Starting and stopping UltraDAS

This page is part of the ING manual INS-DAS-29 Operations manual for UltraDAS.

As described in the introduction, UltraDAS includes parts of all layers of the observing system. That means that the starting of UltraDAS isn't neatly separated from the starting of the ICS, TCS and other aspects of the software. You may expect to find a great deal of overlap between this section and other manuals.

Starting up

The best order in which to start the sub-systems is

CCD controller;
DAS;
TCS;
system computer.

The CCD controller is normally left running, but you may have to start it if you come to the telescope immediately after an instrument change. Similarly, the DAS and TCS are normally up, but you may need to start them. The software on the system computer is often shut down at the end of an observing night and you will usually have to restart it. If the CCDC, DAS or DAS are up when you arrive, then it's best not to restart them unless you know there's a problem. Hence, a quick way of getting going is to start the system-computer software first and only attend to the other sub-systems if the system computer can't make contact to them.

You don't need to have the TCS running to use UltraDAS, but you won't get complete headers in your observation files if it's down.

Starting the CCD controller

To get at the controller you may need to slew the telescope.

To get at the IDS controller, slew to zenith.
To get at the INT WFC, slew to access park. You will need to bring the telescope down in engineering mode to reach the controller.
To get the WHT mosaic on PFIP, bring the telescope to the access-park-2 position. Visiting observers should not do this: please ask ING staff to do it for you.

UltraDAS science-cameras have the controller mounted on the CCD cryostat, but the power controls are in a separate rack. Find the cryostat first and then trace the cables back to the power rack. At the rack, there is a power supply in a grey box: turn this on.

Turn on power to the shutter controller. For the INT WFC, the shutter controller is separate from the CCD controller is in a blue/silver box labelled "MCA controller". For all other cameras, the shutter controller is in the same rack as the detector controller's power supply. In both cases, the power switch is on the opposite side to the indicator LEDs.

When you power on the detector controller, it loads sufficient software from PROM to become accessible from the DAS computer. There is nothing more that you need to do for UltraDAS in the dome.

Starting the TCS

Telnet to the telescope computer and log in as INT_LOGIN or WHT_LOGIN as appropriate. From the main menu choose START. This starts two windows: the TCS' command line, which has the USER> prompt, and the TCS' information display. Your original telnet window may well get logged out during the start-up process.

Starting the DAS

The DAS computer itself is almost always up and running its operating system; you just need to start the application software. (If you do find the computer down, then call technical support to start it for you.)

Normal procedure:

Log on to the console of the system computer as intobs or whtobs as appropriate to the telescope in question.
An xterm window with an orange background will appear and will log in to the DAS computer for you, using the same account that you used on the system computer.
In the orange terminal-window, give the command obssys.
Obssys presents a menu of possible systems. Choose the one that offers the right instrument, detector, system version and set of patches.
When the DAS> prompt appears, give the command startobssys.
Wait for the prompt to come back, indicating the system has loaded.
Iconfiy the terminal window; it's not needed for the rest of the operation.

Alternative 1:

Log on to the DAS computer via telnet from somewhere other than the system computer or DAS computer. You still need to log on as intobs or whtobs.
Do steps 2..6 of the normal procedure.
Log out of your telnet session. (This leaves the DAS running in the background.)

Alternative 2:

Log on to the console of the DAS computer as intobs or whtobs.
Do steps 2..6 of the normal procedure.
Either leave your session logged in, or log out and leave the DAS running in the background.

Notes

Only the observing accounts intobs and whtobs have the correct settings to run the system fully and correctly.
The obssys command defines which software to use but does not start it. The startobssys command starts the software but cannot work unless obssys has defined which software to use.

Starting the system computer

As with the DAS computer, the system computer is almost always up and running Solaris. You need to log in and start the user-interface software for UltraDAS. In the process, you inevitably start some of the instrument-control software as well.

Normal procedure:

Log on to the console of the system computer as intobs or whtobs as appropriate to the telescope in question.
An xterm window with an pink background will appear, logged in to the system computer.
In the pink terminal-window, give the command obssys.
Obssys presents a menu of possible systems. Choose the one that offers the right instrument, detector, system version and set of patches.
When the SYS> prompt appears, give the command startobssys.
Give the identification data requested by the identify window. If you are starting the system during daily checks, please enter the observer's details from the summary schedule.
Wait for the prompt to come back, indicating the system has loaded.

Alternative 1 (not recommended for observing):

From an X-terminal, or from another SPARCstation, start a remote X-session on the system computer.
Follow steps 2..7 of the normal procedure.

Alternative 2 (not recommended for observing):

From an X-terminal, or from another SPARCstation, start a telnet window on the system computer.
Set your DISPLAY variable and X-server permissions to bring the display back to your screen.
Follow steps 3..7 of the normal procedure. The telnet window you opened explicitly stands in lieu of the "pink" window used in in the normal procedure.

Notes:

In starting "the observing system" on the system computer, you are actually starting the part known as the "central intelligence", plus some portion of the instrument-control system (ICS) that happens to live on the system computer.
The system computer may have two screens in its console (the one at the INT does). If you use the remote login in the alternative methods, windows that should have come up on the second screen will not appear.
It is impractical to start the full system from a terminal without X-windows graphics; too many imporant display would be lost.
The remarks about obssys and startobssys made for the DAS computer apply equally to the system computer.

Please give identify the data it wants. This information is added to the header of each observation file and helps in the administration of the ING archive.
If by mischance you have run startobssys on the system computer before some of the other sub-systems are started, then you will get error reports. Start the missing machines, and then re-issue the startobssys command. Startobssys will make add the missing connections and restart a few displays. It is not necessary to shut down the system-computer software and start it from scratch.

Starting a second session on the system computer

Once you have your applications running on the system computer, you can start another command session from a different terminal if you wish. Typically, the telescope operator does this to get access to autoguider commands. Telnet to the system computer and log in as intobs or whtobs as described above. Give the obssys command and select the system. Don't give the startobssys command (the system is already running and does not need restarting), but instead give the command talker & to get a status display.

Shutting down

In general, there is no need to shut down any part of UltraDAS at the end of an observing session. You may want to log off the system computer at the end of observing, but this is not strictly necessary. In any case, you should not normally need to halt the operating system on the system computer or DAS computer. The DAS and the CCD controller should only be shut down for instrument changes or other engineering work.

The best order for a full shut-down is

system computer.
DAS;
CCD controller;
TCS;

Shutting down the system computer

Stop the display software and instrument-control programmes by giving the command shutdownobssys. You may be left with a few display windows. Close these manually. Now log out.

If you need to stop the computer itself, log back in to the shut account. (If you don't know the password for this, call technical support). The log-in script for the shut account will lead you through the process of closing down Solaris.

Shutting down the TCS

At the USER> prompt, give the command tcsexit. This causes the TCS to shut down and logs you out from the captive account that was running the TCS.

If the TCS is running but you don't have a USER> prompt, you will have to log in again to the telescope computer. Telnet to the telescope computer and log in as INT_LOGIN or WHT_LOGIN as appropriate. Choose STOP from the main menu. This stops the TCS and logs you out.

Shutting down the DAS

Log in to the DAS computer as described above under "starting the DAS". (If the terminal session which started the DAS is still running, use that.) Follow that procedure as far as the obssys command, but don't go on to give the startobssys command.

Now give the shutdownobssys command. Wait for the programmes to die off, then log out.

Shutting down the CCD controller

Find the controller's power supply and shutter-control rack as described under "starting the CCD controller". Switch off both these units.