Scenarios for how our storage offerings can be used

[iam4tune]

What would you like to see added?

Description

Following a recent conversation, we need to document the different scenarios in which our various storage options can be used. This will help in understanding the appropriate contexts for each storage type and provide clear guidance for our team and clients. We should develop this article in the form of telling a story.

Objectives

1. Identify and list all available storage options.
2. Describe the likely scenarios or use cases for each storage option.
3. Provide examples of applications or situations where each storage option would be most useful.

Contributions, suggestions, insights and examples are welcome. Related to #520 , #904

[wwarriner]

1. Our offerings
2. Enterprise IT (https://www.uab.edu/it/home/tech-solutions/file-storage/storage-options)
3. Azure files and Azure blob (via UAB Enterprise IT contract)

[iam4tune]

related to #520

[wwarriner]

Copying from #520 as one example:

What would you like to see added?

Inspired by a conversation in office hours...

1. I need to download 10 TB (or more) of read-only data, what storage and transfer features should I use?

   Please contact our support. We can help you achieve shorter download times by navigating the specifics of your scenario and optimizing the transfer plan. We have a restricted-access sciencedmz partition to facilitate large transfers, and several transfer tools. Which tool to use depends on the context.

   • Remote is S3? Transfer directly to our LTS S3.
     • Custom software? Use the custom software (e.g., Seven Bridges CLI).
     • S3 server with Globus endpoint and S3 connector? Use Globus.
     • Other S3 servers? Use s4cmd, awscli or rclone.
   • Remote is cloud service (Box, Google Drive, OneDrive, SharePoint, etc.)? Transfer to $USER_SCRATCH, move to our LTS S3.
     • UAB Box? Use Globus.
     • Other? Use rclone.
   • Remote is not S3 nor cloud service? Transfer to $USER_SCRATCH, move to our LTS S3.
     • Globus endpoint? Use Globus.
     • Other? Use rclone.

2. ...