• eResearch
    • Collaborative Technologies
      • ARDC (Australian Research Data Commons)
      • ARDC Nectar Research Cloud
      • Australian Access Federation
      • QRIScloud
      • Video Collaboration
    • Data Management
      • Research Data Management Plans
    • Data Services
      • Australian and International Data Portals
      • CQUni Research Data Storage Options
      • CQUniversity Research Data Storage
      • GEOSCIENCE DATA PORTALS
    • eResearch and Security: MFA and CyberSafety
      • Encrypting Data on Portable Devices
    • High Performance Computing
      • The History of CQU’s HPC Facilities
        • Ada Lovelace Cluster (New HPC)
        • Marie Curie Cluster (Current HPC)
        • Einstein Cluster (Decommissioned)
        • Isaac Newton HPC Facility (Decommissioned)
      • HPC User Guides and FAQs
        • Basics of working on the HPC
        • Getting started on CQUniversity’s Ada Lovelace HPC System
        • Graphical Connection to the HPC System
        • Compiling Programs (and using the optimization flags)
        • Connecting to the Marie Curie Cluster
        • Finding Installed Software
        • Frequently Asked Questions
        • Graphical connection HPC via Open On Demand
        • HPC Job Scheduler
        • HPC Trouble Shooting
        • Machine and Deep Learning
        • PBS Commands
        • PBS to Slurm Command tables (HPC Scheduler)
        • Running LLM’s on the HPC system
        • Running Python on HPC
        • Simple Unix Commands
        • Software Module Information
        • Submitting an Interactive Job
        • Transferring Files to the HPC System
        • Transferring Files to the HPC System (Ada)
        • Using Abaqus
        • Using ANSYS (Fluent) on the HPC System
        • Using APSIM
        • Using HPC Scheduler on Ada Lovelace Cluster
        • Using MATLAB
        • Using R
        • Virtualisation and Containers
      • HPC Community
      • HPC Related Links
      • HPC Sample Code Scripts
        • MATLAB Sample Scripts
        • Multiple Job Submission
        • Multiple Run Job Submission
        • PBS Job Array Submission
        • R Sample Scripts
        • Sample PBS Submission Script
        • Sample Slurm Submission Script
      • HPC Software
        • Mathematica Sample Scripts
    • Research Software
    • Scholarly Communication
    • Survey Tools
    • Training
      • QCIF – Queensland Cyber Infrastructure Foundation
      • Teaching Lab Skills for Scientific Computing

eResearch

CQUniversity Research Data Storage Options

Data Storage and data security are an important part of data management. When it comes to your Research Data there are CQUniversity policy’s as well as potential Federal Government Obligations, especially for federally funded grants such as ARC and NHMRC. There is also the issue of Data Sovereignty in the ever-growing world of cloud storage it is harder and harder to know what country your data may be stored in. Due to these reasons, we recommend and CQUniversity policy mandates that a master copy of all research data be stored on the dedicated local research data storage system accessible via Data Manager. A Research Data Management Plan is required to access CQUniversity’s Dedicated Local Research Data storage infrastructure. More information can be found on the ‘Research Data Management’ section of this website.

Depending on the type of data to be managed and preserved it may be kept for at least 5 years.  In some cases, particularly health and medical data, research data may need to be stored for 25 years or even longer.

Depending on the use case, research requirements and needs, there are a number of research data storage options that are available.  The following table provides help to determine with solution is best for you.

REQUIREMENTS DEDICATED LOCAL RESEARCH DATA STORAGE SERVICE HIGH PERFORMANCE COMPUTING STORAGE (NOT SUITABLE FOR PERMANENT RESEARCH DATA STORAGE) OneDrive
*DATA STORAGE SUITABLE FOR ARCHIVING PURPOSES?

Mandatory

No

No

**SUITABLE FOR WORKING WITH VERY LARGE DATASETS?

Yes 

Yes

No

***SUITABLE FOR USING ACTIVE DATA? Yes Yes Yes
SUITABLE FOR USE WITH SENSITIVE DATA (EG, IDENTIFIABLE DATA, COMMERCIAL IN CONFIDENCE, ETC)

Yes

Not Recommended

Not Recommended

SUITABLE FOR SHARING YOUR DATA WITH RESEARCHERS AT CQUNIVERSITY?

Preferred

Yes

Yes

SUITABLE FOR SHARING YOUR DATA WITH RESEARCHERS NOT AT CQUNIVERSITY?

Discuss with eResearch Team what options are best suited

ABLE TO BE REMOTELLY ACCESSED?

Yes (VPN required)

Yes (VPN required)

Yes

DO YOU REQUIRE STORAGE THAT IS PHYSICALLY CLOSE TO COMPUTING FACILITIES FOR PROCESSING PURPOSES?

No

Yes

No

Note

*Archiving purposes is data that requires permanent storage and will be stored and remain unchanged

**Large Data Set are considered to be more than 250GB’s of data

***Active data is the term given to a data set that is currently being used and produced as part of ongoing research – for example, data that is frequently accessed, modified and/or being added to.

ABOUT BENEFITS LIMITATIONS
DEDICATED LOCAL RESEARCH DATA STORAGE SERVICE In early 2014, CQUniversity installed and commissioned our first dedicated research storage infrastructure providing significant storage capacity. Designed to store data which is actively being developed, as well as completed managed data collections (in particular, datasets that are confidential / non publishable). To gain access to this facility, you will need to fill out a Research Data Management Plan. Data is stored at our local Campus, thus there are no data sovereignty issues. Provides access to significant amounts of storage capacity (e.g. 10 TB). Facilities are located behind our corporate firewalls, thus providing an extra layer of security. Only CQUni staff or affiliate accounts have access to the servers for increased security.

Difficult to provide access to data for external collaborators. Contact eResearch support team to discuss options

HIGH PERFORMANCE COMPUTING STORAGE The HPC System is not designed to permanently store files and data, but rather to provide access to significant capacity near computing resources, thus allowing heavy processing, simulation and data analysis of any data stored on the system. The files on the system are not backed up and should be moved to dedicated storage.

Provides significant storage near computing high performance computing facilities

Not designed for permanent storage, nor for any other user case, other than to be used in conjunction with the HPC system
OneDrive

OneDrive is a service provided by Microsoft and is attached to both your student account and your affiliate account allowing you to access data remotely across multiple machines.

Even if data is stored on OneDrive a master copy needs to be stored on dedicated local research data storage.

Easy remote access to data and files. secured login via account MFA. Easy to provide access to external collaborators. 

Not recommended for sensitive material due to lack of control over facilities. Limited storage size.

Research data is precious, therefore here are a few tips to ensure the safety and security of any research data:

  • CQUniversity policy mandates that a master copy of all data be stored on the dedicated local research data storage. 
  • The data on the dedicated local research data storage is stored across 2 data centers and backed up nightly providing increased data security 
  • Storing data on services such as ‘Dropbox’ and other cloud services poses the risk of data be leaked or access by foreign governments due to the volatility of Data Sovereignty. 
  • Some ‘free’ services have been known to block accounts, in which major issues have arisen with retrieving the data hosted on these services.

Storing your data on the CQUniversity Dedicated Research Data Storage Service is the easiest and most secure way to resolve issues with data security relating to backups and redundancy as well as Data Sovereignty.

Support

eresearch@cqu.edu.au

tasac@cqu.edu.au OR 1300 666 620

Hacky Hour (3pm – 4pm every Tuesday)

High Performance Computing Teams site