© ASTRON

Since the start of LOFAR operations, the data archive has relied on tape as the main storage medium, and the LOFAR community has become familiar with the concept of data staging as a necessary step to take before data can be retrieved from the archive. Today, the old stager service is replaced by a new service called StageIT.

Besides using a modernised code base, StageIT comes with a web interface, integrated user documentation, and a REST API plus new Python library for automation. It also introduces new technologies that address various changes and challenges for the LOFAR2 data services.

StageIT is the first LOFAR service made available to a wide community through a federated authentication and authorization infrastructure for research. This allows most users to authenticate with their home institute account, reducing inconvenience of maintaining multiple accounts, and it provides support for collaborations to work across applications.

StageIT introduces data access based on tokens, enabling data retrievals based on WebDAV with fine grained control of access rules. WebDAV is a web protocol natively supported by dCache, the data management software that all LOFAR LTA sites use for storing data.

For users, benefits include better performance and reliability of data retrievals and no longer having to store or use personal credentials when automating data retrievals. With StageIT, LOFAR takes one more step towards offering scalable services for the instrument.