UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA OBSERVATORIES / LICK OBSERVATORY

Computing Facilities for Observers

Observer Accounts	Observers have access to a number of computers on Mount Hamilton, joined by fast wide and local area networks which make connections nearly transparent. Many disk partitions are cross mounted for convenience. We are connected to the outside world through a T1 link. A secure firewall surrounds all mountain computers. Access from outside the firewall can only be gained through secure commands (e.g. ssh, scp, or slogin). FTP is not permitted from an outside computer to one within the mountain firewall. The observer's account name on all machines is "user." Ask any of the telescope staff for the current user password. Machines used for data-taking and/or data-reduction have a /data directory for the storage of raw data, a /workspace directory to accommodate files produced during reduction, and a /Observers directory under which users may create a personal directory for storage of routines and other small files they anticipate using on future runs. With the exception of the small files in the /Observers directories, we do not provide observers disk space beyond their runs. Any files, including raw images, left on disk beyond your run are liable to be deleted. We can sometimes temporarily store data for a few days beyond the run by special request.
Guest Net Connections	The mountain has a number of IP addresses reserved for visitors who bring their own computers and wish to connect to the net. You may: a) use DHCP b) ask one of our technicians for help in getting hooked up.
Data Archiving	Most data acquired using facilitiy instruments are archived in FITS format using "Save-the-Bits" software [STB]. If your data have been lost or damaged, contact a support astronomer for help in recovering them from the archive. Please note, however, that the STB archive is solely for the recovery of accidentally lost data and is not intended as a data library or data storage facility to take the place of the observer"s own copies of their data. Data are removed from the working disks immediately following a run. Do not move your data out of the the /data directory into another directory or subdirectory, or Save-the-Bits will not be able to archive them. To ensure that your data get safely home, we strongly recommend that you make a tape copy, whether you FTP the data to your home institution or not. Data-quality 8- mm tapes and blank CD's re available on the mountain.
Data Reduction	Lick provides IRAF, IDL, and Vista for data reduction on the mountain. Vista remains a useful quick-look tool that interfaces nicely with most Lick data. However, it is no longer formally supported. Use the /workspace directories for data reduction. Please clean up after yourself, removing all the files and subdirectories youšve created when you are finished.