Turbo Storage Configuration

ARC Turbo Research Storage provides scalable storage to University of Michigan researchers. The service provides CIFS, NFSv3 and NFSv4 access. Performance is intended to be sufficient for both IO operations and bulk file access, allowing researchers to work with data in place and avoid excessive data staging.

Turbo can only be used for research data. It is tuned for large files (1MB or greater) but is capable of handling small files such as documents, spreadsheets, etc. Turbo in combination with Globus sharing should work well for sharing and hosting data for external collaborators and institutes.

Turbo is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. When needed, routine, non-disruptive maintenance will be scheduled between 11 p.m. Saturday and 7 a.m. Sunday. Users will be notified of any planned maintenance involving service disruptions 30 days in advance, through the Turbo user group email and the ARC twitter account (@umichARC), or via the contact information submitted by users.

For support, email arc-support@umich.edu.

Backup and Snapshot Capability

The Turbo service provides optional replication and snapshots. Snapshots provide customers with a read-only copy of their data that is frozen at a specific point in time. With replication, data is written to storage at a separate location for purposes of data protection and service continuity.

Snapshot capability may be requested for no additional fee, and is available with the following options:

• Daily snapshot, retained for 1 day
• Daily snapshot, retained for 3 days
• Daily snapshot, retained for 7 days
• Daily snapshot, retained for 7 days, and 1 bi-weekly snapshot.

Please be aware that Snapshots will take up space on your volume. If you have 10TB of storage and have 5TB of data, you’ll potentially have 5TB of Snapshots and have used up all of your storage space.

Files can be restored from the “.snapshot” hidden directory in users’ top level departmental share. Permissions for that directory are set by the Turbo account holder. For help, email arc-support@umich.edu.

Data Security

The service offers two security levels, one for regulated and/or sensitive data and one for non-sensitive data.

The more secure service includes safeguards required by HIPAA. Accordingly, you may use it to maintain Protected Health Information (PHI). To satisfy internal HIPAA requirements, consult with Information and Infrastructure Assurance (IIA), and they will work with you to document your data sets and their location. (Contact IIA via the ITS Service Center.) Complying with HIPAA’s requirements is a shared responsibility. Users sharing and storing PHI in Turbo Research Storage are responsible for complying with HIPAA safeguards, including:

• Using and disclosing only the minimum necessary PHI for the intended purpose.
• Obtaining all required authorizations for using and disclosing PHI.
• Ensuring that PHI is seen only by those who are authorized to see it.
• Following any additional steps required by your unit to comply with HIPAA.
• Social Security numbers should only be used where required by law or where they are essential for university business processes. If you must use SSNs, it is preferred that you use institutional resources designed to house this data, such as the Data Warehouse. IIA can help you explore appropriate storage locations or work with you to appropriately encrypt the data if those alternatives will not work for you.

For more information on security policies, see the University Standard Practice Guide (PDF), and the IIA Sensitive Data Guide

System Requirements

The following Operating Systems and mounting options are supported: