ARCO: MOVING DIGITAL LIBRARY STORAGE TO GRID COMPUTING

Storage has been extensively studied during the past few decades (Foster et al., 1997; Jose Guimaraes, 2001). However, the emerging trends on distributed computing bring new solutions for existent problems. Grid computing proposes a distributed approach for data storing. In this paper, we introduce a Grid-based system (ARCO) developed for multimedia storage of large ammounts of data. The system is being developed for Biblioteca Nacional, the National Library of Portugal. Using Grid informational system and resources management, we propose a transparent system where TeraBytes of data are stored in a beowulf cluster built of commodity components with backup solution and error recover mechanisms.