10/29/2001:  Emergency Downtime

• All of the Athena nodes and CISERFS1 will be unavailable tomorrow, Tuesday, October 30th from 9:00 AM until Noon.  We apologize for the short notice.
• Please plan your work accordingly.  All active sessions during that time will be deleted due to reboots.

10/17/2001 New Automatic mapping of U:\ drives!

Good news! As of noon yesterday (12/16/00) a change was made in all user profiles on the Athena nodes.  From now on your U:\ drive is automatically mapped on every node, and you do not need to map (or re-map it) yourself.

Your home directory is now automatically set up as "U:\Users\netid".  Your files have not been moved or altered in any way.

If you have previously set up your "U:\" drive as instructed in the Athena Basics document (to "\\ciserfs1\CISER") then you will not see any change at all in the way you use the nodes or the way your programs run.

However, if you have previously mapped your "U:\" drive to another location  (like "\\ciserfs1\CISER\users\netid" for example),  then you'll need to choose another drive letter ("S:\" or "V:\" for example) to map to the other location, and change the pathnames in your programs accordingly.

Please feel free to contact our helpdesk at "ciser@cornell.edu" if you have any questions.

9/28/2001

ATTENTION ALL ATHENA USERS! Please be sure to read all of the points below:

1)  The Athena Cluster now has eight (8) nodes.  Athena01 ---  Athena08

2)  The FTP service to the Athena nodes is working.

3)  The disk space is rapidly decreasing.  Please compress your data that is not continuously being used.

4)  In the near future you will be receiving an email stating that the U:\ drive will be permanently mapped for you when you log into the Athena nodes.  U:\ will be your default drive.  It will be mapped to \\ciserfs1\ciser.

5)  It is our goal to limit down times to approximately every six months.

9/19/2001 ATTENTION ALL ATHENA USERS!

Yesterday (9/18) all of the Athena nodes were completely rebuilt and two new nodes were added!   All software upgrades and patches are current as of last week, which includes the most current version of every application.    Future upgrades to software packages will occur approximately every six months in the future, in order to reduce down time

IMPORTANT!!!  There are three *very* important issues that you need to be aware of:

1)  As of today, Athena nodes 1-5 and 7 are up and running.  Nodes 6 and 8 are currently unavailable but will be ready very soon.   We will notify users when those are ready.

2) FTP is currently unavailable to the Athena nodes but this issue is a top priority and we will notify you as soon as this capability is restored.

3) A side-effect of the rebuild is that you will need to re-map your U: drive and any other drives you had mapped.  Until you re-map you won't be able to access the files in your home directory, except those in the "My Documents" folder.  The good news is that it only takes a few seconds to re-map a drive!

The detailed instructions for mapping drives are at http://ciser.cornell.edu/athena/athena.html but the quick instructions are below:

Right click on "My Network Places"
First Choose  "Disconnect Network Drive" and disconnect U:\ if it shows up
Then do the first step again this time choose "Map Network Drive" and choose "U:\: then type in "\\ciserfs1\\ciser" and then "finish".

9/17/2001 IMPORTANT NOTICE FOR ALL ATHENA USERS: PLEASE READ:

During the Athena Node downtime tomorrow, all data on the T:\ and in the C:\temp folders will be deleted.   It is VERY important that you place any temporary files in another location until the downtime is completed.

All data on the U:\ciser\users\netid will not be effected.

Once again, the downtime is scheduled from approximately 8:30 AM until 1:00 PM tomorrow, Tuesday, September 18th.

9/13/2001:  ATHENA DOWNTIME SCHEDULED

CISER's Athena compute nodes will NOT be available from 8:30 AM until 1:00 PM on Tuesday, September 18th. During this downtime we will be upgrading software and adding additional nodes. New software versions will be listed on http://ciser.cornell.edu/athena/athenanotes.html soon after the upgrades are completed.

It is important to realize that if you have jobs running or login to work, your processes will be terminated by frequent reboots.

Please plan accordingly.

7/16/2001

CHANGES IN THE "MY DOCUMENTS" DEFAULT SETTINGS:

As of 7/13/2001: the "My Documents" folder icons on all Athena nodes have been re-directed to automatically point to a new "My Documents" folder in the user's home directory on the CISER file server.  If you have trouble locating the new folder, or files that you had previously stored in "My Documents", please contact the ciser helpdesk (ciser@cornell.edu)

FUTURE UPDATES/UPGRADES/ADDITIONS:

Two new Athena nodes will be added to the Athena cluster before the fall semester begins.   The downtime will be announced in advance.

All software currently on the Athena nodes is the most current version.  All future updates and upgrades will be installed at infrequently scheduled intervals (perhaps every 6 months) to minimize the number of scheduled downtimes and subsequent interruptions to your work

ACCESS TO ATHENA CLUSTER FOR MAC AND UNIX USERS:

CISER system administrators continue to investigate access to the Athena cluster for Mac and Unix users.  Please let us know (send e-mail to ciser@cornell.edu) if you are a Mac or Unix user who wishes to use the Athena
 

7/9/2001 ATHENA DOWNTIME SCHEDULED

CISER's Athena compute nodes and CISERFS1 fileserver will NOT be available from 8:30 AM until 2:00 PM on Wednesday, July 11th. During this downtime we will be upgrading software. New software versions will be listed on http://ciser.cornell.edu/athena/athenanotes.html soon after the upgrades are completed.

It is important to realize that if you have jobs running or login to work, your processes will be terminated by frequent reboots. Please plan accordingly.

5/11/2001 UPDATES AND UPGRADES:

• For users that travel and/or use multiple computers  -------   we now have available a Terminal Services Web Client.   The web client runs under Internet Explorer and allows you to login to the Athena nodes and work via the browser.   No additional software needs to be installed.   The web client can be accessed at http://ciserfs1.ciser.cornell.edu/tsweb
• SAS was upgraded to version 8.2
• SAS MP/Connect is now available.  MP/Connect allows users to utilize multiple processors during a SAS session.  Look for an information session and sample programs on the CISER web pages in late June.
• SAS Online Documentation is readily available from the start menu in either HTML or PDF format, including information about the new features in version 8.2
• Mathematica version 4.1 is now available on all of the Athena nodes.
• GAUSS was upgraded to version 3.6 and is available on all of the Athena nodes.

4/4/2001 FTP NOW AVAILABLE TO THE ATHENA NODES:

It is now possible to ftp from your local PC to the Athena nodes. This should make it easier for NON-Windows 2000 users to transfer files and to print locally.  Please see the revised Athena Basics document.

3/21/2001  GOOD NEWS FOR ATHENA USERS!

1)  The Athena nodes are back on line and the updates are complete.   Updated and new software packages include:

 - MPI-Pro
 - Cornell Multi-task Toolbox for Matlab
 - SPSS 10.1
 - Gauss 3.5  (choose "Gauss35" from the start menu)

2) There is now a web page that allows you to examine the current usage of all Athena nodes  .  Percent CPU and memory usage, as well as available temp disk space are displayed for each node, and the information is updated every 5 seconds.  The (correct) page is http://ciserfs1.ciser.cornell.edu/cisermonitor/athenastatus.asp it works only with Internet Explorer.

3/16/2001  IMPORTANT NOTICE TO ALL ATHENA USERS:

CISER's Athena nodes and the CISER file server will be unavailable from 8:30 AM until 12:30 PM on Tuesday, March 20th. The machines are being taken down for software upgrades. New software versions will be listed on http://ciser.cornell.edu/athena/athenanotes.html soon after the upgrades are completed.

3/1/2001 ATHENA DOWN TIME SCHEDULED:

The Athena nodes and access to the CISER file server (where your home directory is located) will NOT be available on Saturday, March 2, at least from 6:00 AM until NOON, perhaps a little longer.  Jobs that are already running on the nodes will continue to run, but you will not be able to log on during that time.  Please plan accordingly.

2/22/2001  CISER DATA ARCHIVE FILES HAVE MOVED!

• The CISER Data Archive files residing on Gaea have been successfully copied and reformatted for use on the CISER file server (ciserfs1) connected to the Athena nodes.   For more details please see http://ciser.cornell.edu/info/ciserfs1.html

2/22/2001  NEW! ATHENA USER TRAINING SESSIONS:

• One hour training sessions for new Athena Users will be held the following times in the Stone Microcomputer Lab at Mann Library.
• Friday,  Feb 23  12:20 - 1:10
• Friday,  Mar 2    12:20 - 1:10
• Friday, Mar 9      12:20 - 1:10

• We will cover how to set up your working environment on the Athena nodes, how to make a connection to the CISER file server, how to ftp to and from an Athena node, and how to print to your home or office printer. If time allows we will also talk about moving files from Gaea to Athena.

• Please send a message to <cam6@cornell.edu>  if you wish to attend.    You will need to know your Athena password in order to log on and try things for yourself, otherwise you can just watch and listen.

2/22/2001 REMINDER TO ALL GAEA ACCOUNT HOLDERS:

1) This is a reminder to begin moving (copying) your files from Gaea to Athena SOONER rather than LATER!  For details please refer to http://ciser.cornell.edu/old/moveit.html.
2) Please remove your files on Gaea once you have copied them to Athena and verified them.  Please let us know (ciser@cornell.edu) know as soon as you have done so -- so that we can close your Gaea account.  This will make things go much more quickly for other users.

1/26/2001 ATTENTION ATHENA USERS:

• Upgrades and maintenance to the Athena nodes and the CISER file server this past week included:
• New hardware to increase the amount of disk space on the file server to 2 terabytes!
• Updates/upgrades to SAS Enterprise Miner, Stata (now Version 7.0), Stat/Transfer, and DBMSCopy
• Note: the new version of Stat/Transfer will now recognize Version 8 SAS files
• Additional updates and new software packages are scheduled for the near future.
• FYI:  An automatic logoff feature has been added to the Athena nodes.  Any session left idle (no applications running) for 2 full days will automatically be logged off.    However, out of courtesy to others, users should continue to log off when not running applications (instead of using the "disconnect" or "close window" options, or depending on the automatic logoff).
• IMPORTANT REVISIONS have been made to the section on "Controlling File Access" in the Athena Basics document at http://ciser.cornell.edu/athena/athena_sections/athena_c6.html#ACCESS.   Please read this revised section before attempting to change the default file or folder permissions in your home directory.
• IMPORTANT REVISIONS have been made to the "Moving Files from Gaea to Athena" instructions at http://ciser.cornell.edu/athena/gaea2athena.htm      Gaea users who have not yet migrated their files should be sure to read these revised pages before doing so!
• The page linked just above also includes a link to a new page with instructions for Moving SAS Files from Gaea to Athena.

1/24/2001 ATTENTION ATHENA USERS:   The Athena Basics section on "Controlling File Access" at http://ciser.cornell.edu/athena/athena_sections/athena_c6.html#ACCESS  has been substantially revised.  Please check this, especially if you are a new user or have been having problems setting file permissions.

1/24/2001: NOTICE TO ALL ATHENA USERS:   The Athena nodes will not be back up at 2:00 pm today as planned since the upgrades and maintenance are taking longer than expected.   We now expect the nodes to be back up by late this afternoon or early evening.

1/23/2001 SCHEDULED DOWNTIME: This is a reminder that tomorrow, Wednesday, January 23, 2001 we have a scheduled downtime on the Athena CISER Compute nodes from 8:30 AM until 2:00PM. Please plan accordingly.

1/10/2001: IMPORTANT NOTICE TO ALL ATHENA USERS:  The Athena nodes and the CISER file server will be unavailable from 8:30 AM until 2:00 PM on Wednesday, January 17.
The machines are being taken down for software upgrades.   New software versions will be listed on this page soon after the upgrades are completed.