European Southern Observatory New Technology Telescope

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Observations :
Operations :

autocd
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ohainaut Sun Mar  4 13:11:57 CLST 2001
 
 

INTRODUCTION

At this point, the program is supposed to be run from guest@wg5drl, in the home directory (in caser of doubt, type    cd   to go back to home).

1- autoCd LAUNCHER

2- autoCdBurn

• transfer the data from a directory on a  remote machine (e.g    /data/raw/2001-01-29 on wg5dhs) and compress them
• split these data into directories that will fit on CDs
• burn the CD(s)

COOKBOOK

It is important to work only on COMPLETE directory, i.e. directory in
which no data will be added. For instance, for on the data of last
night after 9am, when today's directory is already started. IT IS NOT
POSSIBLE TO ADD DATA TO THIS PROGRAM, the only way is to rm the
content of the local directory and start again (sorry).
 

- on guest@wg5drl (pw=,5arcsec), in the home directory, check that the
  following directories are present (if not, create them with mkdir ):

   > for NTT archive:
 - bigData  (the raw data will come here)
 - tmpDir   (the split data will come here)

   > for Observer/Service Obs backup:
 - bigDataService
 - tmpDirService

-  start the program:

 autoCd-0.9/autoCd

   (note: it might crash the first time - just restart); you get
 - the panel with the buttons
 - an xterm which will display some logs
 - the xterm in which you started the panel contains some debug
   info

- check that there is enough disk space (e.g. using the diskMonit that
  is automatically opened when autoCd starts). If not, you can remove
  the tmpDir/Burned_* directories.
 

- check/set the parameters in the Control sub-panel
  -  Data dir: /scratch/guest/bigData/ or.../bigDataService/
  - Stacking dir: /scratch/guest/tmpDir/ or.../tmpDirService/
            (the final / is **CRITICAL**)
  - CD size: 620000
  - CD prefix: for ntt data, should be ONTT.  (with the. )
  - CD current Nr: the next cd will have that Nr

  - device name: /mnt/cdrom1
  - device name: 1,5,0
  - CD writer speed: 8 is OK for the disks from Saul/Anton.
    In case of doubts, use 4
  - Turn the Laser ON
  - set the directory that you want to transfer:
        set the user, password and host
        set the path that you want to transfer.

   Examples:
   - 1 for daily backup:
        user = nttops
 pw = lenina4u
 host = wg5dhs   (we transfer from wg5dhs, which contains all
  the files, but where the astronomer has no access)
 dir = /data/raw/2001-02-23/

   - 2 for service observing backup
 user = astro
 pw =.5arcsec
 host = wg5off
 dir = /data/raw/ServiceObserving/66.D-0557A/
 (this time, we point to a directory made by the support astronomer,
 that contains all the data from a service obs. program)

    [save] the parameters

 
- transfer the data:
   in the lower left panel (Data transfer), click [Get full remote
   directory].  The panel will freeze while transfering the data (it
   can take 10min-20min - check the log xterm), then the files will be
   compressed (this can take 10min - 2h!!). Go and do something else;
   at the end, the program will boooing, and the list will be updated.

- split the data in CD-ready subdirectory:
   in the top right panel (Data Splitter), click [Prepare new
   CDs]. This will pass the data from bigData to subdirectories of
   tmpDir. Each subdirectory will correspond to a CD. If more than one
   CD are needed, each time a subdirectory is full, its name becomes
   Full_ONTT.xxxx. The last one, which is not full is Open_ONTT.xxxx.

- - For Service Obs or Observer backup: close the last CD subdirectory:
    in the Data Splitter, click [Close Opened CDs] to change the
    Open_ONTT.xxxx into Full_ONTT.xxxx
  - For NTT archive, this is not necessary: the last CD will be completed
    tomorrow

- Burn the CDs:
   put a CD in the lower tray
   click [Close tray and burn]; this will put on disk the next
   Full_ONTT.xxxx directory, then rename it to Burned.
   You can monitor the process on the xterm log.
   When completed, the CD is ejected.
   Label it: NTT, ONTT.xxxx
   Print the cdCover.ps and put the cover in the box.
   (currently, lpr does not work from the PC:
   on the pc: ncftpput -u astro -p.5arcsec wg5off "~" cdCover.ps
   on astro@wg5off: lp cdCover.ps
   )

- check the CD:
   put the new CD in the upper tray, close it and type
     diff /mnt/cdrom ~/tmpDir/Burned_ONTT.xxxx
   (where xxxx is the last CD you burned). It should take ~5-10min,
   then say NOTHING.
   If it says nothing, the CD is OK. If not,
     mv ~/tmpDir/Burned_ONTT.xxxx ~/tmpDir/Full_ONTT.xxxx
     [update list]
     try again, lowering the CD speed.
   (as of today, it never happened).
   Note that this action can be performed while the next cd is being burned.

- Burn the next CD: go back to the "Burn the CD" step.
 
 

 
DESCRIPTION OF THE PANEL

 - top left: all the parameters

 - bottom left: the transfer control
  - [update list] rereads the directory and lists all
     the files ready to be processed
  - [get whole directory] transfers the content of the
     directory defined in the Configuration

 - top right: the directory splitting control
  - [update list] rereads the directory and lists all
      the CDs it contents;
  . Burned_*: this cd has already been
     burned on CD; it can be removed
  . Full_*: this cd is complete; it can be
     burned.
  . Open_*: this cd is not complete; next data
     file will go in there.
  - [make new CDs]: transfers the files that are waiting
     into the directory structure. When a CD is
     full, it is renamed from Open_ to Full_, and
     a new one is started
  - [Close opened CDs]: will rename all the Open_ CDs
     into Full_, so that they can be burned, even
     if they are not completely full.

 - bottom right: the cd burning control
  - [close and burn]: will close the cdwriter tray and burn on
  the CD the data in the next Full_* directory. If no more
  directory is available, just exits.
 
 

TROUBLESHOOTING

- in case the log xterm does not work
  start a new one with
     xterm -exec tail -f cdLog &

- in case you burn a CD, the CD is ejected after ~2sec, and the
  program reports that the CD was successfully burned:
  check the status of the laser (control panel, laser should be ON)

- in case of problem while burning a CD  (the log file gives an uggly
  error message with memory dump and the autoCdBurn does not respond):
  check the size of that CD in
  the Splitter list. If larger than 630000: move the data from that CD
  and ALL the following back to big data:
    mv ~/tmpDir/Full_xxx/*  ~/bigData
     mv ~/tmpDir/Open_xxx/*  ~/bigData
  Remove the cd
     rm -r ~/tmpDir/Full_xxx ~/tmpDir/Open_xx
  Reset the disk counter to the next disk
  [prepare new CDs]
 

- in case a disk was successfully burned, but the resulting CD is bad,
  you can re-burn it:
     cd ~/tmpDir
     mv Burned_ONTT.1234  Full_ONTT.1234
  then [update list] in the data splitter, and [close tray and burn cd]

- in some cases, it is possible to have 2 Open_... directories in
  the Data Splitter.
  > if they are almost full (>500Mb), use [Close Opened CDs]
    to make them Full_, and continue with the next ones normally.
  > if they are almost empty, close the Open_... (EXCEPT the last one)
    by hand by doing:
      cd tmpDir
      mv Open_ONTT.0123 Full_ONTT.0123 (with the right number!)
    and burn the CD(s) that you just closed.
 

In case of problem: get a copy of the logs with the mouse, and send
   them to me (ohainaut).
 
 

    __oOo__
 

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