ICAT Project

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Components of the ICAT Project

Each components of the ICAT project has its own GitHub repository within an icatproject organisation with the code, a small Wiki and the Issue (bug/ feature request) List for that component. If you simply want to install components then go to Installation.

ICAT Components
ICAT Components

  • ICAT server and client : the metadata catalogue provides  a SOAP web service interface to the underlying database with an easy to use API. Authentication makes use of plugins and authorization is rule based. The icat-setup tool is provided for initial configuration of an ICAT for a facility and a simple editor, ice, is also available. Though ice is convenient as a web interface the IcatManager, which is a stand-alone application, provides similar functionality but is much more pleasant to use.
  • IDS: the ICAT Data Service provides a uniform interface to data catalogued by ICAT. It exposes a RESTful web service and provides the ability to upload individual files and to download one or more files. When a file is uploaded the metadata are stored in ICAT. ICAT authorization rules for the "Datafile" ICAT are applied to control read/write access to the files in the IDS. If multiple files are requested they are packaged in zip format. The interface has some calls which assume two level storage (with all data available on a possibly slow system and recently used data on another) however it will work fine with only one level. The server makes use of a plugin mechanism so that a facility can choose its own directory structure for file storage. A two level file storage example plugin is provided as is an interface to which a plugin must conform if you choose to write your own.
  • TopCAT: a web-based GUI able to search across multiple ICAT instances, to download data and soon it will be able to upload data as well. It makes use of both ICAT core and the IDS.
  • IJP: the ICAT Job Portal to allow submission of jobs where data selection is based on ICAT information.  Both batch and interactive jobs are supported. It makes use of both ICAT core and the IDS. It is not currently shown on the diagram above.
  • To see the structure of ICAT you can use the ICAT Manager.