ORDS, research data network

ORDS to TrunkDB

Kris Popat

What is it?

• Originally ORDs: Oxford Research Database Service.

• Database as a Service• Designed to support data storage and

manipulation during the ongoing research work.• Hosted on Oxford’s own servers.• For the long tail of researchers who had little or no

access to share database services• Now moving to the cloud to be TrunkDB

Why Services

• Hosted and secure• Can share with colleagues• Can create multiple versions• Not just sitting on researchers computer

After Login

Project Screen

Add New Database to Project

Database Screen

Why Versions?

• As technical people we think of a database as an object.

• However researchers think primarily of the data– How it was created– How it is updated and recorded– How it has changed over time

• The original ORDs was designed to be a service for the data not the database

Adding Data

Database Versions

Editing Structure

Editing Structure

Database Explorer

Data Editing Table

Selecting a View

Results of Select

ODBC Access

Shared Datasets, API

• By creating a static view on the data.• When specified as public this data is available

from the database API• The full API is also available so new clients can

be created to present the system.• New clients would need to integrate with

Shibboleth to access the majority of the API

Where is it?

• Currently entering private beta• Will be entering public beta early in the new

year• Release of service is scheduled for June next

year.• The service is at https://trunkDB.com• The code that runs it is open source and

available on github under than ORDs

Thanks

Any Questions?

Kris Popat – Partner @ Cetis LLP