| User's Guide to RunControl &minus Partitions |
Each RunControl session must be assigned to one partition. A partition is an integer session identifier. The partitions 0 through 7 are associated with one TriggerSupervisor each, and are known as hardware partitions. Any partition above 7 is known as a software partition and does not have an associated TriggerSupervisor.
The TriggerSupervisor is the top-level piece of hardware that governs the CDF data acquisition system. TriggerSupervisor controls the trigger and readout system and produces the final Level1 Accept and Level2 Accept signals. For a software partition, the RunControl client software must produce its own triggers, or execute code entirely independent of the TriggerSupervisor. A software partition may also be used simply to book front end resources without initiating a run.
Each front end crate also belongs to no more than one partition. The ResourceManager provides a booking mechanism to prevent more than one partition from trying to use a given crate or client. Using this mechanism, RunControl will not allow one to use a crate already booked by another partition.
A fast text-only way to view the status of all partitions is via the partition command:
setup fer partition Id CreationTime UserName NodeName PId NCr Run ClientName * 1 2004.02.05 14:28 cdfdaq b0dap73 2688 150 178854 Christopher x 2080 2 2004.02.05 22:37 reisert b0dap72 1431 1 178663 reisert 16 2004.02.05 18:56 cdfdaq b0dap74 227 1 cdfdaq
partition 1
Id CreationTime UserName NodeName PId NCr Run ClientName
* 1 2004.02.05 14:28 cdfdaq b0dap73 2688 150 178854 Christopher x 2080
0 CCAL_00
1 CCAL_01
2 CCAL_02
3 CCAL_03
...
The Partitioning Menu
The Partitioning pull-down menu lets the user select which partition to use for this particular RunControl session. Other options withing this menu allow perusing the system resources that are included within this session's partition and other users' partitions. The session's ErrorLogger window may also be restarted from this menu.
Select Partition
Before doing almost anything in RunControl, the user must select a partition. The first eight partitions, numbered 0 to 7, are called Hardware Partitions and each one is associated with a separate TriggerSupervisor module. Partition 8 is assigned to the B0 2nd floor TestStand room. The remainder are called Software Partitions and have no TriggerSupervisor associated with them. Software partitions can be used for self-contained data processing partition (e.g., QIE Calibrations) or simply as place-holders to reserve system resources.
See the image below for the PartitionSelector GUI. The user may select any free partition as indicated by the cyan (light blue) color and the word free on the button. Partitions used by other sessions are indicated in yellow with the tag active. The current session's partition is indicated in green with the tag current.
Book Resources (reconcile configuration)
In the Start state, the user may wish to book the resources defined in the current configuration, but without going through the time-consuming Partition transition. Select Book Resources (reconcile configuration) to reserve crates and clients in order to prevent other users from using them. This feature only works while you are in the Start state.
Due to the SmartSockets rtserver flakiness, sometimes partitions are closed unexpectedly. Rebook Resources (renew already booked) may be used in this case to recover any lost resource booking. Note that if the partition unexpectedly closes, RunControl will detect this condition and attempt to Rebook Resources automatically. If the automatic rebook fails, the user may try this option manually. This option is available throughout the RunControl session's life.
Resources are normally booked and released automatically during the Partition transition. Otherwise, the user may book and release resources via the Resource Selector GUI available via the Select Resources (manual interface) option, as shown below. Left-click a button to either book or release that resource. Right-click a button to pop up a new window with details of that particular resource. For example, clicking on the CCAL button will pop up a new window listing all the crates belong to the CCAL.
The color code indicates the booking status of the resource:
| GREEN | indicates the resource is entirely owned by your partition |
| RED | indicates the resource is entirely owned by another partition |
| CYAN | (close to light blue) indicates the resource is completely free |
| BLUE | indicates part of the resource is owned by another partition |
| YELLOW | indicates part of the resource is owned by your partition |
The ClientName indicates the name of the user and the phone number of their location. For group accounts, the user is prompted at the beginning of the session to set the ClientName. For personal accounts, the ClientName is the user name. This ClientName is used to identify the session in the Resource Manager and is visiable via the partition shell command. ClientName is also used to identify the person when adding comments to a run. The user is free to change the ClientName at any time during the session. For group accounts in the CDF Control Room, the user will automatically be prompted to update the ClientName when the eight-hour shift begins (00:00, 08:00 and 16:00). The shift crew member should put his or her own name in this field.
If the user wishes to relinquish all system resources, the Close Partition option can be selected. This will deallocate the current session's partition and any booked resources owned by that partition. Other users' session will then be free to use the old partition and its former resources. The RunControl session will stay alive, but very little can be done with it until a new partition is opened.
The View Partitions option pops up a window that looks exactly like the PartitionSelector window, except that the user may only view the information, not select a partition.
The Print Partitions option will pop up a text window with various informations about currently open partitions. This information text may be save to a file if desired. Other similar utilities are the RunControlDisplay and the shell partition command.
If for some reason the RunControl session crashes or is stopped in the middle of a run, then it is possible to regain control over that partition. However, several conditions must be met before this is possible. Such conditions are noted in the confirmation pop-up window shown below. Rejoining a partition must be done before and instead of selecting a partition in the usual way. Note that:
If the ErrorHandler application fails to respond to transitions, or is in a strange state, then you can restart the process via the Start Error Handler option. Note that ErrorHandler is a client of RunControl, so if you restart the ErrorHandler while in any state other than Start, then you will have to Shepherd this client in order to have it rejoin the rest of the RunControl family.
The Replies and Ackowledgements window should be open and visible throughout the duration of a RunControl session. In some cases, the user may accidentally close the window. The window may be re-displayed and popped to the front by selecting this option.