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Spectroscopy Data Management System Based on Linux Server CONFERENCE PAPER · JANUARY 2013 DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.4837.9042
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Malay Bikas Chowdhuri
Institute for Plasma Research
Institute for Plasma Research
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Ranjana Manchanda
Nilam Ramaiya
The Energy and Resources Institute
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Available from: Aniruddh Mali Retrieved on: 15 October 2015
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Spectroscopy Data Management System Based on Linux Server Aniruddh Mali#1, Malay Bikas Chowdhuri#2, Ranjana Manchanda#3, Nilam Ramaiya #, Niral Chanchapara# and Joydeep Ghosh# 1
Technical Assistant, 2Scientist-SE, 3Scientist-SE Spectroscopy Diagnostics Division, Institute for Plasma Research, Bhat, Gandhinagar, Gujarat-382428, India
#
1
[email protected] 2
[email protected] 3
[email protected]
Abstract— Efficient and lossless procedure of data storage,
retrieval and its access is very much important for the data processing and analysis in research & development field. To access these data, storage media is traditionally used. It consumes time and having the probability of data loss. To provide data access and retrieval to all users, there should be a centralized data storage system, i.e. Data Management Server, which store and save the acquired data. We have chosen Linux Server which stores and save data, acquired by Windows based DAQ PC in Aditya tokamak which provides secure data accessibility from any node of the institute using existing LAN network. Keywords - Data management, Ubuntu, SAMBA, Plasma
spectroscopy, Aditya Tokamak. I.
INTRODUCTION
Data storage is very much important aspect of data processing and analysis to carry out research in plasma physics considering huge amount of data needed to be handled. Data processing and analysis can rely on efficient data storage, lossless access and retrieval of the stored data. In Aditya tokamak, spectroscopy data from different spectrometers coupled with CCD cameras, defined as spectroscopic system [1], are normally acquired and stored using its own data acquisition (DAQ) software installed in the individual PC during the experiment. Every spectrometer system does have also its calibration data, logbook file of the experiments. In general, all these data are stored on hard drive of Windows based DAQ PC connected to the spectroscopic system. At present, there are such 4 spectroscopic systems in Aditya tokamak having DAQ PC each connected with it. To access, retrieve and transfer the stored data storage media, i.e CD or DVD, pen drive, etc. are used. Sometimes, data could not be transfer, and retrieved efficiently due to virus and bug, which can be resulted to data corruption or data loss. User also needs to know the exact location of the stored data on PC hard drive. This method of data retrieval is time consuming and has the concern of data reliability. Although, one can use FTP (file transfer protocol) for data transfer but it has concern of efficient data transfer. Another major aspect is in all the
above methods that user has to transfer all the data in his PC before analyzing them, which sometimes become huge in volume. Then, it would be better to analyzing the data by directly accessing it without transferring and later transfer only the output files to users PC for further processing. Of course, Windows has the facility of sharing data drive and folder but sometimes, it becomes slow and makes data transfer inadequate. Although, Windows Server System can be a solution but to implement and maintain it, an independent computer system with specific configuration of hardware and software has to be adopted with license version of Windows server operating system. To overcome this problem, we have decided to implement a centralized data storage system, which can store all acquired data from Windows based DAQ PC. It is based on Ubuntu, Linux Operating system. It uses SAMBA service, which is an open source software suite that provides file, network share and print services to Windows and Linux clients. The operation and maintenance of the Linux server is not so complex. It does not require expert personal to manage as like in case of Windows server. It provides easy and secure data access. By entering the user id and password, user can access the server. To run the server, simply turn on the Linux PC. It also boots up quickly. In this article, we will present the centralized data storage system based on Ubuntu SAMBA server as the alternate option instead of traditional Windows based server system.
Fig. 1 Traditional data storage system for spectroscopy data acquisition in Aditya tokamak
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DATA STORAGE USING TRADITIONAL METHOD BASED ON WINDOWS PC
Figure 1 shows traditional set up in Aditya tokamak [2] to acquire spectroscopy data and store it using Windows based computer system i.e. DAQ PC. These all Windows PC are connected to LAN network. The different spectrometer based systems and mega speed camera are connected with Aditya to acquire data during plasma experiments. Data acquired using software installed on these Windows PCs. Then user accesses those acquired data, which is stored on the respective DAQ PC. All DAQ PCs are connected with the LAN. Users transfer those data using storage media or using FTP through LAN network connected to each individual DAQ PC. It is time consuming and having concern of data reliability as well as security.
III. UBUNTU AS CENTRALISED DATA STORAGE SERVER SYSTEM Ubuntu is an open source Linux operating system. It is free for public use and can be used as the reliable data server [3]. It also available for 32 bit as well as 64 bit processor based computer system. It provides basic server functionality such as Print server, File server, DHCP, DNS, Internet server, Application server. It can be easily installed on existing computer system along side already installed operating system. It has a broad ranging public community, for support, which is an added advantage. It uses SAMBA denoted as SMB (Session Message Block) and CIFS (Common Internet File System) to provide its services. It enables Windows and Linux and or UNIX networks to communicate and share. There is no need of high configurable hardware and software to implement it. SAMBA service enables Ubuntu desktop operating system to be availing all features and functionality of a server system. We are using Ubuntu 10.04 LTS version, which provides lifetime support availability. It is GUI based which provides user-friendly access of it. In this server system, data acquired by DAQ PC is stored on corresponding directories on the server. We have created data directory in which acquired data is stored directly from the DAQ PC during data acquisition at the time of experiment. There are such 4 directories namely MTS, JYVUV, NewVisible and Avantes. These are the name of DAQ PCs connected to the diagnostic systems consisting on spectrometers and CCD detectors. The structure of the server system is shown in Figure 2. Here each DAQ PC is connected to Linux server through existing LAN network. Individual DAQ PC has its own account in the server to access it securely. All the users have their password-protected accounts in the server and can access the server through LAN network. In next section, we are going to explain how we have implemented this server system.
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Fig. 2 Linux based data management system for spectroscopy data acquisition in Aditya tokamak
A. Implementation Linux Based Server System Implementation of proposed system i.e. centralized data management system consists of following steps: Step 1: Install SAMBA service on Ubuntu. It can be installed using Ubuntu software centre and synaptic manager. It will download and install all files of the service. Step 2: Create data storage directories corresponding each DAQ system. Step 3: Configure SAMBA to define respective data directories and its accessesibility from Windows based DAQ PC. For it, open ‘smb.conf’ from ‘\etc\samba’ by typing ‘sudo gedit’ command in command line prompt. In the following example, it is shown that how samba can be configured. Example: [JYVUV] comment = JYVUV system path = /data/adityadata/jyvuv browseable = yes valid users = jyvuv_usr available = yes writeable = yes .......................... .......................... .......................... Here, ‘adityadata’ is the main data directory under which subdirectories – jyvuv, avantes, newvisible, mts has been created. In above example, data directory ‘JYVUV’ has been
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defined with access criteria of respective samba user i.e ‘jyvuv_usr’. Depend upon number of DAQ systems the smb file can be configured by adding the data directories as shown above.
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their windows PC. Users also have to map the server using their user id and password from their Windows PCs. To map the server IP address as well as server name can be used.
Step 4: Define samba user using following command: smbpasswd –a ‘username’. To map the data directory on Linux server, samba username and its assigned password is used to store acquired data from DAQ PC. Step 5: Each samba user is an owner of the respective data directory created on the server. It can be understood by following example: ‘chown jyvuv_usr /data/adityadata/jyvuv’ ‘jyvuv_usr’ is the samba user and the path of the data directory is given after it. It makes ‘jyvuv_usr’ i.e. samba user, owner of the directory ‘jyvuv’ located on Linux server. Step 6: Add the samba user in Users and Groups on the server, which enables it to access respective data directory otherwise the data directory located on the Linux server, cannot be accessed from DAQ PC. In this case, there are 4 users so a group namely ‘adityadata’ has been created and added into the file system. Each user can be added to ‘adityadata’ group by clicking on tab ‘Manage Group’. Then, locate all these users in their main group by clicking on ‘Advanced Settings’ in which home directory and main group has defined. Specific access control can be given to each user for their respective data directories. Thus, by following these steps samba share can be implemented which provides protected data access as well as storage.
Fig. 3 Data storage on the server
B. Data Storage and Access The acquired data from DAQ PC is stored on the corresponding data directory, directly on the Linux server. To do this, the server is mapped from the Windows based DAQ PC. For example, to store the acquired data of JYVUV spectrometer system inside the ‘jyvuv’ directory on the server, Windows based DAQ PC has to be mapped with the server. To map the server, right click on ‘My Computer’ and click on ‘Map Network Drive’ on Windows PC. Now, write an IP address of the server, following the directory name and then press enter. The data directory under adityadata directory will open. Instead of IP address, server name can be written but its more safe to use an IP address. To access the stored data on Linux server specific users has created in server. For it, these users are assigned user id and passwords for secure access. These users have read only permission. User can access and download the data which stored on the respective directories located on the server onto
Fig. 4 Log In from Windows PC by users
window. After access the server they can log out using ‘net use’ Windows command, if the user accessing the server from their Windows PCs. It can be done entering the remote access history address and then type ‘/delete’ after it from DOS prompt. It will delete the log in session of the user and user can be logged out successfully. IV. CONCLUSIONS We have developed Ubuntu based data management server system to store acquired data form spectrometer based diagnostic system. This server system has been implemented using existing hardware and LAN network. All experimental data are available on a single platform which is secure and reliable. The acquired data from the DAQ PC stores on the
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server successfully and users can access effortlessly without transferring data into their own PC. New data directory for DAQ system can be easily added. Ease of operation and fast access is an added advantage of this server system. However, if one knows the user id and password, stored data in Linux server can be accessed from any Windows PC connected with LAN of the institute. To avoid that, we are now exploring to develop the technique to define IP address of the remote PC on the server so that mapping to the server can be done only from allowed PC securely.
REFERENCES
[1].
Santanu Banerjee, Vinay Kumar, M. B. Chowdhuri, J. Ghosh, R. Manchanda, Ketan M Patel and P. Vasu “Space and time-resolved visible-emission spectroscopy of Aditya-tokamak discharges using multi-track spectrometer”, Measurement Science and Technology, 19 ( 2008 ) 045603.
[2].
I. Bandyopadhyay, S. M. Ahmed, P. K. Atrey, S. B. Bhatt, R. Bhattacharya, M. B. Chaudhury, S. P. Deshpande, C. N. Gupta, R. Jha, Y. Shankar Joisa, Vinay Kumar, R. Manchanda, D. Raju, C. V. S. Rao, P. Vasu, and Aditya Team, “Modeling of ohmic discharges in Aditya tokamak using the tokamak simulation code”, Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 46, 1443-1453 (2004).
ACKNOWLEDGMENT The authors would like to thank to all member of Aditya Team for tokamak operation and Mr. Amit Patel for his technical help. Authors also express their gratitude to users of ubuntu forum for their guidance.
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[3].
Ubuntu 10.04 online help, http://www.ubuntuforums.org
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