Cloud services are spreading around the globe both for academic and business use. The reason for their popularity lies in the fact that cloud computing is largely scalable and flexible, enabling users to utilize it in varying fields and at different scales. MTA aimed to conform to these new trends and to face the challenges of such an endeavor by creating its own cloud service, made possible by the joint efforts of MTA SZTAKI and MTA WIGNER FK Data center. Our purpose is to provide easily accessible and high performance computing capacity on demand, which is essential for the implementation of large scale research projects.
What the MTA Cloud is for
There are 3 types of services in a Cloud system: infrastructural cloud (IaaS), platform cloud (PaaS), and software cloud (SaaS). For the time being MTA Cloud provides an infrastructural service (IaaS) for its users, but this may serve as a basis for an eventual extension to PaaS or SaaS services. Using the MTA Cloud service enables academics to use an infrastructural cloud service that is dynamically adjustable, so that its size and type fits perfectly with their projects ongoing at the time, without having to go through complicated procurement procedures. These infrastructures range from the simple desktop machines (e.g. Windows, Linux, Mac) to clusters the size and power of supercomputers (e.g. PBS cluster, LSF cluster); the flexibility of MTA Cloud makes both, and anything in-between, possible.
The types of eligible infrastructures are listed in our digital repository, from which the user may choose the type that is presently required through a simple graphical user interface. Before initializing the creation of the said infrastructure within the MTA Cloud, the user may adjust its size and properties.
The MTA Cloud also provides large storage capacity for the temporary storage of scientific data, while the applications running on the infrastructure are busy processing them. The safe storage of the data is ensured by the up-to-date OpenStack Cloud application.
How long since the MTA Cloud came online?
The experimental version of the MTA Cloud was launched on the 1st of June 2016. The final version, with complete IaaS services, has been available since the 1st of October 2016.
For further information
Users who wish to acquaint themselves with the potential uses of the MTA Cloud, or would like to aid us by providing their feedback, may do so by sending an e-mail to our developers at: info@cloud.mta.hu