Multi-unit team executes hardware upgrade without disrupting research projects
ResFS Upgrade Team | IT, Research Computing + Office of Research
What does a film about secret agents working skillfully behind the scenes to defend Earth from alien invaders have to do with a project to upgrade Research File Storage (ResFS) at the University of Kansas? Kathleen Lynne Lane sees a parallel.
“This has been a huge success, reminding me of the movie ‘Men In Black.’ Most people at KU will not be aware of the efforts behind this successful migration, but the entire campus has benefited and people’s research will continue to make the world a better place,” said Lane, associate vice chancellor for research and Roy A. Roberts Distinguished Professor of special education.
More than 20 employees from IT, the Center for Research Computing and the Office of Research were involved in planning, communicating and executing the ResFS migration. The project was identified as part of the 2021 Research Technology Working Group and was completed last December.
Not only did the team take special care to ensure a seamless user experience with no alterations to file names or paths, but the new platform also performs significantly faster than its predecessor — welcome news for the more than 1,250 KU researchers who depend on ResFS to securely store, share or read critical files.
Some of the many people involved in the upgrade include John Clune, Jake Coffman, Chris Gibson, Chris Jeter, Suzie Johannes, Tom Johnson, Jake Noyd, Seth Pelzer, Jim Rupprecht, and Tyler Steiner from KU Information Technology. The update took place under the tenure of KU Chief Information Officer Mary Walsh, who retired in August, and interim CIO Ed Hudson. Riley Epperson, Bradley Fleming and Hoang Tran from the Center for Research Computing also worked on the project, alongside Lane, Simon Atkinson, Gina Cregg, Mindie Paget, Julie Popiel, Erik Lundquist, Belinda Sturm and others in the Office of Research.
“I’ve had the honor of being part of this planning team for the last several years, and I’m deeply appreciative of the time, expertise, kindness and excellent communication from our partners in IT and the Center for Research Computing. They are approachable, knowledgeable and focused on providing concierge-level service,” Lane said. “I cannot emphasize enough the importance of this multi-year project in supporting and enhancing the research enterprise at KU. I appreciate the efforts of Chief Financial Officer Jeff DeWitt and other KU leaders for making this important achievement possible.”
Following the upgrade, the Office of Research announced a new rate structure. Eligible researchers can now obtain 1TB of storage free of charge. Additional storage (up to 15TB) may be requested at no additional charge if more storage is required for a research project.