2011|title=Computing for the Large Hadron Collider|journal=[[Annual Review of Nuclear and Particle Science]]|volume=61|issue=1 |pages=99–118|doi=10.1146/annurev-nucl-102010-130059|bibcode=2011ARNPS..61...99B |doi-access=free}}</ref>

== History ==

Nordic Data Grid Facility traces its history back to end-2001, being intrinsically related to the [[NorduGrid]] project. Success of the latter indicated need for a larger pan-Nordic facility, with storage resources being of high priority. This need has been addressed by establishing a pilot NDGF infrastructure, which was operational in 2002-2005, and provided distributed storage in addition to the [[NorduGrid]] computing resources. During this phase, NDGF committed to provide a Nordic Tier1 (regional computing center) for the Worldwide [[Large Hadron Collider|LHC]] Computing Grid project at [[CERN]]. Specifics of this Tier1 are such that it has to be an internationally distributed Facility. The Nordic Data Grid Facility in its present function as a provider of the Nordic Grid Infrastructure was established in April 2006 by the Nordic Research Councils.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Buch|first=Rene|author2=Fischer, Lars |author3=Grønager, Michael |author4= Smirnova, Oxana |year=2006|title=The Nordic Data Grid Facility |journal=META|publisher=UNINEtt Sigma AS|issue=1|pages=14–17}}</ref> It came into operation on June 1, 2006, and its initial priority is to live up to the original commitment of establishing the Nordic Tier1, with the traditional focus on storage facilities. NDGF team includes software experts who take part in various Grid middleware development.

In 2012 NDGF became a part of a wider initiative, the Nordic e-Infrastructure Collaboration.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nordforsk.org/en/news/ny-organisasjon-for-nordisk-samarbeid-om-einfrastruktur |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130416043629/http://www.nordforsk.org/en/news/ny-organisasjon-for-nordisk-samarbeid-om-einfrastruktur |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 16, 2013 |title=NordForsk hosts new organisation for Nordic eInfrastructure cooperation |publisher=NordForsk }}</ref>

== Users and operations ==

NDGF Tier1 is a production [[Grid computing|Grid]] facility that leverages existing, national computational resources and Grid infrastructures.

To qualify for support research groups should form a Virtual Organization, a VO. The VO provides compute resources for sharing and NDGF Tier1 operates a Grid interface for the sharing of these resources.

Currently, most computational resources of NDGF Tier1 are accessible through [[Advanced Resource Connector|ARC]] middleware. Some resources are also available via [[Alien (file converter)|AliEn]] software. Distributed storage facility is realised through [[dCache]] storage management solution.

Today, the dominant user community of the NDGF Tier1 is the High Energy Physics - the [[A Large Ion Collider Experiment|ALICE]], [[ATLAS experiment|ATLAS]] and [[Compact Muon Solenoid|CMS]] Virtual Organizations - through the operation of the Nordic Tier1, which together with the Tier0, [[CERN]], and the other 12 Tier1s collects, stores and processes the data produced by the [[Large Hadron Collider]] at [[CERN]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://lcg.web.cern.ch/LCG/public/tiers.htm |title=Worldwide LHC Computing Grid sites |year=2002 |publisher=CERN |accessdate=20 December 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111224131524/http://lcg.web.cern.ch/LCG/public/tiers.htm |archive-date=24 December 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Fischer|first=Lars|author2=Grønager, Michael |author3=Kleist, Josva |author4= Smirnova, Oxana |year=2008|title=A Distributed Tier-1 |journal=Journal of Physics: Conference Series |publisher=IOP Publishing Ltd|volume=119|issue=5 |pages=052016|doi=10.1088/1742-6596/119/5/052016 |bibcode=2008JPhCS.119e2016F |doi-access=free}}</ref>

Since 2010, NDGF Tier1 is a part of the [[European Grid Infrastructure]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.egi.eu/infrastructure/Resource-providers/|title=European Grid Infrastructure resource providers |year=2010 |accessdate=20 December 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Field|first=Laurence |display-authors=etal|year=2010|title=Towards sustainability: An interoperability outline for a Regional ARC based infrastructure in the WLCG and EGEE infrastructures|journal=Journal of Physics: Conference Series |publisher=IOP Publishing Ltd|volume=219|issue=6 |pages=062051|doi=10.1088/1742-6596/219/6/062051 |bibcode=2010JPhCS.219f2051F |doi-access=free}}</ref>

NDGF Tier1 was hosted by [[NORDUnet]] in 2006-2011, and since 2012 is hosted by NordForsk.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nordforsk.org/en |title=NordForsk |access-date=2012-07-02 |archive-date=2012-07-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120708042742/http://www.nordforsk.org/en |url-status=dead }}</ref>

== NDGF vs NorduGrid ==

Many confuse NDGF and [[NorduGrid]] - which is not surprising, especially since in its second phase NDGF was proposed to assume the name "NorduGrid". It was however decided to distinguish between the mostly development-oriented project, [[NorduGrid]], and the mostly operations-oriented one, NDGF. As a rule of thumb, NDGF provides mostly services, while [[NorduGrid]] provides mostly [[Advanced Resource Connector|ARC]] middleware.

== See also ==

* [http://neic.no NeIC], the organisation operating NDGF Tier-1 since 2012
* [[NorduGrid]] collaboration, provider of the [[Advanced Resource Connector|ARC]] middleware
* [[NORDUnet]], the NDGF hosting organisation in 2006-2011

== References ==
<references/>

==External links==
* [http://neic.nordforsk.org/about/strategic-areas/tier-1 NDGF Tier-1 page] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141104230409/http://neic.nordforsk.org/about/strategic-areas/tier-1 |date=2014-11-04 }}
* [http://www.cern.ch CERN], host of the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid
* [http://www.dcache.org dCache], system for storing and retrieving massive data

[[Category:Distributed computing projects]]
[[Category:Grid computing]]
[[Category:Information technology organizations based in Europe]]
[[Category:Institutes associated with CERN]]