Booking the VTF

Click here to book the VTF or to review its availability.

Test Layouts & Procedures

• Click here to see the list of possible test layouts and how to proceed for their setup.
• Click here to see updated or add existing test procedures.
  

Hints & Troubleshooting

Click here to see the VTF hints and common troubleshooting issues.

Overview

The Virgo Test Facility (VTF) is designed to cater for the need of a HW/SW environment for integration, tests, measure of performances etc. It is used to validate Software Releases before they are  put online and to reproduce problems, in order to support the Interferometer Commissioning and Science phase. It consists of a replica of some of the workstations and RIOs used for the Interferometer Control and Data Archiving/Analysis, The RIOs have interface cards and have a variable amount of hardware connected when considered interesting to test (limited simulation).

VTF Crate Schematics

http://wwwcascina.virgo.infn.it/sDoc/VirgoSubSys/VirgoVTF.htm

Purpose

• Model of control system and control room in Cascina.
• Validation of Software Releases
• Validation of Operating Systems baselines
• Integration tests for subsystems
• Test Software development concepts (cross-compiler, disk area management, etc.)
• Test user interface concepts
• Test integration with Data Analysis Toolsschematics of the VTF crates at

The Test Facility

Workstations and LCUs

Name	Model	OS	Comment
ctrlvtf	PC	Linux SL4	Control Server
olvtf	PC	Linux RH9	Online Server
slvtf	PC	Linux SL4	SL Test Server
rio0a	RIO	LynxOS 2.5.1	Suspension Crate
rio0b	RIO	LynxOS 2.5.1	Suspension Crate
rio58a	RIO	LynxOS 2.5.1	Suspension Crate/Master Time Server
TBD

Hardware

• 3 604 CPU board from CES (rio58a/rio0a/rio0b)

• 2 Timing Boards

• 4 OPT/TTL Boards

• 3 ADC816D

• 2 DAC820D

• 3 DSPV96C
• 2 DOL

• 1 Camera Interface + camera and optical test bench
  

Layout

The rio CPUs will be able to boot from the official on-line NFS server. The workstations will have their own local OS installation which will mirror the version in production or will be the new baseline to test. The areas /virgoData and /virgoLog are kept in separate, local harddisks in order to minimize the impact on the ITF during tests and development.

Mounted Filesystems

Path	Access	Mount
/virgoApp	RO	from the online NFS server
/virgo	RO	from the online NFS server
/virgoData	RW	from ctrlvtf (VTF only)
/virgoDev	RW	from the online NFS server
/virgoLog	RW	from ctrlvtf (VTF only)
/data	RO	from the storage servers
/users	RW	from the home directory servers
/scratch	RW	local/remote area large enough for data writing tests

Domains & Accounts

• The workstation olvtf runs the Virgo daemons (CmNameServer, DbServer, ElServer, VMMServer) on the domain CascinaVTF.
• Every test to be run on the Test Facility should be then first set CMDOMAIN to CascinaVTF?. This has been defined for user "virgotst", so this account should be used for any test.
• As the VTF has its independent /virgoData and /virgoLog you should not use your home account to work on the VTF. Use only virgotst instead.
• The Supervisor Framework will be running within the CascinaVTF domain.
• A "light" replica of the DAQ chain is also available with frame data written on a dedicated area in  /scratch.
• A new user "vcstst" and a domain "CascinaVCS" has been added in order to allow simultaneous tests with the current (user virgotst) and the new (user vcstst) release.
  

Simulation

In order to support the tests, part of the Virgo Sw need to be provided with a Simulation Mode extension that would allow the same software to run meaningfully without the real interferometer behind.

The critical part of the Virgo Software that need such Simulation  mode should be identified by the Packages/Subsystems managers. EGO will provide support for the needed sw development.