Introduction

The VELO ECS project controls the whole Velo detector: it includes the DAQ domain, the DCS domain, the HV domain and DAI domain. It runs on vedaqa01 (linux) under the velo_user account.

Starting the VELO ECS

• Log on to a Windows console in the online network (LHCb domain).
• Open the following directory: G:\online\ecs\Shortcuts\VELO
• Double click on VEECS1_UI_FSM. The following panel will pop up:

• Right-click on VELO. The following panel will pop up:

• The panel is composed of three parts: on the top left the FSM trees of the 4 sub-domains (DCS, HV, DAI and DAQ), the Runinfo, the TFC system, the HLT, the storage and the monitoring are accessible. On the bottom left the FSM trees of the two VELO halves are accessible. From both parts of the panel you finally access the same VELO components, just once structured in a functional way, once representing the physical layout of the VELO. The right part of the panel contains all the necessary functionality to take data. The VELO User Panel button opens a panel with a collection of useful tools for monitoring (instructions here).

• Click on the top padlock and Take. If the padlock is closed and red, then someone else has already taken the control. A report panel will pop up, showing which part of the system are not taken: for the time being, the VELO_DCS and VELO_HV should stay excluded for safety reason. Check if the informations displayed are consistent with your expection and then click on dismiss.

• If you just want to operate one VELO half you may also consider to double click on VELOA or VELOC and start from a similar panel there.

• Include (exclude) the parts of the FSM tree that you (do not) want to use. To do so click on the padlocks and choose "UnlockOut&Include" ("Exclude&LockOut") to include (exclude) the corresponding part of the FSM tree. In case of the green tickmarks (red crosses) just click on them and change from exclude to include (include to exclude) via "Enable" or "Disable". You may want to exclude certain parts from the FSM tree to operate the components manually for safety reasons or to have better control of the things happening (e.g. turning on LV and HV). Typically VELO_Runinfo, VELO_TFC, VELO_HLT, VELO_Storage and VELO_Monitoring should be included to send triggers and take data.

• If the VELO is NOT_ALLOCATED, then click on the corresponding button and ALLOCATE:

If the system is already ALLOCATED, then DEALLOCATE and ALLOCATE it back. The system will go in the state shown here:

This assigns

• a readout supervisor (ODIN) to the VELO providing clock and fast signals
• a subfarm of the HLT to acquire the data
• a slice of the storage system to store the data
• a slice of the monitoring system

The system should be afterwards in the state "NOT_READY".
You can check which TFC partition has been dynamically allocated by double clicking on VELO_TFC:

You can check which HLT subfarm has been dynamically allocated by double clicking on VELO_HLT:

Farm monitoring

If you want to check the log output of the eventbuilder log in to any online machine (e.g. the plus analysis farm) and execute the following commands:

• cd /group/online/dataflow/scripts
• ./farmMon -part=VELO
• ./errorLog VELO

Taking Data

1. Make sure that all the components you want to use and which are not included in the FSM are configured.
2. Select the activity you want from the pull down menu (Ex PHYSICSNTP).
3. Select "Run limited to" below "Max Nr. Events:" and enter the number of event you want to acquire. Typically 10000 events are acquired for noise and pedestals runs and 5000 events for the cable test.
4. Check that "Step Run with" below "Automated Run with Steps:" is NOT selected if you do not want to perform a parameter scan.
5. Configure the system by selecting "Configure" after clicking on "NOT_READY":
   
   
   
6. This should bring the included subsystems into the state "READY":
   
   
   
7. Start the system by selecting "START_RUN" after clicking on "READY":
   
   
   
8. This should bring the TFC subsystem into the state "ACTIVE" and the other subsystems into the state "RUNNING":
   
   
   
9. Start the run by selecting "GO":
   
   
   
10. This should bring the VELO system into the state "RUNNING":
    
    
    
11. The RUN can be aborted at any time by selecting "STOP_RUN" from the VELO system button:
    
    
    
12. Wait until the run is automatically stopped. The system will go in the state "PAUSED":
    
    
    
13. Stop the run by selecting "STOP_RUN" after clicking on "PAUSED":
    
    
    
14. This will bring the system into the state "NOT_READY":
    
    
    
15. You can now Reset the system by selecting "RESET" after clicking on "NOT_READY":
    
    
    
16. WARNING! The Reset command will bring the state of each subsystem to NOT_READY, but the DAQ hardware will not be touched! To really reset the DAQ, please consult this section.
17. After logging in to the analysis farm plus you can find the data in the directory indicated in the text field next to "Storing Data On:". The files in the directory /daqarea/lhcb/data/2008/ on the online network can be found on Castor at /castor/cern.ch/grid/lhcb/data/2008/ (there is some older data stored at /castor/cern.ch/lhcb/online/point8/2008).
18. Create a symbolic link using the command "ln -s /daqarea/lhcb/data/2008/RAW/VELOC/RECIPENAME/RUNNUMBER/ NameOfTheLink" in the directory
    
    • slice test: /group/velo/slicetest/data/
    • module power up: /group/velo/modulepowerup/data
19. Use as NameOfTheLink:
    • slice test: slicetest_slot_slotLabel_tell1_Tell1SerialNumber_runType_yymmdd_hhmm.dat
      Examples for the slotLabel and the Tell1SerialNumber are "VL05_CT" and "207", respectively. For the runType please choose one of "delayscan", "cabletest", "tp" or "ntp".
    • module power up: yymmdd_hhmm_slotLabel_modulepowerup_runType_hvStatus.dat
      An example for the slotLabel is VL03_C. For the runType please choose one of "cabletest", "tp" or "ntp". Take R0V_P50V as an example for the hvStatus.

Releasing the VELO ECS

If you want to release the VELO ECS click on the top padlock and choose release all; if the VELO control has to change its mode from local to global, don't forget to deallocate before to release. Never close the VEECS1_UI_FSM panel whithout releasing it!

-- KarolHennessy - 14 Aug 2008