UNIX at SLAC

SLAC 21 May 1999
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Support for UNIX at SLAC consists of fully-supported central services for user authentication, file servers, mail, news, name, time, and print services. A number of servers provide interactive login service for general computing use. Most desktop UNIX systems are supported as dataless clients of the central services; support beyond that level is the responsibility of the individual groups. A compute farm is provided for all users to provide high-performance computing and bulk tape and disk data storage.

Page Contents

New!

Getting Started

* Account Form
To obtain a UNIX account, fill out the account forms and have it signed by your group czar.
* Changing Passwords
See also the SLAC Account Password Policy.
* Public Machines
This is a list of public machines that you may log onto for different types of work.
* UNIX at SLAC (HTML, pdf)
UNIX at SLAC: Getting Started introduces you to basic commands, file manipulation, and environment tailoring. The pdf format is particularly useful if you wish to print a copy of this guide.
* SLAC AFS Users' Guide (HTML, pdf)
This is an introductory manual to the SLAC AFS file system, including how to open an AFS account and obtain disk space. It also introduces the movetoafs command, an easy way to move an NFS home directory to AFS. The pdf format is particularly useful if you wish to print a copy of this guide.
* Anonymous FTP at SLAC
Anonymous ftp allows SLAC users and non-SLAC collaborators to exchange files easily.

Request Forms

* Request Forms
These forms are used to send requests to the staff

Where to go for Assistance

* Local Experts
The first thing you should do is to seek out knowledgeable people in your group. Often, people working on similar tasks can give you the most meaningful help. This should especially be your first line of inquiry for usage and "how-to" questions.
* Newsgroups
Newsgroups can often be a fertile source of answers to questions. There are SLAC, Stanford, HEP, and worldwide newsgroups on a variety of topics. See below for a partial list of relevant ones for UNIX.
* Send email to servdesk@slac.stanford.edu
Questions about how to use the SLAC system, or trouble reports about failing hardware, networks, or system software can be emailed this address or called in to (650) 926-HELP. The phone number includes a paging system for off-hours reporting of critical problems.
* Send email to unix-admin@slac.stanford.edu
Send mail for support of the UNIX environment to this address with full details.

High Performance Computing

* SLAC UNIX Compute Farm
Here is information about SLAC's UNIX workstation clusters for high performance computing.

Acquiring a Desktop System

* Node Name Conventions
Each system on the SLAC network must have a name. Most groups have adopted conventions for workstation names. Consult with members of your group to select a name in accordance with your group conventions.
* IP and Node Name Form*
Fill out this form to have an IP address and node name assigned to your workstation, X-Terminal, Mac or PC. Please do this ten days before your new desktop machine is scheduled to arrive at SLAC.
* Request OS Installation and Tailoring
For supported workstations, the level of Operating System in use at SLAC may need to be installed on your workstation, and local software customizations applied. Click on this link to send mail to SCS requesting installation. Please give us one week notice before the machine arrives. Time for installation will vary depending on overall priorities of staff workload and available staff time.

Reference Information

* Disk Space Policy
Types of storage available to UNIX systems at SLAC, and their backup and retention period policies.
* Backup Policy
Schedule for backing up public Unix file servers and the retention periods of backup sets.
* ADSM Restore
[In preparation] How to use ADSM to restore files from the backups of the NFS file servers. Not applicable to AFS file servers.
* Security
Information about security practices at SLAC.
* SSH
Information about the use of SSH for secure connections to SLAC machines.
* Unix Host Configurations*
A report listing most UNIX machines at SLAC and their OS, memory, and disk configuration. Non-SCS managed machines do not have their information updated automatically, and so may not be accurate.
* Host Resource Utilization Statistics*
Accounting and resource utilization information for central UNIX servers, the Compute Farm, file servers, and selected clusters of user machines.
* Printer Names & Queues
A list of all printers defined to the SLAC UNIX systems, their queue names, and host machines names.
* Printer descriptions
A fuller description of printers and their locations.

Further Reading

* Introduction to FORTRAN at SLAC
Information about FORTRAN compilers available on SLAC's UNIX system.
* Introduction to C and C++ at SLAC
Information about C and C++ compilers available on SLAC's UNIX system.
* Guide to CERNLIB at SLAC
Information about CERNLIB versions available on SLAC's UNIX system.
* GNU Information
Information about GNU software at SLAC, including emacs and gcc
* AFS Information
A page of links to information about the AFS file system.
* Software Package Maintenance
Introduction to maintaining software in SLAC's AFS package space.
* SLAC-wide Computing
Information pertinent to computing on all SLAC platforms.
* Other UNIX Information
A page of links to other information of interest to the SLAC UNIX Community.
*Newsgroups
There are a number of newsgroups that are of interest to users of UNIX at SLAC. This is a link to a page that lists a number of interesting newsgroups.

* This link is only accessible to SLAC nodes.

Owner: Boeheim