Setting up the Pools and the MacroServers, SardanaAIO

The configuration scripts are executed on ExperimentPCs (ExpPC). The term ExpPC refers to a PC used to conduct measurements, i.e. runs spock or online, etc. ExpPCs have the file names /online_dir/online.xml. A beamline can have one or more ExpPCs.

Each ExpPC runs a Pool, exporting one Pool device, and a MacroServer, exporting one MacroServer device, with three Doors. To have more than one Door available allows the beamline staff to assign certain tasks to Doors, e.g. p09/door/haspp09.01 could be used for general beamline operations, whereas the other Doors are used for specific purposes.

ExpPCs have separate Tango DBs, thereby separate Tango name spaces. Pools is populated with devices contained on /online_dir/online.xml. This file contains references to Tango devices from several Tango DBs. The file /online_dir/online.xml serves two purposes:

Visibility

By adding a device to online.xml this devices becomes available for beamline control and data acquisition on a specific ExpPC. In other words: Tango devices not appearing in online.xml are invisible to the user.

Naming

The entries of online.xml define Tango aliases for devices. Let's look at an example:

    <device>
    <name>chi</name>
    <type>stepping_motor</type>
    <module>oms58</module>
    <device>p99/motor/exp.04</device>
    <control>tango</control>
    <hostname>haspp99mono:10000</hostname>
    </device>

The alias chi refers to a Pool device which operates the Tango motor haspp99mono:10000/p09/motor/exp.04. The Pool device is created by SardanaAIO.py.

Aliases are important. They unambiguously identify devices in a Tango DB. Each ExpPC has a Tango DB, therefore its own name space. A beamline may have several ExpPCs creating several separate name spaces. To clarify this: assume that a beamline has two ExpPCs: PC-A and PC-B. Our configuration allows to use the alias 'theta' on PC-A for some motor and on PC-B for a different motor.

The following table gives an overview of the scripts:

SardanaAIO.py -x

Removes the Pool and MacroServer, converts online.xml to onlineSardana.xml, creates the Pool and MacroServer, starts them and populates the Pool with devices (all-in-one).

If called with the -c option, SardanaDiag.py will not be invoked, i.e. no core dumps will be created.

Tags: If called with the -t option (tags), SardanaAIO.py selects devices from online.xml according to their tags field. The following rules apply:

Devices are selected, if

there is no -t option in the command line.
at least one element of the <tags> field matches a tag specified on the command line.

Consider this example:

...
<device>
 <name>d1_mot01</name>
 <tags>expert,standard</tags>
 <type>stepping_motor</type>
 <module>oms58</module>
 <device>p99/motor/d1.01</device>
 <control>tango</control>
 <hostname>haspp99:10000</hostname>
 </device>
...
<device>
 <name>d1_mot02</name>
 <tags>expert</tags>
 <type>stepping_motor</type>
 <module>oms58</module>
 <device>p99/motor/d1.02</device>
 <control>tango</control>
 <hostname>haspp99:10000</hostname>
 </device>
  ...
<device>
 <name>pilatus</name>
 <tags>pilatus</tags>
 <type>DETECTOR</type>
 <module>pilatus300k</module>
 <device>p99/pilatus/exp.01</device>
 <control>tango</control>
 <hostname>haspp99:10000</hostname>
</device>
...

If we use the SardanaAIO.py -x -t standard all devices having the standard tag will be selected, d1_mot02, the Pilatus and the Eiger detectors will be ignored. To select the standard devices and the Pilatus, we issue SardanaAIO.py -x -t standard,pilatus. Notice that there is no blank space between standard and pilatus.

In general, SardanaAIO.py -x is executed after /online_dir/online.xml has been edited.

SardanaRestartMacroServer.py

Restarts the MacroServer, e.g.:
SardanaRestartMacroServer.py -x

If called with the -c option, SardanaDiag.py will not be invoked, i.e. no core dumps will be created.

SardanaRestartBoth.py

Stops the MacroServer, restarts the Pool and starts the MacroServer, e.g.:
SardanaRestartBoth.py -x

If called with the -c option, SardanaDiag.py will not be invoked, i.e. no core dumps will be created.

SardanaLimitsFromTS2Pool.py

Copies the units limits from the Tango servers (motors) to the Pool devices, e.g.:
SardanaLimitsFromTs2Pool.py

SardanaStatus.py

Displays information about the Sardana: the controllers, the Pool devices, the contents of the MeasurementGroup, the state of the Pool, MacroServer and Door, e.g.:

haspp09:~> SardanaStatus.py 

 Local DoorNames(s): ['p09/door/haspp09.01', 'p09/door/haspp09.02', 'p09/door/haspp09.03']
 MacroServer     p09/macroserver/haspp09.01     state ON 
 Related Pools:
   --- Pool ( local) p09/pool/haspp09               state ON 
       MG: [u'mono_t01', u'exp_c01']
 MacroServer     p09/macroserver/haspp09.02     state ON 
 Related Pools:
   --- Pool ( local) p09/pool/haspp09               state ON 
       MG: [u'mono_t01', u'exp_c01']
 MacroServer     p09/macroserver/haspp09.03     state ON 
 Related Pools:
   --- Pool ( local) p09/pool/haspp09               state ON 
       MG: [u'mono_t01', u'exp_c01']

If the script is invoked using the -f parameter, information about the Pool controllers and Pool devices are displayed:

haspp09:~> SardanaStatus.py -f

 Local DoorNames(s): ['p09/door/haspp09.01', 'p09/door/haspp09.02', 'p09/door/haspp09.03']
   --- Pool ( local) p09/pool/haspp09               state ON 
       ControllerList
                     am_gap ON,  1 devices: gap
                     am_tga ON,  1 devices: tga_off
               analyzer_eh1 ON,  1 devices: analyzer
                atto300_exp ON,  2 devices: atto1, atto2
                 dcm_energy ON,  1 devices: energyfmb
          dcm_motor_mono_01 ON,  1 devices: dcm_bragg
                dgg2_exp_01 ON,  1 devices: exp_t01
                dgg2_exp_02 ON,  1 devices: exp_t02
               dgg2_mono_01 ON,  1 devices: mono_t01
               dgg2_mono_02 ON,  1 devices: mono_t02
                    e6cctrl ON,  8 devices: e6cctrl_psi, e6cctrl_h ... e6cctrl_qperpar2
                mca8701_exp ON,  1 devices: exp_mca01
               mult_mono_01 ON,  1 devices: multiplemotormono1
  ...

The command files mentioned so far are most important. The follwing may also be helpful now and then:

SardanaStartMacroServer.py: Starts the local MacroServer, e.g.:
SardanaStartMacroServer.py -x
SardanaStopMacroServer.py: Stops the local MacroServer, e.g.:
SardanaStopMacroServer.py -x
SardanaStartPool.py: Starts the local Pool, e.g.:
SardanaStartPool.py -x
SardanaStopPool.py: Stops the local Pool, e.g.:
SardanaStopPool.py -x

Subsections

Finishing the Sardana configuration: /online_dir/SardanaConfig.py

2019-11-13