A few notes before you dive in:

1)    This is a beta release. We’re confident it will do the job, but it’s not perfect yet.  You are warmly invited to use our JIRA issue tracker to report what you find and suggest improvements.  For one-off suggestions, you can use our guest account (below), or you can create your own JIRA account so we know who is making the suggestions.  You do not need any further permsissions to participate in our community.

Guest username: dataflow-guest

Guest password: dataflow-guest

Log in, go to the issue navigator (here), then click “create issue” in the top-right corner.  Leave blank anything you’re not sure about.  Or just email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

2)    Back up your data. You can use live data in this system: no matter what may happen to DataBank, if you have “root” access to the machine holding the files, you can always get your data back.  But it will be quicker and easier to load a backup.  Don’t forget to include your new DataBank in your usual backup routine.

3)    When it’s time to update... We expect to release the 1.0 version of the code as a standalone installation – users will need to reinstall it as a clean copy. You will have to re-create all the accounts, but the data files themselves will not be lost. In the long run, we would like to use the debian packaging to make this smoother, so you would "install" the whole thing but only the changed system files would be updated, leaving the rest untouched.  We will keep you posted!

4)    The easiest mistake to make: If you are using live data, make sure you understand the permission system.  If you put data in the system, thinking you’ll work out how to restrict access later, you may accidentally expose it.  By default, metadata held in DataBank is visible to Google and every other web crawler (although the underlying data is automatically under embargo, and cannot be accessed by outsiders).

5)    Help!  I need a user’s guide! Documentation, like the rest of the system, is a work in progress.  We will keep updating the DataStage and DataBank documentation wikis.  If you need more help, please look at (and post to) our mailing list: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

6)    Further information for test users is here: http://www.dataflow.ox.ac.uk/index.php/about/users/test-users/101-info-for-test-users