News

EDI behind the curtains

December 6, 2018

Mark Servilla

Description

EDI technical staff recently upgraded our virtualization infrastructure to the latest version of VMware’s ESXi software (from version 5 to 6.5). All of EDI’s servers, including those that run the PASTA+ data repository software, operate as virtual clients across six ESXi host systems. These virtual hosts are configured to operate between 6 and 12 clients at one time, with some room left over to shuffle systems and for testing. The ESXi host systems are located on the campus of the University of New Mexico and connect directly to a dedicated 10Gb/s connection using UNM’s Science DMZ research network. Wide-area Internet connectivity to UNM includes 100Gb/s connections to the DOE Energy Sciences Network (ESNet) and the Western Regional Network, both through the Albuquerque Gigapop. EDI’s data storage capacity is currently at 30TB, with an equivalent 30TB mirror storage device for near-time backups and smaller SSD disks that are used for off-site backup purposes. EDI also uses the AWS Glacier storage as a long-term “cold data” archive.