Westvault

WestVault provides user-friendly paths for members to ingest digital content into a distributed digital preservation storage network, ensuring the longevity, integrity, and accessibility of critical digital content over the long-term.

WestVault employs the award-winning LOCKSS software to provide a high-redundancy, independently-administered peer storage network spread across all 4 Western provinces. WestVault monitors content health and automatically repairs damage and recovers from data loss events.

WestVault superceded the previous COPPUL Private LOCKSS Network (COPPUL PLN).

Please note that we are in the process of sunsetting the service as announced in May 2024, and that WestVault will be ceasing operations on September 30, 2025. Please contact Y.G. Rancourt, CDSN Coordinator (cdsn@coppul.ca) for more information.

Costs

WestVault members pay an annual fee based on storage allocations. This fee includes:

Four independently-managed copies of all deposited data, distributed across four Western Canadian university data centres running diverse, state-of-the-art storage systems
Automatic digital content damage detection and repair mechanisms
Drag-and-drop and API deposit via OwnCloud
Option to integrate WestVault with the BC ELN's Arca Repository Service for a seamless deposit workflow

Level	Storage Allocation	Annual Fee (excluding GST)
1	100 GB	$200
2	500 GB	$1,000
3	1 TB	$2,000

Additional storage can be purchased in either 500 GB or 1 TB increments for current pricing. If the Depositor's storage exceeds purchased storage allocations, the Depositor must obtain additional storage in either 500 GB or 1 TB increments, or at the next level at current pricing, whichever is less.

Benefits

WestVault is built on open-source software, standards, and protocols
WestVault is community-owned and operated

WestVault participants

WestVault currently has 18 participants. Those include 15 of COPPUL's 23 member institutions, and 3 external partners via BC-ELN.

Athabasca University
Brandon University
Camosun College (via BC ELN)
Emily Carr University of Art + Design (via BC ELN)
MacEwan University

Mount Royal University
Simon Fraser University
University of Alberta
University of British Columbia
University of the Fraser Valley
University of Lethbridge

University of Manitoba
University of Regina
University of Saskatchewan
University of Victoria
University of Winnipeg
Vancouver Community College (via BC ELN)
Vancouver Island University

Participants abide by the terms of the WestVault Deposit Agreement [.pdf], which helps ensure the security and integrity of preserved content.

Governance

Reporting to the CDSN Standing Committee, the Preservation Infrastructure Working Group (PIWG) guides COPPUL's efforts to build and support development of community-based digital preservation infrastructure. That includes overseeing WestVault operations, and engaging in strategic planning to ensure our preservation storage solutions develop in line with user needs. The group welcomes engagement from WestVault hosts and depositors, and from allied community-based infrastructure providers.

WestVault Hosting Partners

WestVault Hosting Partners run LOCKSS boxes at their institutions based on a common Service Level Agreement.

University of Alberta
University of British Columbia
University of Manitoba
University of Saskatchewan

Other Partners

Technical support for LOCKSS-based components of WestVault is provided by the LOCKSS team at Stanford Libraries.
Initial technical support and enhancements for the OwnCloud, LOCKSS-O-Matic, and staging server components of WestVault were provided by Simon Fraser University Libraries.
This infrastructure is hosted at the University of British Columbia on the Educloud Server Service.
The Westvault-Islandora integration is maintained and implemented by the BC-ELN.
The international community of Private LOCKSS Networks provides valuable peer support.

More information and sign-up

For service inquiries and support, please contact cdsn@coppul.ca.