D5.5 ‘Archive in a Box’ repository software and proof of concept of centralised installation in the cloud

Within task 5.2 (Hosting and sharing data repositories) of the SSHOC project, repository software is being developed based on Dataverse, for the sharing and publication of research data within the Social Science and Humanities (SSH) domain. Dataverse is open-source research data repository software developed by the Institute for Quantitative Social Science (IQSS), Harvard University. This document describes the work done by task 5.2, for the development of ‘Archive in a Box’ repository software and proof of concept of centralised installation in the cloud.

The ‘Archive in a Box’ makes the installation of Dataverse repository software easier for institutes with a lack of technical staff. This document describes the advantages of such a package.

Additionally, task 5.2 worked on a proof of concept of a centralised cloud installation of the Dataverse software at the Google cloud infrastructure of CESSDA ERIC. A cloud installation makes it possible to automate the installation and keep the application up and running, for instance by scaling up or down resources when needed. Another advantage of a cloud orchestrator is the ability to start a new component or part of the application, if it should fail for some reason.

Furthermore, task 5.2 developed several additional functionalities to the Dataverse software to make the software more compliant to the needs of the SSH communities in Europe.

This document describes the results of the accomplished work, and refers to technical details published in GitHub repositories. Already many of the results of task 5.2 are used by the European and Global Dataverse community and some functionalities are integrated in the new versions of the Dataverse master branch of Harvard.