This document is intended for beamline staff. It explains how to backup various parameters related to PMAC motion controllers.
There are two groups of parameters pertaining the PMAC motion controllers. The first group is constituted by the parameters like motors speeds, in-position bands, various servo loop gains, and etc. The second group consist of calibration parameters like scaling factors and offsets that are used to recalculate encoders data into engineering units and beamline elements positions.
The first group of parameters is typically modified with the help of the PWIN32 (Delta Tau Windows Executable software) or through the following MEDM form:
Generally it must be saved in the PMAC flash memory which allows to keep those parameter under a reset or power-up cycle. To save the parameters, press Save on the above MEDM screen.
In addition, one can create a snapshot (backup) file with all those parameters saved on the workstation hard drive. This may only be needed as a precaution in case of potential PMAC factory reset or malfunction. To save the parameters follow the chart below:
The snapshot files are saved in /home/gmca/DATA with the names like:
MtrBackup-pmac10p2004-Oct-05-1824.pmc
-- i.e. the PMAC name as well as the date/time stamps are appended. The software making the backups is the PERL script named:
/home/gmca/epics/pezca/mtrBackup.pl
We have several tools to upload stored snapshots back into PMAC controllers. Given the complexity of PMAC, restoring should not be done without consulting with Oleg or Sergey.
The second group of parameters is typically modified through the calibration MEDM forms that look like:
Generally those parameters are automatically backed up every 30 seconds on the hard drive of workstation that loads respective VME controller. The files are stored in the following folder:
/home/gmca/epics/synApps/xxxNN/iocBoot/iocgmcaNN/autosave
where NN stands for the VME controller number. If the VME happens to be rebooted, the calibration parameters are automatically restored from these autobackup files. However, there might be situations when those files get corrupt. Although the probability of such a failure is quite low, as an additional precaution we have implemented manual backups of calibration parameters that should be run in case of an essential calibration change. The manual backups are stored in:
/home/gmca/epics/gmcaApp/burt/23x/
where "x" stands for the beamline name (i,o,b,d).
ATTENTION: In order to avoid any confusion, make the backups on the main beamline controls computer only. At present those computers are:
bl1ws3 | for ID-in |
bl2dl380upper | for ID-out |
px0 | for the lab environment |
To make a backup, call the following screen:
Also, make a hardcopy of changed configuration:
Contact Sergey Stepanov or Oleg Makarov.