Extensible Generic Data Management Software

Extensibility mechanisms constitute a form of knowledge capture that is essential for software re-use. The Data Intensive Cyber Environments (DICE) group has collaborated with twenty-five science and engineering domains on the application of the iRODS policy-based data management system. Based on these collaborations, three types of extensibility mechanisms are sufficient to capture the domain knowledge needed for interaction with domain resources: computer actionable rules that control management policies; computer executable micro-services that encapsulate operations or interaction protocols; and middleware servers that apply standard operations at remote locations. These mechanisms enable the creation of generic data management software that is capable of implementing collections, data grids for sharing data, digital libraries for publishing data, processing pipelines, and archives.