Cloud Computing on the RMDCN 21 st RMDCN

Cloud Computing on the RMDCN 21 st RMDCN Operations Committee Oliver Gorwits ECMWF © ECMWF September 24, 2021

User Site Challenges • Data dissemination and acquisition – Growing number of acquisition sources – Increased resolution on acquisition/dissemination – Multiple dissemination destinations • Computing – Limited resource (staff, time, hardware) • => RMDCN and Internet connection costs • => Data Centre hosting costs EUROPEAN CENTRE FOR MEDIUM-RANGE WEATHER FORECASTS 2

EUMETNET • Co-ordination and support for European National Weather Services • Long history of exchanging products and data, and agreeing on formats, products, objectives • Collective voice when communicating with the European Union and others EUROPEAN CENTRE FOR MEDIUM-RANGE WEATHER FORECASTS 3

OPERA • EUMETNET Programme • Operational Programme for the Exchange of Radar Information • 27 members + 3 co-operating members • Started in 1999 • 4 th Phase has started and will run through to 2017 • Promote standard radar production practices • Development of a central processing capability data composites EUROPEAN CENTRE FOR MEDIUM-RANGE WEATHER FORECASTS 4

Odyssey – OPERA Data Centre • 2009 -2010 • Development of centralized capability to produce pan-European composites • Operational since 2011 • Joint responsibility to UK Met Office and Météo-France EUROPEAN CENTRE FOR MEDIUM-RANGE WEATHER FORECASTS 5

Redistribution Bandwidth Problem • 130 radars producing composites every 15 minutes • Current input ~12 GB/day (September 2015) • Higher resolutions and more data fields are coming • Projected input ~190 GB/day by 2017 • Not sustainable for Exeter or Toulouse (either Internet or RMDCN) • 13 th EUMETNET Assembly decided to move radar data to the cloud – OIFS: Odyssey Internet File Server • Server(s) connected to RMDCN and/or Internet • Procured by ECMWF on behalf of Météo-France EUROPEAN CENTRE FOR MEDIUM-RANGE WEATHER FORECASTS 6

Interoute Communications Ltd • Provider of: – “MPLS IPVPN” product (RMDCN) – Virtual Data Centre (VDC – Cloud Computing) – Unified Communications • Three VDC Regions – Europe – Asia-Pacific – North America • Several VDC Zones (Data Centres) within each Region • API-driven, Cloud. Stack compatible • High speed MPLS IPVPN VDC interconnect • Competitive for Internet and IPVPN bandwidth charging (subject to AUP) EUROPEAN CENTRE FOR MEDIUM-RANGE WEATHER FORECASTS 7

Odyssey Internet File Service EUROPEAN CENTRE FOR MEDIUM-RANGE WEATHER FORECASTS 8

ECMWF and RMDCN • ECMWF is already a VDC customer – Monitoring of RMDCN and Internet services • ECMWF already acts as an agent for ‘value-added’ service – Anything above Member State RMDCN “Basic Package” – Co-operating state RMDCN connection • ECMWF requested to procure VDC “credits” – EUMETNET OPERA Data Centre – Météo-France and UK Met Office EUROPEAN CENTRE FOR MEDIUM-RANGE WEATHER FORECASTS 9

Challenges with Value-Added Services • Overheads for ECMWF – Account management – Service provisioning – Technical support – Billing • Potential Risks for User Sites – Lack of transparency – Not competitive with other cloud computing – Contract terms (SLA, time of service) EUROPEAN CENTRE FOR MEDIUM-RANGE WEATHER FORECASTS 10

Use of ECMWF Data Services for Service Management • ECMWF Data Services team – Helpdesk and support services for commercial customers – Product requirements specifications – First line technical support – Billing and finance management • Re-use the Data Services account/customer management – Without the support services or helpdesk • Clear audit trail for financial management • Some software development required … months? • Management fee? • Open to RMDCN acceding parties? EUROPEAN CENTRE FOR MEDIUM-RANGE WEATHER FORECASTS 11

ECMWF VDC Agency Model Price Book or Configuration Options Online Order with ECMWF Order Validation and Approval Periodic Invoicing User Site Configures VDC ECMWF Purchase VDC Credits EUROPEAN CENTRE FOR MEDIUM-RANGE WEATHER FORECASTS 12

Any Questions? © ECMWF September 24, 2021