Basic Linux
If you have not used the Linux command line before, you may learn more at WorkBookBasicLinux.
Mattermost (chat)
There is a dedicated Mattermost team, called CMSDAS@LPC 2023, setup to facilitate communication and discussions via live chat (which is also archived). The channel is hosted by the CERN Mattermost instance.
If you have never used Mattermost at CERN, please know that you will need your CERN login credentials (SSO) and you will need to join the private CMSDAS@LPC 2023 team in order to be able to see (or find using the search channels functionality) the channels setup for communications related to the school.
If you already have used Mattermost at CERN, please know that when you click direct links to channels (as you will find below) that are within the CMSDAS@LPC 2023 team, you may be redirected to the last Mattermost team you used. If this happens, remember to click the signup link to join the CMSDAS@LPC 2023 team to switch to the correct team from which you should be able to see the individual channels. If that still doesn’t work, remove all cookies associated with cern.ch and restart your browser.
The PreExercisesChannel will be available once you join or switch to the CMSDAS@LPC 2023 team!
Note that you can access Mattermost via browser or you can download the corresponding application running standalone on your laptop or smartphone. The laptop application does not work with CERN certificate login.
Support email
For CMSDAS@LPC 2023, you may e-mail cmsdasatlpc@fnal.gov with a detailed description of your problem. The instructors will be happy to help you.
Obtain a Computer Account
To get a CERN account, please have a look at Get Account at CERN. Obtaining a CERN account can be time-consuming and requires response from people at CERN during CERN business hours. CERN is closed Dec. 22, 2021 - Jan. 4, 2022. CERN account application starts with the institutional team leader filling out a pre-registration form, so your institutional team leader also needs to be available for this task.
Site specific instructions
- LPC/Fermilab - this can take some time (up to 4-6 weeks!) and also requires people to be available to approve accounts, start the request early!
Here are some additional links in case you are using Windows:
- Hints for setting up Cygwin - preferred
- How to install and configure PuTTy
Warning
If you are attending CMSDAS at the LPC, you should do the pre-exercises on the cmslpc-sl7 cluster using the computer you intend to use at CMSDAS.
Obtain a Grid Certificate and CMS VO Registration
A Grid Certificate and CMS VO registration will be needed for the next set of exercises. The registration process can be time-consuming (actions by several people are required), so it is important to start it as soon as possible. There are two main requirements which can be simply summarized: A certificate ensures that you are who you claim to be. A registration in the VO recognizes you (identified by your certificate) as a member of CMS. Use the following link for this: Fermilab guide to getting CMS CERN grid certificate and CMS VO. Both are needed to submit jobs to the grid and access files remotely using XRootD. Make sure you follow any additional instructions for US-CMS users.
Obtain a GitHub Account
Since Summer 2013, most of the CMS software are hosted on GitHub. GitHub is a Git repository web-based hosting service, while Git is a distributed version control system. In your future analysis work, version control of your analysis code will become a very important task and git will be very useful. A small git tutorial will wait for you in the fifth exercise set.
In order to checkout and develop CMS software, you will need a github account, which is free.
- In case you don’t have one already, simply go to https://github.com/join and follow the instructions to create a new account. Make sure you use a username people can recognize easily or to specify your real name.
- In case you already have an account you can simply use the “Sign in” dialog and put your username and password.
- Make sure you register your ssh key in GitHub. You can register more than one ssh key and it’s usually a good idea to do so for every computer/cluster on which you regularly work (i.e. you laptop, cmslpc-sl7, your university cluster, etc.). You don’t need to use an ssh-agent, but you can try if you want to. For more about ssh-agents, see CMSGitTutorial#SSH_agent_in_logon_file.
- You will learn more about GitHub in the fifth set of exercises.
Install Docker
To install Docker Community Edition on your Linux, Mac, or Windows 10 (Pro, Enterprise, and Education) machine follow the instructions in the Docker docs. If you are using Windows 10 Home you will need to follow this Docker doc. Fair warning, the Windows 10 Home installation is more involved and requires Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 (WSL2), among other intricacies.
Windows specific setup
If you would like to use cygwin, you will need to install winpty and prefix your docker command like winpty docker.
Docker Hub
To sign up for Docker Hub, follow the instructions here.