Many heritage organisations must meet a number of requirements to archive digital collections – (pre-)ingest, validation, checking file type, et cetera. There are digital preservation tools available to help you run through these checks, but these are often hindered by various barriers to entry.

As a result, ViPER (Virtual Preservation Environment for Research) was developed., The project was developed by the Dutch Digital Heritage Network (DDHN), and safeguarded by the Open Preservation Foundation (OPF) in collaboration with the National Archives of the Netherlands (NA). As an open-source, easy-to-install virtual machine, it runs popular open-source preservation tools with graphical user interfaces: DROID, HandBrake, JHOVE, MediaInfo, Tika, and veraPDF.

Well received since its release, ViPER has hundreds of downloads, with many using the platform for experimentation, research, and education. However, ViPER itself could prove a challenge for some to install, particularly in centrally managed institutional environments where users and preservationists need it most.

To address this, the OPF, with the financial support of DDHN have been working to develop a cloud-deployable version of the VRE. See our Systems Administrator’s blog for an in depth review of how we went about this.

OPF Executive Director, Neil Jefferies, said, ‘This aligns with the OPF’s mission to advance digital preservation through collaborative, practical approaches and shared solutions, and is a great new development for ViPER.’

Under OPF’s stewardship, CloudViPER is fully open-source and community-driven. CloudViPER will be a free-to-use service for DDHN members and NANETH for the first year. OPF members will receive the benefit of free access for the duration of their membership. This development represents our commitment to ensuring long-term access and engagement with open source, digital preservation tools.

Tamara van Zwol, preservation coordinator at the Dutch Digital Heritage Network, said: “CloudViPER shows the strength of international collaboration in making digital preservation more accessible. By working together, we can lower barriers and help heritage organisations use open-source tools more easily in their daily work.”

More details and guidance for users can be found on the OPF website.

Both the OPF and the DDHN are grateful to all the organisations and individuals who have used ViPER over the years and provided valuable feedback that has helped shape the development of this Cloud native version.

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*This tool is currently available via local machine installation for local hosting, a single cloud server (great for sharing with more than one user), and Kubernetes, which provides the rock-solid, enterprise-level digital preservation platform. *

About the Open Preservation Foundation

Founded in 2010 as the Open Planets Foundation to steward the results of EU-funded R&D, the Open Preservation Foundation leads collaborative efforts to create, maintain and develop sustainable, open-source digital preservation tools and supporting resources. OPF builds on practical approaches to advance digital preservation through shared solutions and community engagement. Find out more at https://openpreservation.org

About the Dutch Digital Heritage Network

The Dutch Digital Heritage Network (Netwerk Digitaal Erfgoed) is a partnership in the Netherlands that focuses on developing a system of national facilities and services for improving the visibility, usability, and sustainability of digital heritage.They support the goals of the National Strategy and work on connected heritage in a way that suits their expertise and capabilities.