CIRSI INT Computer System Set-Up

Introduction

The CIRSI observing system consists of two PCs running WIN95. One of these rides at the INT Prime Focus with the camera. This PC is called CIRCC [CIRSI Camera Controller].

The second PC running WIN95 resides in the Telescope control room and is normally used by the observer to control CIRSI. This PC is called CIROB [CIRSI OBserver]. This PC uses a WIN95 application pcANYWHERE from Symantec to control CIRSI remotely from the telescope control room. pcANYWHERE exports the Desktop from CIRCC to CIROB to allow remote control of CIRCC.

pcANYWHERE is similar to XWindows but in contrast exports the whole and not just a single window or application.

ING SUN Unix Cluster

CIRSI IP numbers

IP numbers used in Dec 97/Jan 98; May 98/Jun98 and at start of Oct/Nov 98 run

 161.72.6.41      circc.roque.ing.iac.es    * camera controller WIN95 PC
 161.72.6.43      cirdr.roque.ing.iac.es    * data reduction Linix PC
 161.72.6.44      cirob.roque.ing.iac.es    * observer's WIN95 PC
 161.72.6.46      cirrm.roque.ing.iac.es    * RGM laptop
 161.72.6.47      circm.roque.ing.iac.es    * CDM laptop   
 161.72.6.48      cirmb.roque.ing.iac.es    * MGB laptop

IP used in Oct/Nov 98

On this run we added a 2nd Linux PC to our network. This is intended as a data server cirds. This was sassigned the IP number used by mgb on previous runs.

In addition, to allow swapping of IP numbers and to support an additional arbitrary PC, we have introduced the IP name cirpc.

The two new names were registered with the ING DNS. 

 161.72.6.41      circc.roque.ing.iac.es    * cirsi camera controller WIN95 PC
 161.72.6.43      cirdr.roque.ing.iac.es    * cirsi data reduction Linux PC
 161.72.6.44      cirob.roque.ing.iac.es    * cirsi observer's WIN95 PC
 161.72.6.46      cirrm.roque.ing.iac.es    * RGM laptop
 161.72.6.47      cirpc.roque.ing.iac.es    * cirsi spare 
 161.72.6.48      cirds.roque.ing.iac.es    * data server Linux PC

PC-WIN95 to Unix Networking [SMB/SAMBA]

We require PC-WIN95 to Unix netorking for two reasons:

Mapping Linux Netweok Drive on PC-WIN95

In order to make an external disk on a network visible to a PC we have to "map" a network drive. In unix speak is is like mounting a disk. right click on the computer icon and map
  • G: to \\CIRDS\\CIRSI This means that in Pixcel the data path can be defined as: g:

    CIRSI Overhead Timing tests

    carried out on 03/04 Nov 1998 at 02am by rgm
    CIRSI Disk IO Timing
    .
    time CIRSIgo; NDR; 0 quads; no saving; pre-read=true hangs Pixcel/Remote
    .
    time CIRSIgo; NDR; 1 quad; no saving; pre-read=true 1.3; 1.3; 1.3; 1.3
    time CIRSIgo; NDR; 4 quads; no saving; pre-read=true 4.5; 2.6; 2.6; 2.6
    time CIRSIgo; NDR; 16 quads; no saving; pre-read=true 14.3; 7.6; 7.6; 7.6
    .
    time CIRSIgo; NDR; 1 quad; no saving; pre-read=false 1.5; 1.3; 1.3; 1.3
    time CIRSIgo; NDR; 4 quads; no saving; pre-read=false 2.6; 2.6; 2.6; 2.6
    time CIRSIgo; NDR; 16 quads; no saving; pre-read=false 7.6; 7.6; 7.6; 7.6

    CIRSI INT Nightly Observing Notes - Oct 29 - Nov nn

    1. Create a directory on the Linux Data Archive machine

      • eg mkdir /data/data1/cirsi/19981029
        You may need to make this directory world writeable using: chmod 777 19981029

      Pixel ini files

      pixcel.ini.19981101.2147

    2. Set the path on Pixcel to be path/19981029

    Copying data from the Linux data-server to a data reduction machine

    rcp cirob:data1_cirsi/19981031/83\* .

    Starting up the observing system

    1. login to lpss13(INT Obseringing System) as intobs/
    2. type obssys in the Observing System window
      • select CIRSI ie option 2

    Starting up Pixcel

    CIRSI is run by a PC that rides with the instrument. This PC uses WIN95 as it operating system. WIN95 is a single user system and cannot be run remotely. We currently use PCAnywhere from Symantec to allow reomote operation of CIRSI. A PCAnywhere server runs on CIRCC the Camerer Controller PC and A PCAnywhere client runs on CIROB, the remote PC that the observer uses in the Telescope Control room.

    To get things going:

    • Login to the observer PC: cirob as user cirsi. You will need the correct password for this. If you do not know it, contact a member of the CIRSI Instrument Team.
    • Double click on the circc icon on the cirob desktop and psAnywhere should start. If it fails to connect to circc you should go and reboot circc via a power cycle.

    Checking the pointing

    To move to ap 2 Type ap 2 on TO TCS console

    Features to watch for

    1. CIRSIgo: if you type CIRSIgo when not in remote the socket caches this and an exposure may start immediateley after you put Pixcel into remore mode
    2. CIRSIquit: if if you type CIRSIquit when in Pixcel local mode the socket caches this and when you go into Remote Pixcel swiches immediateley to local mode. The symtoms are:

      Permission problems

    3. rlogin, rsh, rcp problems
        This is what it should be:
        -rw-r--r-- 1 cirsi 5700 118 Oct 29 14:51 .rhosts
        chmod 666

    Multiple IRAF accounts in the same group on the Data Reduction Machine

    Data Archiving and verification procedures

    At the INT the philosophy is to write a DDS3 DAT tape using the CIRDS DAT drive during the day and read this back onto the local SPARC[lpss14] the following night. The contents were then verified as descibed below and the a 2nd DDS3 is written on this SPARC. If time permits this data could then be read back on the CIRDR drive for verification. Therefore, one has 2 copies of the data writtem and verified on two independent drives.

    The above is a pretty time consuming exercise and needs some automated scripts to do the checking. One should do all the tape writing using scripts so that one can verify what has been done.

    One problem that arises is that the lpss14 disks are only 9GB so that a DDS3 tape can overflow over two disks. Maybe one should write them in chunks orinially ie groups of 100runs. ie 2GB chunks

    Example scripts are shown below:

    make a directory called read-back

  • du -k
  • ls | wc
  • ls *001.fits

    If you get an error under Linux

    chmod 666 /dev/nst* as root

    Maintained by Richard G. McMahon <rgm@ast.cam.ac.uk>
    Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 OHA
    Tel: +44-(0)-1223-337519/337548
    FAX: +44-(0)-1223-337523 Mobile: