GEODESC IT support
- jr_fackler (Unlicensed)
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Project setup
Expedition (or equivalent) project managers must request IT support to allow project team members to use the GEODESC applications. Requests can be sent to the helpdesk, or directly to the supervisors of IT support and application development. A request should have the following components:
Life cycle and purpose of GEODESC project
Database accounts
GEODESC apps and roles
Life cycle and purpose of GEODESC projects
Each expedition or equivalent data gathering project has its own project database instance and uses the latest version of the GEODESC applications and catalog database. Users of the GEODESC applications need accounts on the database system, which currently is the JOIDES Resolution Science Operator (JRSO) Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS). Projects can be short term or long term. At the end of project's life cycle, the descriptive data and metadata files need to be published somewhere so the project database and any user accounts may be deleted. A project request should provide the expected life cycle of the project.
During the current JOIDES Resolution (JR) operations, the project life cycle may have three phases:
Pre-voyage training (shore test): Core describers and paleontologists want to exercise with the GEODESC user apps and in the process keep notes on template changes, or start making taxa lists, which will be implemented at the beginning of the voyage. This setup should be on the test server, using test projects associated with expeditions that have copies of real sample data.
Seagoing voyage (ship production): Seagoing project scientists use GEODESC for the principal core description and micropaleontology data gathering effort.
Post-voyage (shore production): Seagoing and shorebased project scientists gather and edit data on shore, either in the project database used on the voyage (i.e., editorial postcruise meeting) or from their home institutions.
In the absence of a seagoing (or field) data gathering campaign, the life cycle has a single, shorebased phase.
A project request should include a breif description of the life cycle phase(s) and purpose, as given above.
Database accounts
Users need database accounts on the appropriate server according to the life cycle phase or purpose of the project:
RTLIMS for training on the test server
LIMSJR for work on the ship production server
LIMSHQ for work on the shore production serverÂ
These accounts will only need CONNECT privilege; all other access is granted through Auther (see next section).
The project manager sends a list of users to the IT supervisor:
Lastname, Firstname
(list all needed)
Conventions used in the past:
Username: jrs_lastName
Password: temporaryPerIT
Once created, the IT supervisor sends the account list to the project manager, who distributes them to the scientists with a request to change their password at https://web.iodp.tamu.edu/ChangePassword/
Staff members able and available to assist the scientists with GEODESC should already have accounts.
GEODESC projects, apps and roles
The developer side of the IT support group may use the following check list to prepare project databases, applications, and user roles.
GEODESC projects
On RTLIMS:
Ensure that users find at least two test projects when signing into the user apps, such as TST360 (igneous rocks) and TST363 (sediments cores and micropaleontology). If they disappeared in a clean-up, recreate them (RTLIMS:GEODPTST360, RTLIMS:GEODPTST363).
Project TST360 should be associated with (at least) Expedition 360 and Expedition 376 for sample access.
Project TST363 should be associated with (at least) Expedition 363 and Expedition 346 for sample access.
Ensure the RTLIMS.GEODCAT catalog content is the latest available.
Copy from LIMSHQ if necessary.
On LIMSJR:
Ensure that users find the project(s) when signing into the user apps (i.e., LIMSJR:GEODPABC).
The project should be associated with Expedition 123 for access to new samples for this project.
Optional: For training and test purposes before Expedition 123 samples are available, Project ABC should also be associated with Expedition 456. This means that Exp 456 sample data (no science data) should be copied from shore to LIMSJR.
Optional: In case previous expedition samples and data need to be made accessible and editable on the ship, copy that project to LIMSJR.Â
Ensure the LIMSJR.GEODCAT catalog content is the latest available.
Copying the catalog from LIMSHQ to LIMSJR should be part of the BOX process.
On LISHQ:
Ensure that users find the project(s) when signing into the user apps (i.e., LIMSHQ:GEODPABC)
The project should be associated with the appropriate Expedition 123 for access to samples for this project.
Ensure the LIMSHQ.GEODCAT catalog content is the latest available.
This should in general be true because this is the catalog version being updated by experts using the Catalog Manager app.
GEODESC applications
Developers ensure that the latest application versions are deployed on the servers and accessble via the following URLs.
On RTLIMS:
On LIMSJR:
On LIMSHQ:
GEODESC roles
Assign the following roles to the scientists once their requested accounts have been created:
Template maker
Observer
Project
On RTLIMS: TST360, Project TST363 (and/or similar)
On LIMSJR: ABC (and potentially others)
On LIMSHQ: ABC (and potentially others)