Login and Configure GENIUS

The aim of this section is to provide you with an understanding of the GENIUS portal and how to run jobs using it. Subsequent sections of the tutorial will assume that the usage of GENIUS is understood.

The first stage in using GENIUS is to configure the various options connected to which Virtual Organization you are using. In EGEE terms a Virtual Organisation is a collection o individuals collaborating within a subject area, a single experiment or any other thematic grouping. For the purposes of this practical the Virtual Organisation (VO) called Gilda will be used. Gilda is a VO setup specially for purposes of training and dissemination with EGEE.
Open the following url in a new browser window or just click the link (if you are redirected to grid-tutor1.ct.infn.it this is not an error, it is just the load-balancing mechanism grid-tutor uses). You should see the following window:

For the sake of clarity the frame on the left with the blue background will from here on be referred to as the sidebar whilst the frame to the right will be referred to as the main window.
grid-tutor is a version of GENIUS that has been customized for use in tutorials and includes features like temporary, 2 week, user accounts for attendees of tutorials and access to the latest stable version of the EGEE grid middleware (at the time of writing this document the latest stable EGEE middleware is LCG 2.2.0). Examples used in the tutorials are installed in each user account and hence these examples may be freely edited without affecting other users. The functionality as well as the style of the portal is deliberately consistent with other implementations of GENIUS and hence you will gain an understanding of how GENIUS is used by various VO's within EGEE.

When using grid-tutor it is necessary to authenticate yourself twice, once to access operating system functionalities ad once to access grid functionalities. The first time an element of GENIUS is used that requires one of these authentications an appropriate dialog will appear. This authentication will be valid for 30 minutes after the last task using GENIUS (not necessarily a service request). This means that if your browser window is inactive for 30 minutes or more it will be necessary to repeat the authentication process.
In the sidebar click on the link Grid Settings. This section is effectively where you store your preferences. You will be requested to log on to the operating system as shown in below:

If at this point you are asked about remembering your password for future use, then select No, or, in Mozilla, Never for this site. In Mozilla the dialog looks like this:

You are now presented with a screen asking for your choice of Resource Broker (RB), Replica Location Service (RLS) and Myproxy Server as shown below:

This dialog serves the dual purpose of both setting your preferences and loading them into the current session. Leave these settings at their default settings. At the time of writing this document these default settings are RB: GILDA, RLS: GILDA and Myproxy Server: grid001.ct.infn.it. These preferences are stored in a file in your account and hence the reason that this required an Operating system login.
Click Update to continue.

The next stage is to select a VO. Any user may be a member of multiple VO's simultaneously. The GENIUS portal requires that users specify which VO they currently wish to use. This decision may be changed at any time. In the sidebar click Set VO. You will be presented with the dialog for authenticating yourself on to the grid as shown below:

This authentication connects to the MyProxy server you previously specified. A MyProxy server acts on your behalf to authenticate jobs you run to each system your job uses resources on. For the purpose of this tutorial the myproxy server has already been configured for you. The length of time you specify in this dialog is the amount of time MyProxy should act on your behalf without requiring you to repeat your authentication. Do not set this to a longer time than the default 4 hours. A short time length here increases security but decreases usability whilst a long time length decreases security but increases usability, hence the compromise time length of 4 hours. This is longer than the length of this tutorial.
Set VO is a grid operation because a list of VO's that you have membership of is established from your MyProxy certificate. This MyProxy certificate is the means by which the original authentication to the MyProxy server is made (this step was done for you). For the purposes of this tutorial the VO to be used is GILDA which should appear as the default, and often only, selected VO. You should be now seeing the window below:

 

Ensure GILDA is the selected VO and then click Set. The processes of authenticating to and configuring GENIUS is now complete.

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