DAQ Online Software Migration

1
DAQ Online Software Migration December Status

• Chris Lester
• (and John Hill at short notice!)

I would like to thank those at CERN, Birmingham,
Oxford and Cambridge who have provided valuable
assistance throughout the migration process.
2
Reminder of what this is all about

• SctRodDaq 3.xx (current release) uses ATLAS
  online-00-19-01
• To talk to DCS with PVSSII-v3 we need
  online-00-21-0x or better
• Is needed by SCT DCS people
• Is also needed to avoid SCT being left behind
• SctRodDaq 4.xx (head/development) began with
  online-00-21-02 but has since moved completely to
  online-00-22-00 in tandem with the testbeam.

3
Initial Migration strategy

• HEAD was frozen
• SctRodDaq_4.xx (online21) developed in RED branch
• SctRodDaq_3.xx (online19) developed in BLUE
  branch
• Finally all changes from RED and BLUE merged into
  HEAD
• Result
• HEAD is SctRodDaq_4.xx
• BLUE branch exists for SctRodDaq_3.xx support

4
Migration since last SCT week

• SctRodDaq_4.xx/HEAD updated to use
  online-00-22-00 in place of online-00-21-02.
• On 11th November, there was a global merge from
  3.xx to 4.xx of all 3.xx developments made up to
  that point (mostly feature extensions from
  Oxford).
• Since 11th November, most development has been in
  4.xx branch, with ports BACK to 3.xx only where
  features were needed at Oxford.

5
Other development since last SCT week.

• At last SCT week, we reported on problems with
  the DAQ??DCS communication.
• All these problems turned out to be caused by
  online-00-21-02 and were cured when we upgraded
  to online-00-22-00.
• DAQ??DCS communications now seem OK and were
  tested at SR1 shortly after last SCT week.

6
Other development since last SCT week.

• Overhaul of exception handling in 4.xx branch.
• For a long time there was a desperate need for an
  overhaul of the exception handling system in all
  branches.
• Error conditions arise on one machine, but
  exception needs to be caught on another, or be
  seen by user.
• Information (e.g. the cause of the exception) was
  being lost at more than one step between the
  point at which the error happened and the point
  at which that problem was finally seen by a user.
• Complete overhaul was undertaken in 4.xx branch,
  and appears to be a success.
• Changes have not been ported to 3.xx branch to
  provide carrot for migration at Oxford.

7
Adoption at SR1

• Have already had talk from Dave Robinson
• SR1 is now 100 behind 4.xx branch, and have
  abandoned use of 3.xx ?
• SR1 main source of current testing of 4.xx
  outside Cambridge
• SR1 currently running with 3-4 modules, and do
  not see any major problems! ?
• SR1 do see minor problems
• Inconvenience SctGui needs to be restarted after
  every LoadConfigStartStopUnconfigUnload
  cycle.
• Work around exists D.R. ?
• Configuration IS server goes to sleep after above
  cycle. Is probable cause of above problem but is
  not really understood.
• SR1 did see other minor problems which have now
  been fixed. E.g.
• Failure of run number to increment now traced to
  error in database. Thanks Mihai!

8
Adoption at SR1

• Main message
• SctRodDaq_4.xx / HEAD works !
• But
• Awaiting stress test with more than 3-4 modules
  when Barrel Sector becomes available in early
  January 2005.

9
Adoption at Oxford

• For the purposes of migrating from 3.xx to 4.xx,
  Oxford were assigned a computer (station 2)
  that had been provisionally acquired for use on
  barrel 6.
• Alan Barr installed full 4.xx online-00-22-00
  set up on this machine, and only then discovered
  that
• this machine is a piece of junk
• Turned out that 255MHz pentium, 256Mb RAM not
  sufficient to even start the offline software,
  let alone run any scans. Alan managed to press
  the start button, though!

10
Adoption at Oxford

• Nevertheless
• There has been significant change of mood at
  Oxford they are now very receptive to the
  benefits of migration.
• It is expected that further progress will be made
  before the end of the year, with a possible
  change-over from 3.xx to 4.xx once barrel 3 is
  dispatched.

11
Non migration related news / comments

• Oxford now using 3.xx with largest number of
  modules ever (384 at last count)
• Oxford are beginning to see bottlenecks in
  SctRodDaq that have been known about for some
  time but are only now becoming limiting and thus
  a priority to sove!
• Example
• Rate of raw data transfer limits time taken to do
  many scans
• In some cases system grinding to a halt under
  vast number of MRS messages being passed between
  processes.
• BOC scans now significantly slower than ordinary
  scans.
• Will need to solve these problems in 4.xx, so
  need to monitor progress at Oxford carefully.

12
New scans since last SCT week

• New RX Threshold scan was implemented in 4.xx and
  ported to 3.xx (see picture next page)
• Finds minimum RX Threshold at which module config
  register can be read without error.
• Finds maximum RX Threshold at which module config
  register can be read without error.
• Sets optimum RX Threshold half way between the
  two above.
• Heavily in use at Oxford.
• Awaiting graphical display of threshold values
  from D.Robinson (in GUI).

13
Rx Threshold Scan Example
14
Other new scans on the way

• Mark space ratio
• TX Dela

15
Left to be done.

• DAQ lt- -gt DCS communication
• ddc_ct OK
• ddc_dt dies
• ddc_mt dies

16
Remember this!

• Code suitable for testing on modules exists!
• (Should probably make an actual release 4.00 to
  help external users)

17
Status of migration athttp//www.hep.phy.cam.ac.
uk/daq-bin/wiki.cgi/OmniMigration
however
18
Status of SctRodDaq
19
Timescale and Testing

• Time taken so far 2 to 3 months.
• Most effort in first 6 weeks
• Why the slow down?
• Major changes require serious testing
• Difficult since Oxford now in serious macro
  assembly main cause of slowing down
• Few people seem desperate to test our code !

20
Testing cont

• Cambridge
• On three modules, 4.xx can do all that 3.01 can.
  Full characterisation sequence etc.
• H8
• Limited testing of 4.xx on modules in testbeam
  StrobeDelay etc.
• Have some idea of way forward with TB integration
• Oxford
• Only small amount of DDC testing.

21
Status of SctRodDaq
Release 4.xx ? (online 21)
Release 3.xx (online 19)
Expert tree surgery
Harness Testing and Macro Assembly
Release 2.xx (online 19)
22
Notes

• 3.xx and 4.xx in danger of diverging
• Both in terms of code and in testing.
• Can make limited promise to merge further updates
  from 3.xx to 4.xx
• but want to abandon 3.xx in the end!
• We hope there should be very few (if any) changes
  for the user.
• Need willing testers !

23
Can you help test?