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Architecture Introduction

Overview

This section provides an in-depth overview of the ALTERNATIVE cloud data platform architecture. It is designed to offer a comprehensive understanding of the project's structure, components, and their intricate interactions. The architecture has been meticulously crafted to be modular, scalable, and extensible, facilitating seamless integration of new features and components as the project evolves.

Key Components

The ALTERNATIVE platform comprises several key components:

  1. Cloud Infrastructure: Serves as the foundation, providing virtual services and hardware components essential for the platform's operation.

  2. Kubernetes: Acts as the orchestration layer, managing containerized applications and services across the cloud infrastructure.

  3. Administrative Services: Including Keycloak for user management, external-dns for DNS management, cert-manager for SSL/TLS certificate management, and an ingress-controller for routing external traffic.

  4. Storage Solutions: Utilizing a combination of S3 object storage, block storage, and NFS for various data storage needs.

  5. User Services: Primarily CKAN for data sharing and JupyterHub for providing an integrated development environment.

  6. APIs: Facilitating communication between different components and enabling external integrations.

Architectural Highlights

  • Scalability: The architecture is designed to scale horizontally, allowing for increased load handling as the platform grows.
  • Security: Implements robust security measures, including SSL/TLS encryption, IAM through Keycloak, and fine-grained access controls.
  • Flexibility: The modular design allows for easy updates and additions to individual components without affecting the entire system.
  • Collaboration: Supports multi-user environments and facilitates seamless data sharing and collaborative work.
  • Extensibility: Utilizes CKAN's extension mechanism to add custom functionality tailored to the ALTERNATIVE project's needs.

Purpose and Goals

The ALTERNATIVE platform architecture is specifically designed to:

  1. Facilitate efficient data exchange between consortium partners
  2. Host and manage large-scale omics datasets
  3. Provide a robust environment for in-silico machine learning models
  4. Offer APIs for external users and systems to access platform resources
  5. Ensure data security and user privacy while promoting collaboration

In the following sections, we will delve deeper into each component, exploring their roles, interactions, and the technologies that power them. This comprehensive view will provide a solid foundation for understanding the ALTERNATIVE platform's capabilities and potential for future enhancements.