Managing Data Warehouse Metadata Using the Web: A Web-Based DBA Maintenance Tool Suite

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC), which is associated with NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS), provides access to datasets used in environmental research. As a data warehouse for NASA, the ORNL DAAC archives and distributes data from NASA's ground-based field experiments. In order to manage its large and diverse data holdings, the DAAC has mined metadata that is stored in several Sybase databases. However, the task of managing the metadata itself has become such a complicated task that the DAAC has developed a Webbased Graphical User Interface (GUI) called the DBA Maintenance Tool Suite. This Web-based tool allows the DBA to maintain the DAAC's metadata databases with the click of a mouse button. This tool greatly reduces the complexities of database maintenance and facilitates the task of data delivery to the DAAC's user community.