Operating a Cloud-Native Data Center

Cloud-based ingest, archival and distribution is quickly growing in scope and capability. The Global Hydrology Research Center (GHRC) Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC), a joint venture between NASA Marshall Space Flight Center and the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), is one of the first NASA data archive centers operating in the cloud. As part of this effort, the GHRC DAAC is leading activities to develop the procedures necessary to effectively carry out the DAAC’s mission in the cloud. GHRC has migrated its on-premise legacy workflows to the NASA Next Generation Application Platform (NGAP), which runs on the Amazon Web Services (AWS). In this presentation we will discuss various steps we are taking to run a robust cloud-based data operations and what the future looks like for other NASA data archive centers. We will talk about using a common data ingest and archive framework called Cumulus, using continuous integration and deployment pipeline provided by NASA Earthdata infrastructure, and various steps to build a verifiable trustworthy cloud infrastructure. We will also present our lessons learned and future plans for cloud-based data services and tools.