Credit Card PCs at CERN

Here you find information about the set-up for CC-PCs at CERN.  The information here will only apply to you, if you use your CCPC in the CERN network (137.138.x.x) or on the LHCb network (xxx.daq.lhcb). Please contact niko.neufeld@cern.ch  for any further information.

At CERN the following server is used by the CCPCs.

lbsrvccpc01.cern.ch is the standard server, which always runs the latest standard software. You can login to this PC with your CCPC account, to edit and compile your files. You can also have your AFS account added to this machine. This machine runs SLC4, so while anything compiled on lxplus should run, but might need a recompile. In case of problems do not hesitate to ask me.

All CCPC users are members of the group cc (GID 20502).

Ask me for a password, in case :-). The home directories are backup-ed  every night.

Servers used by all CCPCs

1. lbsrvccpc01: serves the rootfilesysten vi NFS, serves the tftp -  if this server is not reachable all CCPCs will freeze
    

2. lbondns01: serves the addresses via DHCP - if this servers is unreachable, the CCPCs will continue to work but you will not be able to reboot them. (The server just needs to be running, you do not need and actually cannot login).
    

3. lbpool02: serves the home directories via NFS. (The server just needs to be running, you do not need and actually cannot login).

Troubleshooting:

If you experience boot or login problems verify that from your location the first two servers named above can be reached (pinged). If you have problems contact  me. If you can login but your home directory is empty or read-only first try to reboot the CCPC then verify the connection to lbpool02 (ping). In case of problems contact either Artur or myself.

Log messages from the CCPCs

The system logs (they have nothing to do with PVSS logs) are send to lbsrvccpc01. They end up in a file called /var/log/messages, which is world readable. To monitor the boot process of your PC try sometihing like this (when logged in to lbsrvccpc01)

xterm -e "tail -f /var/log/messages | grep <NAME OF YOUR CCPC>" &

During a boot you should see the normal output of a Linux machine booting. Watch out for unusual messages.

Moving a CCPC in the CERN network

When you move  a CCPC at CERN from one plug to another you have to perform two steps

1. Update the new location in the IT network database. Attention: Make sure that the HCP Response flag  is UNTICKED. You should see in the confirmation mail: this device CANNOT obtain an IP-address automatically. Wait for the confirmation mail

2. Update the dhcp server config using the CCPC DHCP page (please be patient, the page takes some time to appear).

CCPCs in the local LHCb network

On the LHCb network the same accounts can be used. The servers are physically the same, but they have different IP-addresses. CCPCs on the internal network have NO connection to the outside world. Don't expect to be able to connect to or from internal CCPCs from or to your desktop on the CERN network. Login to a gateway server to connect. For example lbsrvccpc01, which "lives" on both networks.

Please send comments and suggestions to niko.neufeld@cern.ch.