Kategorie: ‘Coscine’
Storage Federation for the EOSC Node Germany
The IT Center of is part of the DFG project “Establishment of the EOSC Node Germany (2026)” and, under the leadership of TU Dresden, will contribute to the “Storage Federation” use case for the EOSC Node Germany. A video was created for the EOSC Symposium, which took place in Florence from October 14 to 16, 2026. The video demonstrates how the developed infrastructure provides a foundation for FAIR-compliant and data-intensive research within the EOSC Federation. Coscine is featured in the video as one of the first services to be connected to the new storage infrastructure. Feel free to watch the video on the IT Center’s YouTube channel.
(Deutsch) DataArchive.nrw
In addition to DataStorage.nrw, DataArchive.nrw will be made available in the future. The new system provides a storage location for archived research data that does not require immediate access. The new tape storage system is designed to enable the energy- and cost-efficient storage of so-called “cold” research data. On the RDM blog, you can learn more about the technology used, its advantages, and the current status of its implementation.
Reporting Page for Coscine
At the request of the Coscine.nrw and FDM:Storage.nrw Advisory Board, all users, RDM staff, and other interested parties can now view the public reporting page [3]. There you will find, among other things, the current user numbers and their trends since November 2025 in anonymized form. The reporting page also shows the distribution of resource types as well as their allocated and used storage space. Using the usage maps, you can get an interactive overview of, for example, where Coscine projects are located and where, geographically speaking, the most storage space is being used.
Beta Version of the New UI
Users can now try out the new user interface (UI) in a beta version. To do so, log in using your preferred login method, and a pop-up will appear allowing you to choose whether you’d like to test the new version or continue working with the previous one. Since not all features are yet available in the new version, you can use either version of the web interface during this transition period. Please note that the new version is not a test environment; rather, both versions will complement each other until the new version is available with its full range of features. You can also find more information about the new UI in the blog post.
Discontinuation of Single Sign-On Login
As previously announced in the newsletter and other user-specific emails, the Single Sign-On login will be discontinued. The discontinuation is scheduled for the next live deployment on September 1, 2026. We therefore ask all users who have not yet linked their accounts to do so. Instructions for linking accounts can be found in the documentation.
New Coscine Community Feature
When dealing with data requiring a high level of protection, the question often arises as to how secure cloud storage really is. For anyone facing this issue – as well as all users with heightened security needs in general – the Coscine Community section now features a new project on “client side encryption.” There, various solutions are explained for different levels of prior experience, and the advantages of encryption are weighed against its disadvantages. Since the Cyberduck S3 client is easy to use, there is a separate section introducing the Cryptomator plugin integrated into the client.
Read-Only Is the New Archived!
DataArchive.nrw creates additional storage space, which is intended primarily for “cold” and archived research data. While planning the workflow, we realized that the current archiving process for a resource is misleading for users. A resource can be archived in the resource settings. From a technical standpoint, however, this simply means that the data is set to read-only mode. We have therefore decided to change the terminology to avoid future misunderstandings once DataArchive.nrw goes live. Starting with the live deployment on September 15, resources will likely be able to be set to read-only status in the settings, meaning that files can only be downloaded and not edited starting on that date
New Metadata Profile
A corresponding metadata profile is now available for researchers in the fields of materials science and engineering: NFDI-MatWerk Basic Profile. The metadata profile is based on the minimum metadata set for researchers from NFDI-MatWerk, which the consortium’s experts have agreed upon. The terms used are primarily based on the MatWerk Ontology v2. The metadata profile offers researchers in the aforementioned fields a generic approach that can be expanded with additional metadata fields as needed.
Beta Preview: Terminology Search in the TS4NFDI Incubator
The TS4NFDI Incubator now offers an initial beta version of a terminology search for ontology terms. Users can search for specific terms, browse the results by page, use search suggestions, and filter by term type and ontology. Additionally, further information such as descriptions, IRIs, and associated ontology metadata is displayed. Selected terms can be transferred directly from the search results to the vocabulary’s term selection.
Please note that this feature is currently still in an early beta and testing phase. The search results and metadata may not yet be complete or reliable in all cases. Additionally, occasional errors may still occur.
We welcome feedback from the community to help us further develop and improve the terminology search. If you notice that a specific ontology is missing, please feel free to let us know. We welcome suggestions for additional ontologies via e-mail.
