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The LBA Live Monitor uses a combination of MoniCA queries over the ASCII interface and static files uploaded by some stations to generate the web page found at http://www.narrabri.atnf.csiro.au/vlbi/lba_monitor.html. This page describes how to diagnose problems with monitoring on the live page, and how to fix them.
Refresh the page
The first thing to do if you notice a strange problem is to refresh the page. This should fix any local Javascript problems in your browser and may correct the issue. If the problem persists over a refresh, continue reading.
ATCA, Mopra, Parkes
These observatories are queried directly by the webserver namoi (www.narrabri.atnf.csiro.au) over the MoniCA ASCII port. This method for monitoring should be extremely reliable.
- If the monitoring for just one observatory is not working, then the most likely explanation is that the MoniCA server for that observatory has crashed and needs to be restarted. To do this, please contact observatory staff.
- If all the observatories are having problems then the most likely culprit is namoi. If ATCA, Mopra, Parkes, Hobart and Ceduna are all having troubles but the other observatories are fine, then the MoniCA query script might be broken. Contact Jamie Stevens to rectify this. If all the observatories are having problems then namoi may be overloaded; in this case please close the monitor page and contact Jamie Stevens.
Hobart and Ceduna
These observatories are queried by the webserver namoi over the MoniCA ASCII port, but through two SSH tunnels.
- Note first whether it appears as though the observatory has “frozen”; that is the latest update time is fine, but the data (eg. az and el) are not changing. In this case the most likely issue is that the code that queries the drive PCs is broken at the observatory. Contact Jamie Stevens or Jamie McCallum to get this fixed.
- If the latest update time is showing that the data is stale, then the first thing to check is if the MoniCA server at the observatory is running. If it is, then the SSH tunnel may be broken. The SSH tunnel for Hobart is run from the ATNF machine mentok, while the SSH tunnel for Ceduna is run from the ATNF machine kaputar. The command used for the Hobart tunnel is:
ssh -L 8051:newsmerd:8051 -L 8052:newsmerd:8052 observer@ares.phys.utas.edu.au -N -g
Please note that this command does need to be run from mentok. The command used for the Ceduna tunnel is:
ssh -L 8051:ops1cd:8051 -L 8052:ops1cd:8052 observer@ares.phys.utas.edu.au -N -g
. Since you need to keep these sessions open for the monitoring to keep working, it is best to run them in a screen session.
