How to join Science Mesh

This documentation is intended for an administrator of a sync-and-share site wishing to join the Science Mesh. It serves as a checklist of all steps necessary to perform the task, referring to specific technical howtos. After configuring a specific topic, always return here to find out what you are expected to do next.

To join the Science Mesh, there are several steps, technical as well as formal. For the sake of testing, you can start with Technical steps then once you are done with testing you can continue with the formal steps. If you encounter any problems during this process or have some general questions, feel free to contact the ScienceMesh administration.

General notes on site deployment

1. If you prefer to understand the environment of the Science Mesh, how the components interact and what part of the systems you need to deploy, we suggest to get familiar with the overall architecture of the Science Mesh and how the components are implemented. Follow suggested links at the bottom of each page, it will get you back here.
2. Following lists of technical and formal steps could be performed mostly in parallel, each individual list should nevertheless be performed in the order stated below.
3. We indicate suitable versions of components in this document. Note that the recommended versions are the only supported, so if running older ones, you’d be advised to upgrade as the first step.

Technical steps

1. If running OC10, deploy version 10.12 or higher. Version 10.12 already contains patches necessary for the Science Mesh.

2. Install and set up the Reva IOP (interoperability platform) acting as an Executive Module of your EFSS instance in the ScienceMesh. Reva allows you to use all available API to share various resources within ScienceMesh (data, apps,…).

   Note: Reva version >=1.19 AND <2.0 is necessary. Avoid Reva 2.x as this is for OCIS only and will not work with ownCloud10 nor Nextcloud.

3. Next step is to set up operational stuff. Your site needs to be registered in the Central Database where metadata about your site and applications running there are stored. A Science Meshrepresentative will create initial entries for your site, but from there on, it will be your responsibility to keep these entries up to date. The Central Database will also serve you as the source of metadata about other meshed sites, e.g. for the Mesh Directory service (similar to “Where Are You From” or WAYF in identity federations).

4. Monitoring and accounting needs to be set up. Note this is not a replacement of your standard tools for operating your infrastructure but an addition; all information collected by ScienceMesh monitoring and accounting is strictly related to ScienceMesh operations, collecting just very high-level and aggregated information.

5. The last (optional) step is to enable the Optional IOP/Reva Integrations such as CodiMD or collaborative tools (such as text processors and spreadsheets). Services intended to be accessible through the Science Mesh should be configured here.

Formal steps

1. Get into contact with a ScienceMesh representative by email, ideally providing necessary information.

2. After that, a ScienceMesh representative will get back to you, detailing the next steps to get your site into the mesh.

3. Formal steps include declaring compliance with policies, appointing a representative into the governance structure of the infrastructure etc. As of January 2022, the infrastructure is to be formally established, so this part of the procedure will be covered later. It is neverheless recommended to get familiar with the proposed structure, as this is the best time to comment on it.