9. Keeper#
Archiving and more
Home page: https://keeper.mpdl.mpg.de
Note
The section below assumes you are an employee of the Max Planck Society.
9.1. Features#
Keeper provides disk space (in the cloud and provided by the Max Planck Digital Library), that can be archived.
Data is organised into Libraries (i.e. top level folders represent libraries)
For long-term archival, Libraries can be assigned metadata and a DOI (see below).
An overview of all the libraries is available through a web browser at the keeper home page (https://keeper.mpdl.mpg.de)
Keeper allows upload of large files or directories
Keeper allows cloud synchronisation of data with local machine
Access to librariers with other MPG researchers can be managed through Sharing Libraries or Folders
Subdirectories and files and can be made available publicly through a share link
Sharing is possible with MPG researchers and external collaborators
Libraries can be turned into archives and
Data will be archived for at least 10 years (see “Cared Data Committment”)
provides a “Cared Data Certificate”
Use as Google-docs alternative for real time collaborative document authoring
9.2. Keeper use cases#
9.2.1. 1. Long term archival#
You can upload data to Keeper into a “Library”, create a Cared Data Certificate and receive a DOI for that version of the data in the “Library”. This Library is the archive. At the URL associated with the DOI, metadata about the archive is available (but not the data: Keeper does not publish data sets [by default]).
9.2.2. 2. (Cloud based) Backup of active files#
Similar to Owncloud, Dropbox, and other services, Keeper (with the Seafile client) can be used to have a local copy of files syncronised with a copy in the cloud (serving as a backup), and mechanism to syncronise the data across multiple client machines (if required, for example synchronise Desktop and Laptop).
9.2.4. All of the above#
Keeper’s model is to archive the way you work: backup, synchronisation, collaboration are useful during active data analysis. The final set of files can be conveniently archived (and a DOI assigned) when required.
9.3. Quota (data size)#
The amount of storage for each user is 1TB (by default).
Quota is counted by looking at the size of the libraries associated to the owner of the libraries. Each library has exactly one owner.
By sharing libraries with others, this does not contribute to the data quote of the others.
Keeper is not designed to archive significantly larger amounts of data. (As of Jan 2021.)
9.4. Getting started#
Important
Keeper home page URL: https://keeper.mpdl.mpg.de - shows some documentation links while logged out - shows overview of libraries and files in browser when logged in
Additional documentation at https://mpdl.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/categories/360001234340-Keeper
One needs to subscribe to use the service and define a new password that is required to connect the SeaFile or SeaDrive clients to Keeper, or when logging in to the Keeper home page (https://keeper.mpdl.mpg.de)
Download Keeper client software for local storage (Seafile)
9.5. Libraries#
KEEPER organises files into ‘libraries’. Each library can be synced and shared separately. One personal library is created on sign-up. You can create more libraries later.
9.6. Getting data into KEEPER (SeaFile)#
The web interface at https://keeper.mpdl.mpg.de allows to see all the data in keeper, including libraries, shared libraries, all the directory structures and files.
More convenient access is realised through the Seafile Desktop Syncing Clients.
9.6.1. SeaFile#
SeaFile can be used to upload files (or whole directories) from the local storage system to Keeper, or to download files from keeper to the local machine.
It is also possible to ‘sync’ local folders with those in Keeper: any change in one of the files on the local machine will (in the background) be repeated in Keeper’s storage.
This is convenient to have a synchronised copy of the data at a different location, while working on the data.
Note that you need to Unsync such synchronised data before you delete it locally (other wise the copy in Keeper will also be deleted).
9.6.2. SeaDrive#
The SeaDrive client enables you to access files on the server without syncing to local disk. It works like a network drive. In our tests this did not work as stable as the SeaFile client, and usage of SeaFile is recommended (as of Jan 2021).
Note
Experience reports are welcome regarding practical data upload and synchronisation.
9.6.3. Unsync#
When you have synchronised a local folder with Keeper, and want to delete the local folder but keep the copy in Keeper, you need to unsync that folder before deleting it.
9.7. Notifications#
Email notifications about changed files can be requested (for example to be sent every day, or every 4 hours). This can be helpful when working on a shared library.
9.9. About the Keeper Service#
Useful summary on “About Keeper page”
9.10. What about publishing research data sets with publications? (Keeper and Edmond)#
For publication of research data sets, Edmond is the recommended MPG service (see also Edmond – open research data repository).
Keeper is for [private] archival of data, Edmond for [public] publication of data.
9.11. Usage experience#
Please share your observations! (Contact)