As part of this, it implements a logical namespace (distinct from physical file names) and maintains metadata on data-objects (files), users, groups, resources, collections, and other items in an SRB metadata catalog (MCAT) stored in a relational database management system.
However, it is more complete than many middleware software systems as it implements a comprehensive distributed data management environment, including various end-user client applications.
It has features to support the management and collaborative (and controlled) sharing, publication, replication, transfer, and preservation of distributed data collections.
[3] SRB development began in 1995, through the cooperative efforts of General Atomics, the Data Intensive Cyber Environments Group (DICE), and the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) with the support of the National Science Foundation (NSF).
iRODS is based on SRB concepts but was completely re-written, includes a highly-configurable rule engine at its core and is fully open source.