SICS Invocation

SICS is a client server system. This means there are at least two programs necessary to run the experiment. The first is the SICServer which does the actual instrument control work. A user rarely needs to bother about this server program as it is meant to run all the time. See instructions below if things go wrong.

Then there are one to many client programs which interact with the instrument control server. These client programs implement the status displays and a command line application which allows to influence the course of the experiment. Graphical User Interfaces may be added at a later time. The user has only to deal with these SICS client programs. SICS Clients and the SICServer communicate with each other through TCP/IP sockets.

Currently five SICS clients are available:

A command line control client which allows to control the measurement.
A status display for DMC.
A status display for TOPSI.
A status display for SANS.
A status display for FOCUS.
A SICS variable watcher.

Steps necessary for logging in to SICS

The following actions have to be taken in order to interact with the SICS server through a client:

Start the client application.
Connect the client to a SICS server.
In case of command line clients: authorize yourself as privileged SICS user.

Starting SICS client applications

These programs can be started on a DigitalUnix system by issuing the following commands at the command prompt:

sics &: for the control client.
powderstatus &: for the DMC status display client.
topsistatus &: for the TOPSI status display.
sansstatus &: for the SANS status display.
focustatus: for the FOCUS status display.
varwatch &: for the variable watcher.

On a PC you may find icons for starting the different programs on the desktop. Each of these clients has usage instructions online which can be displayed through the help/about menu entry.

Connecting

After startup any SICS client is not connected to a SICS server and thus not active. A connection is established through the connect menu of the client.

Authorization

SICS is a multi user instrument control system. In order to prevent malicious manipulations of the instrument SICS supports a hierarchy of user rights. In order to run an experiment you need at least user level privilege. In order to achieve this privilege you have to invoke the User Parameter/Set Rights dialog. There you have to enter the apropriate username and password kindly provided by your instrument scientist.

Restarting the Server

The SICS server should be running all the time. It is only down if something went wrong. You can check for the presence of the SICS server by loging in to the instrument computer and typing CheckSICS at the command prompt. The output will tell you what is happening. If you need to restart the SICS server log in as the instrument user at the instrument computer and invoke the apropriate command to start the server. These are:

DMC: Computer = lnsa05,User = DMC
TOPSI: Computer = lnsa03,User = TOPSI
SANS: Computer = lnsa07,User = SANS
TRICS: Computer = lnsa12, User = TRICS
HRPT: Computer = lnsa11, User = HRPT
FOCUS: Computer = lnsa13, User = FOCUS

For starting the SICS server type startsics. This is a shell script which will starts all necessary server programs. This script works only on the instrument computer and in the appropriate instrument account.

If all this does not help look under trouble shooting SICS.