Computing and software

Main starting point with introduction to Athena, grid certificates, lxplus accounts, Ganga.

Maillists

Essential mailing lists for analysis users. Please check the support page.

Grid status

Check the Atlas UK grid page for a summary of grid issues or if you notice problem related to a particular site, you can check the site's health at the following URLs

Need to request a data subscription?

All data transfer requests can be made via the Data Transfer Request Interface. You should request that your data is transferred into either SCRATCHDISK or LOCALGROUPDISK on the Tier 2 of your choice. If you wish to discuss problems with any UK data request, please email atlas-uk-data-requests@cern.ch

Need to run jobs at RAL?

For exceptional cases, the ATLAS computing model allows for user-analysis on Tier-1 resources at RAL, given the following criteria are met:

  1. work is sanctioned by a physics group coordinator
  2. users are aware of their job's impact on production computing
  3. analysis can not be run at a Tier-2 site

Access is controlled using the /atlas/uk VOMS Role=poweruser0. Request membership via atlas-uk-data-requests@cern.ch

Site problem? Submit a ticket (please)

If you know a site has problems, perhaps a missing Athena release for example, please send a quick email to atlas-uk-comp-users@cern.ch and someone will investigate.

Analysis problems? Try these approaches

Most Athena analysis code is run using Ganga as a front end, enabling you to test your code locally then switch to running on the grid. When problems occur, try to do the following

  1. re-check documentation :-)
  2. identify the component at fault (your code, your environment, athena, ganga, grid tools, grid sites)
  3. contact the appropriate forum, depending on which component has problems
    • your code -> see your local athena expert
    • your environment -> see your local sysadmin
    • ganga -> hn-atlas-dist-analysis-help@cern.ch
    • grid tools/sites -> atlas-uk-comp-users@cern.ch
  4. if none of the above helps, or you can't identify where the problem originates then contact atlas-uk-comp-users@cern.ch, your colleagues and experts should be on this list and will help.
  5. remember to include:
    • your setup commands from a clean shell
    • your input commands, pointer to job files
    • error message
    • pointer to log files