This page is a work in progress.
The following table defines various concepts:Concept Definition DOC A division, office, or center. archive A location in which you can store data for later retrieval, or the process of storing that data in that location. collection A folder for a dataset or project. A collection might have one or more collections within it. A collection can be identified by a custom collection type such as Project, Study, Sample, and so on, the default being Folder. (To request more collection types, contact NCIDataVault@mail.nih.gov.) collection path The unique location of each collection in DME. metadata Attribute values associated with your data in the archive. Metadata describe the data, such as the date and origin of creation, its contents, its condition, its processing, or its associations to other objects. Metadata can make data searches faster, more specific, and also enable and promote data sharing among scientists. The system automatically generates some metadata for each collection or file in the archive. Some data might also have custom (user-defined) attributes. The DOC policy file specifies the required attributes for each collection type. If the DOC policy file specifies that a particular attribute is required for a particular collection type, then DME requires a value for that attribute during registration. metadata file A file that contains metadata for each object (data file) or collection in a bulk upload, as described in Preparing a Metadata File for Bulk Upload. attribute A field for a piece of information that helps to describe your data. data hierarchy An arrangement or classification of data. In DME, data are stored as objects, which are organized into collections (folders), and a collection might have one or more collections within it. A collection can be identified by a custom collection type such as Project, Study, Sample, and so on, the default being Folder. metadata policy file A file that defines valid collection types. (To develop or modify this file, contact NCIDataVault@mail.nih.gov.) DOC policy file A file that specifies the required attributes for each collection type. (To develop or modify this file, contact NCIDataVault@mail.nih.gov.) data object or data file A file that will be or has been uploaded to DME. It can be a single file or a compressed file. data file path The unique location of each data file in DME. synchronous Transfer of files using processes that run sequentially. This type of transfer is not optimal for large files. asynchronous High performance transfer (upload or download) of large files, using processes that run independently of other processes. Globus A program that supports asynchronous transfer of large files. For instructions, refer to Preparing to Use Globus with DME. endpoint A destination that represents a location on a file transfer service server, such as gridftp. GUI The graphical user interface, which allows basic search, upload, and download activities in DME. CLU The Command Line Utilities, which allow integration of DME into your scientific workflow or fine-grained control of DME. tier A layer of the DME deployment architecture. All users ultimately use the Production environment. Some users initially use the User Acceptance Testing (UAT) tier as a training environment.
