Hello, my name is Stavros Sachtouris and I'm developing an object
storage backend for Synnefo [1] Object Store (aka Pithos+ [2]). In
the context of the OpenMinTeD (Open MINing for TExt and Data)
project [3], we are trying to use Galaxy as a workflow engine and we
need to set it up on to use our Object Store (Pithos+). Therefore,
we need a Pithos+ backend for Galaxy.
Pithos+ API claims compatibility with OpenStack Swift API, but in
practice this rarely works. That's why we have developed our own
python API library (kamaki [5]). In order to provide Pithos+ access
to Galaxy, I had to develop a Pithos+ backend using kamaki. We then
deployed a testing Galaxy and patched it with our code and it seems
to work well.
I'm sending this message for two reasons:
a. to let the Galaxy developers know about our interest in Galaxy
and start a cooperation which is hopefully going to be beneficial
for both parties.
b. to ask for advice and guidelines on how to prepare my first patch
and how to ship it for review. Although the patch seems to work, we
feel like we are missing further testing.
Bellow you can find more information on who we are, what cloud we
are providing, what is OpenMinTeD and how is it related to Galaxy.
Who are we
------------
I work for the Greek Research Network of Technology (GRNET S.A. [3])
as a software developer. The last few years I'm been involved in
many cloud-related projects like Synnefo, ~okeanos and OpenMinTeD
(more on them later).
Synnefo, Pithos+, ~okeanos
---------------------------
Synnefo [1] is an open source cloud software developed and supported
by GRNET. It features an OpenStack REST API, many interesting
features and it is around for more than 5 years already.
Pithos+ is the object storage service of Synnefo, providing object
storage with de-duplication, sharing and more.
~okeanos is the largest Synnefo deployment providing thousands of
virtual machines and terabytes of storage to academic users in
Greece and all over Europe. ~okeanos is also operated and supported
by GRNET.
OpenMinTeD
-------------
OpenMinTeD is a collaborative project aiming in deploying text and
data mining tools to academic communities. Galaxy ahs been selected
as the main tool to support workflows. The plan is to run Galaxy on
GRNET ~okeanos infrastructure, use Pithos+ object storage as a
storage backend and make it collaborate with docker-oriented tools
like Mesos/Marathon or Docker Swarm on ~okeanos provisioned VMs.
[1] https://www.synnefo.org
[2] https://www.synnefo.org/docs/synnefo/latest/pithos.html
[3] https://www.openminted.eu
[4] https://www.grnet.gr
[5] https://www.synnefo.org/docs/kamaki/latest/
Stavros Sachtouris
Software Engineer @ www.grnet.gr