Metadata practices for simulation workflows

Villamar, Jose; Denker, Michael; Kelbling, Matthias; Thober, Stephan; Senk, Johanna; More, Heather; Tetzlaff, Tom

doi:10.48550/arXiv.2408.17309

Preprint

FZJ-2024-05343

Metadata practices for simulation workflows

Villamar, J. (Corresponding author)FZJ*RWTH* ; Kelbling, M. ; More, H.FZJ* ; Denker, M.FZJ* ; Tetzlaff, T.FZJ* ; Senk, J.FZJ* ; Thober, S.

2024
arXiv

arXiv (2024) [10.48550/arXiv.2408.17309]

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Please use a persistent id in citations: doi:10.48550/arXiv.2408.17309 doi:10.34734/FZJ-2024-05343

Report No.: 2408.17309

Abstract: Computer simulations are an essential pillar of knowledge generation in science.Understanding, reproducing, and exploring the results of simulations relies on tracking and organizing metadata describing numerical experiments.However, the models used to understand real-world systems, and the computational machinery required to simulate them, are typically complex, and produce large amounts of heterogeneous metadata.Here, we present general practices for acquiring and handling metadata that are agnostic to software and hardware, and highly flexible for the user.These consist of two steps: 1) recording and storing raw metadata, and 2) selecting and structuring metadata.As a proof of concept, we develop the Archivist, a Python tool to help with the second step, and use it to apply our practices to distinct high-performance computing use cases from neuroscience and hydrology.Our practices and the Archivist can readily be applied to existing workflows without the need for substantial restructuring.They support sustainable numerical workflows, facilitating reproducibility and data reuse in generic simulation-based research.

Keyword(s): Information Retrieval (cs.IR) ; FOS: Computer and information sciences

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