Evolution of the WLCG Information Infrastructure

¹ CERN, European Organization for Nuclear Research, Switzerland
² Joint Inst. for Nuclear Research, Russia
³ University of Manchester, UK
⁴ University of Liverpool, UK
⁵ Lund University, Sweden

^* Corresponding author: Julia.Andreeva@cern.ch

Published online: 16 November 2020

Abstract

The WLCG project aimed to develop, build, and maintain a global computing facility for storage and analysis of the LHC data. While currently most of the LHC computing resources are being provided by the classical grid sites, over the last years the LHC experiments have been using more and more public clouds and HPCs, and this trend will certainly continue. The heterogeneity of the LHC computing resources is not limited to the procurement mode. It also implies variety of storage solutions and types of computer architecture which represent new challenges for the topology and configuration description of the LHC computing resources. The WLCG Information infrastructure has to evolve in order to meet these challenges and to be flexible enough to follow technology innovation. It should provide a complete and reliable description of all types of the storage and computing resources to ensure their effective use. This implies changes at all levels, starting from the primary information providers, through data publishing, transportation mechanism and central aggregators. This paper describes the proposed changes in the WLCG Information Infrastructure, their implementation and deployment.