hydrosim

Repository for information related to the Hydrosim project.

Compute Requirements

For the project two distinct servers are required with different characteristics:

Server to host the node.js API that will make the data available to the front end & for direct download of the simulation results.

Requirements

Large storage capacity (>10TB)
The ability to read from NetCDF files and return JSON files (rules out static file providers like S3?)
Multiple cores to handle API requests in parrallel
Limited computation requirements

Server to run the hydrodynamic simulations and then transfer the results to the web server

Requirements

Option 1 is to purchase the two machines and have the Eaway IT department run and maintain them.

Pros:

Full access to the machines
Unlimited customisation
No monthly costs
Storage is very cheap
Easy to align with existing procurement proceedures and include in project budget
Full Windows support

Cons:

Large upfront cost (>$10K)
Maintenance and repairs limited to office hours
Limited scalability (if server spec is wrong little option to make changes)
Catastrophic hardware issues could stop the project
Long setup time (define server specs, procurement, etc.)
Eawag is responsible for the backups
Dependant on the Eawag network, any Eawag outages will effect the performance of the API

Option 2 is to use pay by use servers from a cloud provider such as AWS.

Pros:

Rapid deployment (< 1hr)
Scalability (fast and easy to increase compute power/ storage)
Option to spawn multiple low power servers rather than running simulations in parrallel
No upfront cost
Many services in one place (database, frontend (AWS amplify), S3 etc.)
24hr service and maintenace

Cons:

Option 3 is to purchase dedicated cloud servers.

Pros:

Cons: