Notes I took while trying to get the simtest running on IPP 2.1 using a Linux machine. It took a really long time to get the whole thing running successfully, but eventually it did finish. Below are notes I jotted down about errors or configuration changes. - Julia Fang

Configuration

• Pre-simtest preparations

Before proceeding to the simtest, I first created a mysql database, configured and set up ippMonitor on my webpage (ippMonitor software found under ~/ipp-2.1/ippMonitor), and downloaded the full grizy astrometry database from the folks over at Manoa.

• The .ipprc file

I went to my ippconfig folder (located ~/psconfig/default.linrh/share/ippconfig/) and copied "ipprc.config" to my home directory and rename it as ".ipprc"

• .ptolemyrc file

I copied dvo.site from my ippconfig folder to my home directory and renamed it .ptolemyrc.

• A good way to check for configuration files

How to see if there are any more configuration files that need to be modified (general or specific to a camera):

ppConfigDump -camera SIMTEST -dump-recipe PSASTRO -

You can change PSASTRO to whatever you're looking for, i.e. REJECTIONS.

Data Injection

• IPC/CMD.pm is not in the right directory

My reference star database (full grizy from Manoa, Hawaii) path needed to be specified under my ippconfig folder in 2 locations: ippconfig/recipes/psastro.config ippconfig/simtest/psastro.config I went to those files and edited their DVO.CATDIR line so that they pointed to where my astrometry database is located.

Pantasks Setup

• Pantasks can't find config file: some functions will be unavailable.

Gene said this was optional and not necessary, so I didn't worry about it.

• How to setup my cluster

I went to ipp-2.1/ippTasks/pantasks.pro and added my cluster information. I looked at the other examples there for help. Here's mine:

macro init.cluster.hl

$parallel = 1 controller exit true controller host add koloa controller host add shadowfax

end

I also had to make sure all the computers had access to my full grizy catalog as well as permissions to my mysql database.

Detrend Construction

• In the event that I need to redo everything and start over

To blow away all of my tables and start on this database all over again:

pxadmin -recreate -dbname nameofdb

• How to turn on/off specific tasks in pantasks

detproc.on, detproc.off detresid.on, detresid.off detstack.on, detstack.off detnorm.on, detnorm.off

And so forth. I can type in "status' to see what's on and what's off. Also looked at ippMonitor to see which steps have completed and which were still processing.

• dettool.stack.run would never finish

I quit pantasks to clear the buffers, then reloaded pantasks, modules, and clusters. To see the jobs that get launched, I typed in:

$VERBOSE = 3

I loaded all the tasks but only left the detrend step on. Set pantasks to run and looked carefully for the "detrend_stack.pl" command and tried running it outside of pantasks in a new terminal.

• Issues with dettool.resid.load and reject tool while trying to get master dark

I started over again by re-runing the whole detrend process and eventually worked through all the tools (either via pantasks or by hand).

Chip and Camera

• Reference stars wouldn't load in pantasks

I had to run each image outside of pantasks so the reference stars could be loaded for the chip step.

• test0066 and test0073 had a problem: "apSum is negative"

This was not actually an error, just merely informative. I turned it off by going to my ~/.ipprc file and commented out:

# err S32 10

and changed the loglevel from 9 to 4.

• Camera step didn't work

Solved by downloading current version of Ohana from Paul Price, and copying the new version of "getstar" to /default.linrh/bin/.

Warp

• Where do I put my skycells?

Anywhere is fine, as long as I specify it in SIMTEST's specific camera.config folder (/share/ippconfig/simtest/camera.config)

• Warp stage not completing in pantasks

I made sure that my grizy catalog directory was specified in psastro.config (both /recipes and /simtest).

• Error in warp_skycell.pl, ppStats error

Fixed by going to .ipprc and making sure that the "simple" camera is always uncommented and last in the list as a good catch-all camera.

Difference and Stack

No issues.