Architecture and implementation of an on-line data archive and distribution system

The authors present a layered architecture of an on-line data archive and distribution system. An operational system based on this architecture has been developed at NASA´s National Space Science Data Center to distribute space science data to the world scientific community. The implemented architecture stores the data files in CYGNET optical-disk juke boxes using Sony´s 6.5 GByte optical disks. The architecture utilizes meta-data to locate and deliver the data. The system also supports the use of catalogs to search and identify the relevant data