Lessons Learned from the SDSS Catalog Archive Server

Author

Thakar, Ani R.

Author_Institution

Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, MD

Volume

10

Issue

6

fYear

2008

Firstpage

65

Lastpage

71

Abstract

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey is one of the first very large archives in astronomy and other sciences. Experiences gained over the past decade of SDSS Catalog Archive Server development in software, hardware, and operational issues could provide useful advice for future archive projects. The Sloan Digital Sky Survey, or SDSS, is a multi-institution, internationally funded project to map about half of the northern sky in unprecedented detail with a dedicated 2.5-m telescope and special-purpose instruments. The SDSS Science Archive resulting from the survey contains the calibrated science data and is published in two formats: a raw image archive consisting of approximately 15 Tbytes of binary image files and accessible via an rsync/wget interface, and an approximately 6-Tbyte catalog archive that is loaded into a relational database management system (DBMS) and is accessible via specialized Web-based tools and SQL query interfaces.

Keywords

Internet; SQL; astronomical catalogues; astronomical telescopes; astronomy computing; information retrieval systems; object-oriented programming; query processing; relational databases; software engineering; DBMS; SDSS catalog archive server; SQL query interface; Sloan Digital Sky Survey; Web-based tool; astronomy archive; binary image file; calibrated science data; relational database management system; software development; telescope; Content addressable storage; Data mining; Hardware; Instruments; Mission critical systems; Programming; Project management; Relational databases; Stability; Telescopes; E Data; E.m Miscellaneous; H Information Technology and Systems; H.2 Database Management; H.2.8 Database Applications; H.2.8.n Scientific databases; SDSS; SDSS Science Archive; Sloan Digital Sky Survey;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Computing in Science Engineering

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1521-9615

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/MCSE.2008.151

Filename

4653207