Welcome to the Distributed Systems and Data Mining Laboratory.


Please read carefully this important user data. It will save you and us time and effort.


Lab Regulations and Procedures



User Account

  • Windows - Your user is your faculty user in domain td-csf Same password, same home directory. If you need more storage for you home directory contact me.
    NOTE: The data is NOT backed up!

  • Linux - A local account must be opened.
    NOTE: The home directory is NOT backed up!

Mailing list

A mailing list is maintained in DSL. The list is meant mainly for administrative announcements to the lab members and users.
Please visit DSL-L home page here
NOTE: If you are using the lab, you must be on the list! We have no other way of making contact with the lab users. While sending a mail to the list we assume all lab users get it.


Data Storage

  • Local machines:
    Notice that data saved on local machines can be removed at any time. SO, don't keep important data on local machines!
  • Home directories
    csf - backed up daily.
    dsl-dc (windows extra space) and Linux are not backed up.
    REMEMBER:It is your own responsibility to back it up
  • Blade Homes
    The users of the Blade Center should know: the home in the blade server does not reside on the same physical storage element. So you actually have 2 homes - 1 on intel and 1 on ppc. Don't get confused.


Resources Booking

DSL Resrources - i.e. hardware, software, media, books or the whole condor pool can be booked via our
DSL Portal's Booking Center
NOTE: you need to be authorized DSL user to access it. If you think you should have access, but you don't please contact phone/email at the bottom of this page


Condor

A Condor pool is installed in the lab; For more information refer to the Condor Project Homepage.
If you are using condor please join our local condor mailing list: http://tx.technion.ac.il/archives/dsl-condor-l.html Submission tips:

  • Versions: mainly 6.8.7-6.8.9, and some workers are 7.0.x
  • Read the Condor Manual very thorooughly, experiment, and don't hesitate to ask questions during this.
  • Submission machines are:
    Host Comment
    ds-sub0main submission machine
    ds-master0secondary submission machine
    ds-xw0backup submission machine
  • Use /scratch/${USERNAME} folder as the working directory, put your data and programs there, and deploy condor's file transfer mechanism


Web Resources

Additional information, news, docs etc. is available on our DSL Portal:
https://ds-plone.cs.technion.ac.il/DSL

NOTE: This resource is for authorized personnel only, thus not everything is available without authentication.
Lab Machines

These machines are available to the users/researchers in DSL Laboratory:

Name(s) Model CPU RAM OpSys Location
ds-evo[0-15] Compaq Evo W6000 2X[Xeon(TM) 1.7GHz] 1GB Linux 2.4/WinXP Lab room
ds-xw[0-5] HP Workstation xw8000 2X[Xeon(TM) 2.4GHz] 3GB Linux 2.4 Lab room
ds-plone HP Workstation zx6000 2X[Itanium2 1.3GHz] 4GB Linux 2.6 Servers room
ds-bl[000-013,100-113] IBM JS20 eServer 2X[PowerPC970FX 2.2GHz] 4GB Linux 2.6 Servers room
ds-is[0-63] IntelliStation M Pro 1 X [ Intel P4 1.7GHz or 2.2 GHz] 1GB or 2 GB Linux 2.6 room 233/the Lab

Network Access

Only 1 machine is and will be accessible from outside the faculty and of the Technion: ds-out1.
Connect to it and use it to access the rest of the machines in the lab. you may want to work via tunneling, refer to this link or try this Google query for that.
Additional Documentation is also available on our plone site, from main navigation bar use: Docs→Guides→Users Guides.
IMPORTANT NOTE: DO NOT load this machine with CPU/memory tasks - no X applications, no Matlabs, no compilations, no number crunching etc. This is the gateway, it is not a high-end server. Connect from it to other machines, or run only simple tasks on it.

User Support
Support request should be submitted as "new issue" in DSL Plone system.
  • log into DSL portal here
  • Click this navigation menu item
  • Perform a search for your issue's keywords.
  • Please note: if you miss identical issue I will taunt you :)
  • If you didn't find your problem+solution, open a new request by pressing "submit new issue" button. If your problem has been reported, please add a comment in an existing issue. Make sure you're filling the following if you can and if nobody has put this before you:
    • Names - usernames
    • hostnames client, server, cluster hostnames/IP Addresses etc.
    • Replication Log - problem creation log - copy&paste your commands from the terminal.
    • problem description - describe what seems to look like a problem etc.
    • forensic evidence - output, stderr, stdout, core files etc. - remember their path names, better archive them for later analysis.
    IMPORTANT: Prior to submitting, please gather as much relevant data as possible. A full description of the situation can help solve the problem faster.

Contact Information


Copyright © Distributed Systems Laboratory 2005-2008