In general the computing environment/operating system for STAR is UNIX. Windows NT and LINUX are under consideration for possible use in the future. RHIC and STAR also use the Andrew File System (AFS) which manages access control to a subset of the STAR directories and files and which enables transparent access to these directories by users at remote locations. The AFS managed directories include the STAR Software Reference Library and the CVS managed Repository, where CVS (Concurrent Versions System) software handles version control and management of STAR system code and all user code. Further descriptions of AFS and CVS will follow in later sections.
The following machine types and operating systems are available at the RCF. Support within STAR at this time is mainly focussed on irix, sun4os5 and sun4os5pc. A few institutions in STAR have expressed willingness to support aix also. The platforms include:
The cpu processors, disks and tape storage capacities of the RCF include the following (as of Feb. 1998):
For further information about RCF hardware see the
RCF Home Page.
The following languages are intended for user written codes for simulations, reconstruction and calibrations.
STAR's data file system and organization at RCF consists of two distinct areas. The first is managed by UNIX with the familiar permission modes for delete, read, write and execute operations. This area includes user disks for private STAR user work, scratch disks for large, temporary data files, group disks for STAR detector related work, and the 3 TByte mass data storage tape robot.
The second file storage area is managed by AFS, and for STAR is located in the path /afs/rhic/star/.... This area includes the STAR software library in both a reference area for the most recent development version, and the actual repository, the latter being managed and version controlled by CVS. The AFS-STAR disk area contains all the system software, user codes for simulations and analysis, documentation files, compiled architecture dependent object files and libraries, linked executables, SOFI scripts and binaries and much more.
AFS provides the capability for STAR computing at non-RCF sites. Under AFS, the offsite user is presented with the identical STAR AFS directory tree hierarchy and files. Because of the remote access capability, AFS requires additional security measures beyond the fairly lax procedures associated with the standard UNIX access restrictions. Under AFS, access to the managed directories and files is restricted to users who are members of specific AFS groups. A given AFS directory may have different levels of access privileges and restrictions for one or more AFS groups. These groups are comprised of STAR AFS users who have need to access the particular library directories. The reference part of the STAR software library is viewable by any STAR user (with an AFS account). More information on AFS for STAR users will be given later in these tutorials.
STAR User Disks:
/star/u2
/u2a
/u2b
/u2c
/u2d
STAR disks for scratch space, large temporary data files, etc.:
/star/data
/scr2a
...
/scr2i
STAR Group Disks
/star/tpc
/svt
/emc
/tof
/trg ... (many)
/xtp
STAR Mass Data Storage (3 TByte Robotic Tape Silo)
/star/mds
AFS Managed Area for STAR - STAR Library Reference Area and CVS
Repository; Simulations and Analysis
Modules, data structures, KUIP macros,
software documentation; compiled
binaries and linked executables;
SOFI scripts and binaries.
/afs/rhic/star/...
The following list includes the more relevant subdirectories under /afs/rhic/star for most user needs.
/CVSREP/dev - CVS Repository for STAR software. Includes source
codes, copies of idl and inc files, but not the
compiled binaries and executables.
/arch - Architecture dependent software releases and
development software, *.inc files and compiled
libraries, libPKG.a files.
/bin - SOFI tools (binary executables)
/doc - Web documentation files
/login - Setup and login scripts
/starlib - Reference copies of software organized by branch
and software packages.
The CVS repository, reference area, software documentation area and binaries are organized with respect to the following STAR Library Branches:
BRANCH DESCRIPTION
_________________________________________________________
ana Event reconstruction and calibration
daq Data Aquisition software development area
ofl Offline production
onl Online development area
phy post-DST physics analysis
sim Simulations
sys System (SOFI) software
trg Trigger software development area
_________________________________________________________
/PKG /bin /aix - STAF executables specific to the PKG or user
/irix for each architecture built
/...
/doc - html documentation files
/inc - data structure idl files for 0, 1, 2 ... tables
/lib /aix - *.inc files, data struct header files, templates
/irix for Fortran 77 and C modules specific to the PKG,
/... compiled binaries for each architecture,
libPKG.a files, interface code to STAF for each
module.
/solib - Similar to /lib for shared libraries
/src - Source code for analysis modules (PAMs) and
*.idl files for each module; may contain
0, 1, 2 ... modules.
/wrk - Work area containing KUIP macros or kumac files
for PAM setup, table initialization and run
control, saved PAW ntuples, soft-links to the
executable(s), Tcl scripts in the future.
Note: in STAR Library versions that follow SL97b this organization is very different.