Architecture and implementation of an on-line data archive and distribution system

The authors present a layered architecture of an on-line data archive and distribution system. An operational system based on this architecture has been developed at NASA's National Space Science Data Center to distribute space science data to the world scientific community. The implemented architecture stores the data files in CYGNET optical-disk juke boxes using Sony's 6.5 GByte optical disks. The architecture utilizes meta-data to locate and deliver the data. The system also supports the use of catalogs to search and identify the relevant data.<
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