PHPEndpoint

An Extensible, Open-Source VOSpace Server (Eventually)

Rick Wagner

University of California, San Diego

Motivation

• Specific: Expose the simulation data in the Computational Astrophysics Data Analysis Center (CADAC) to the VO
• General: Provide a VOSpace implementation for the Storage Resource Broker (SRB) and iRODS
• Really General: Provide the VO community with an extensible VOSpace server that could be configured for different "backend" storage mechanism (file, SRM, database, etc.)

Why PHP?

• I really didn't want to run an application server (Java or Python), just Apache
• There isn't a Python client library for iRODS, anyways (Python fanboy warning)
• However, Sifang Lu at SDSC has written a pure-PHP iRODS client
• PHP is very easy to deploy
• PHP5 has built-in support for SOAP servers and clients
• A pure-PHP SRB client is possible

Components

• Service class and request handling code
• Abstract classes based on VOSpace data model
• Back end specific code for talking to desired resource
• Configuration file for choosing a backend
• Unit tests built on SimpleTest

VOSpace Data Model

Division of Labor

• I'm writing the service code and abstract classes
• Sifang Lu is writing the iRODS subclasses
• I think this is the best paradigm for porting to more backends

Volute

• Volute is a project on Google Code
• Set up by Norman Gray for sharing documents between different VO groups
• Much easier to collaborate across organizational boundaries

Summary & Requests

• Haven't tackled tables, yet
• Simple file back end likely
• Not a high-priority item for me (i.e., months not weeks)
• Help is welcomed
• Could really use some clients for testing