Database Reports and the IOC Crawler Presented by Katia Danilova 09/01/2005

Please  Hold the questions and comments, write down your questions and suggestions! discussion is planned after the presentation we can use your notes to address the problems later  Thank you!

Why to discuss Reports and Crawler together:  They are “complimentary” programs providing access to IOC configuration info for the client (user)  Crawler takes IOC data from EPICS servers and puts them into the database  Web-based reports take this data from the database for the end user ROCS system is under development ROCS Reports by request (in the form of spreadsheet or flat file) are possible

Data Flow View:

Crawler  Crawler is a computer program which “crawls” through the IOC configuration related files on EPICS boot servers, collects the information, constructs a profile for each IOC, and automatically saves this data in a relational database.  Language used: Initially: Java (Jeff Patton) Currently: Perl (Don Dohan, Jeff Patton, Greg Lawson)  Relational Database used: mySQL (Argonne) Oracle (SNS)

Collaboration  Participants: Argonne and SNS Don Dohan (Argonne) Coles Sibley, Jeff Patton, Greg Lawson (SNS)  Crawler is a part of IRMIS (Integrated Relational Model of Installed Systems )IRMIS  Basic package is made in Argonne  Other labs can add the modules to adjust the program to their realities – this is what Greg Lawson does for Control Systems

Examples of files parsed:  Startup.cmd  Bootline  St.cmd  iocInfo/ bspVersion epicsVersion vxVersion… pvList  db, dbd template files

Why Controls Systems care about the Crawler:  the latest information (about each IOC, or how many people use this or that version, or software changes…) is easily accessible through reports and viewing programs  Some problems are already identified: Mistakes/typos in PV names Can tell when somebody is not following the naming standards  In a case of disaster recovery: can look at the last configuration and reconstruct IOC from the DB  If a bug in a certain version of driver found: can find all IOC that require manual changes

In perspective  Rather than pulling info from IOC, info can be pushed into IOC from the database automatically If global changes are required: all IOC can be pushed at once by making changes in one place in the DB and can be loaded automatically instead of restoring everything manually If a bug found: changes to all IOC that use the same driver can be done at the same time  If in addition to writing to a disk all IOC info goes to DB, then it can be used for logging almost real time  DB applications that talk directly to IOC can be created

Current Issues to solve for developers:  Crawler is under development =>  Every time Argonne makes changes to improve the program, SNS has to make adjustments (Jeff Patton has to adopt all the changes to Oracle)  Need to develop GUI viewing programs (like Archiver and ROCS)  Currently, when IOC engineers make changes in a file structure, or just move the files, crawler needs to be updated to be able to find info

For the IOC engineers:  Keep the standard organization of the directories, otherwise crawler does not know were to look for the files. Order is important!  Keep the standard structure of the files the program parses, otherwise crawler can not find data. Order is important!  If there are no concrete standards yet, probably it’s the time to develop them?

My sources:  IRMIS collaboration meeting IRMIS collaboration meeting  Relational Database Argonne National Laboratory.ppt Relational Database Argonne National Laboratory.ppt  Argonne National Laboratory: IRMIS PV Crawler.ppt Argonne National Laboratory: IRMIS PV Crawler.ppt  Coles Sibley. SNS Requirements.ppt Coles Sibley. SNS Requirements.ppt  Jeff Patton. ORNL EPICS RDB Tools.ppt Jeff Patton. ORNL EPICS RDB Tools.ppt  Jeff Patton: Extending RDB Core.ppt Jeff Patton: Extending RDB Core.ppt  An overview of IRMIS An overview of IRMIS  Interviews with J. Patton, G. Lawson, C. Sibley, E. Williams

Crawler Animation:  is a student project completed by Katia Danilova for Flash class at UT, spring 2005  Requirement: develop an animated web-based instructional/ educational unit (3-5 min length, funny creatures designed)  This unit: shows a little of how the IOC boots up shows how the crawler gathers IOC configuration info from the EPICS IOC boot server shows how a client, for example a web based report, gets an updated info from a DB Crawler Animation