Large Scale Storage (LSS)
Large Scale Storage (LSS) is a cost-effective and scalable storage solution available to all University of Iowa faculty and researchers.
LSS is useful for:
- backups
- archives
- storing large files (e.g. videos and images)
- HPC workloads that demand high bandwidth and storage
LSS is approved for the following data classification levels:
- Public
- Internal
- Restricted *
- HIPAA * (SMB/CIFS only)
- Export-Controlled (Please contact research-computing@uiowa.edu before putting Export-Controlled data on LSS)
* If you intend to store protected health information (PHI) from University of Iowa Health Care on LSS, you are responsible for obtaining approval from the UI Health Care Data Governance group. Please submit a request by navigating to the UI Health Care Data Governance Request Form.
Storage space can be rented on a monthly basis (“shared storage”, the most common LSS usage) or for a fee ITS - Research Services can maintain & support storage nodes purchased by you (“dedicated storage”).
If you are interested in dedicated storage, please contact research-computing@uiowa.edu before purchasing storage nodes as some conditions and considerations apply.
Benefits of LSS
- 1TB-100TB+ shared space
- Optimized for HPC workloads that demand high bandwidth and storage
- Daily backups and snapshots help recover a deleted file (or a different version of a file) as far back as 30 days, unless other increments are needed
- Replication copies files to a remote site for disaster recovery (optional)
- Access from off-campus is available through VPN (UI Anywhere) or Virtual Desktop
LSS does not support complex nested permissions inside a single file share.
No cost storage for faculty
For faculty, a single 5TB share with backups is available upon request at no cost on either LSS or the Research Data Storage Service. Additional space may be purchased at the standard rate.
Overview
Fees
Shared storage (standard LSS usage)
Storage space is available at a cost of $35 per terabyte/year (billed monthly at $2.92/TB) per copy of data.
For researchers with a faculty appointment, a single 5TB share with backups is available upon request at no cost on either LSS or the Research Data Storage Service. Additional space may be purchased at the standard rate.
Dedicated storage nodes
Dedicated storage nodes incur an up-front cost of $2500 per node to secure 5 years of maintenance & support from ITS-Research Services staff.
Dedicated storage nodes which are more than 5 years old may continue to be used at a cost of $2500 per year under some conditions.
For more information, please contact the ITS-Research Services team at research-computing@uiowa.edu.
Support for LSS is available 8am-5pm Monday through Friday. Please email research-computing@uiowa.edu.