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OSG Organization and Model of Operation

The OSG Consortium builds and operates the OSG project. Consortium members contribute effort and resources to the common infrastructure, with the goal of giving scientists from many fields access to shared resources worldwide. See org chart for OSG Consortium (being revised) and the project. 

The OSG model of operation is that of a distributed facility which provides access to computing and storage resources at various sites in the US and abroad.
  • Resource owners register their resource with the OSG.

  • Scientific researchers gain access to these resources by registering with one or more Virtual Organizations (VOs).

  • The VO administrators Register their VOs with the OSG. All members of the VO who have signed the acceptable use policy (AUP) are allowed to access OSG resources, subject to the policies of the resource owners.

  • Each resource and each VO is supported by a designated, and in some cases shared, "Support Center (SC)," determined at registration time.

There is a collaborative wiki for OSG management activities. The Consortium Council governs the consortium. The OSG Consortium Governance Procedures and By-laws explain how the OSG Consortium works. The Executive Team manages the project. Within the OSG, work is organized into Technical Activities, often joint projects between the OSG project and members of the consortium. Access to more detailed information is available here.

More Information:

Members and Partners

Virtual Organizations

Management

 

 

 

Quick Definitions:

In OSG a resource is an entity that is available through the grid for use by researchers, typically a computer providing CPU cycles or storage capacity. Resources are owned and managed by the contributing members of OSG, not by the OSG project itself.

A site is a uniquely identifiable collection of services, providers and resources. Typically a site is associated with and run by a particular VO.

A facility (not to be confused with "The OSG Facility") is a collection of sites under a single administrative domain.

A VO may encompass individuals from multiple institutions. Institutions and VOs may be members of the OSG Consortium, but individual researchers are considered users rather than members.

 

 
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