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QuickStart Instructions for the Auto QA Browser - Run 13

Updated on Wed, 2013-03-13 16:24. Originally created by ray on 2013-02-20 12:01. Under:
  • Note that you may at any time examine the available QA histograms. However, please do not MARK any runs (Good or Bad) unless you are performing your Offline QA shift duties.
  • Go to the STAR Computing Offline QA home page on drupal (i.e. from the STAR Home Page select "Computing" in the left panel, then select "Offline QA" in the table row labelled "Production" or go directly to the Offline QA home page and open the Auto QA browser by clicking on the "Automated Offline QA Browser" button in the upper portion of the page. You may have to enter the STAR protected area username and password. Contact your local STAR council representative or me if you do not know it.
  • If the browser fails to open contact the QA Experts ASAP. If you cannot get to the Auto QA browser then you are S.O.L.
  • Enter your RCF login name.
  • Generally you should follow the menu on page 2. Buttons 1.1 and 2.1 direct you to pages where Real Data Production jobs and Fast Offline Production jobs can be selected. Note that for Run 13 the Offline QA shift crew are only responsible for the fast-offline production (button 2.1) and monitoring database migration (button 2.3).
  • At the beginning of your shift please check the status of the online-to-offline database migration and notify the QA experts and QA hypernews if the migration appears to be stalled.
  • For Real Data Production (Button 1.1) you will typically want to filter out previously reviewed jobs and select all other run numbers for production within the past 24 hours. Queries can be made based on QA status, run number or date, and software production version.
  • For the Fast Offline Production QA (Button 2.1) on the next page (Page 22) select the data grouping method buttons (A) - (D) [for p-p data the "Auto-combined" or "Combine several jobs" options are preferred in order to have sufficient statistics]. Select the job listing order (for options B and C), the date and run number ranges and click OK.  At a minimum please examine QA histograms for each trigger set for at least one file sequence per run number. Do more if you have time.
  • On the next page select the run to be examined with priority given to the most recent data that have not been examined and click OK.
  • The next page displays the new features available starting in 2012. There are many buttons and options which the user should explore and test throughout the shift. Note that there are many Help buttons available. To get started: (1) select a reference data set which best matches the real data using the left arrow buttons to move from field to field (note that it is not required to have a reference), (2) select the plot option (none = svg format, pdf or ps), (3) select the QA histogram set to examine (QA Shift - required, or for more details see the TPC sectors but note that the TPC sector displays are included in the QA Shift plots, ALL, or among several subsystems), (4) select "Plots only" to view the data only, or "Analyze" to view both the data and reference and to get the results of the automated comparisons with the reference. This option can be used to easily compare the histograms to a reference and enables a convenient way to attach example histograms to QA issues (see instructions: www.star.bnl.gov/devcgi/qa/QAShiftReport/refHelp.php). Note that despite the use of automated examination tools the QA shift crew's visual evaluation of the data remains essential.
  • The next window lists the QA histograms which may be viewed singly or all together along with the reference.  Selecting the "Examine" buttons on the right displays the single plot and reference with a written description. Selecting the "All+Plots" button on the left lists all the plots and references. For the "Analyze" option failed histogram auto-comparisons are listed by default, but all histogram results may be selected in the left-hand panel; the results are color coded.  Please do not rely on the algorithmic comparisons just yet.  To return to the QA run selection page you must use the "Back to data selections" or "Back to QA options" buttons in the upper panel.
  • After examining the data mark the run as examined by selecting the Good or Bad buttons on the left. Generally the data will be marked as Good but in extraordinary circumstances can be marked as Bad. Please consult with the QA team before marking any data as Bad.
  • Generally it is best to have the QA shift report web form open in a different window so that you can fill it out as you check each set of histograms, job-by-job. Please follow the instructions on the QA shift web forms and supply all requested information about yourself and the jobs you have examined.
  • After completing all the listed jobs add whatever comments you think are useful and appropriate to the QA Shift Report. Be sure to include a useful summary for Fast Offline Data that will be helpful to the shift crew, i.e. report any changes from the previous day including new problems or resolution of old problems. Note that the QA Issues mechanism of the web based QA shift report form automatically monitors day-to-day changes in these issues and lists them in the QA shift report summary that is mailed to starqa-hn.
  • When new problems appear in the data please review the list of existing QA issues and use if appropriate before creating a new issue. Note that there is a key-word search tool to help you find previous, relevant issues. Please follow the naming convention established for the existing Run 13 issues.  You are encouraged to document the issues with histograms using the browse/upload tool in the QA issues editor web page. The browser provides an easy way to grab and upload individual histogram plots (svg). Refer to the Help buttons on the new page and click "full topic list", then select "Grabbing a histogram image and attaching to an issue" for instructions - i.e. right click on the image, save to your computer, then in the QA issues page select "Image attachments" and upload your saved file.
  • MOST IMPORTANT!!! If you suspect any problem with the detector(s), calibrations, reconstruction or production you must contact the appropriate expert(s). This is the basic reason for having the Auto QA system and these dedicated shifts. The experts may be contacted via either the QA Experts or Other Experts web pages.
  • Complete your QA Shift Report and submit it. The ASCII text version will be emailed to 'starqa-hn'.
  • Links to QA documentation, contacts, the Rcas/LSF monitor, Online Run Log, and the QA shift report web form are available from Page 2.
  • Finally, you are done for the day; go get some rest!
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