1. LHCb Quarterly Report October 2008

2. Core Software (Gaudi) m Stable version was ready for 2008 data taking o Gaudi based on latest LCG 55a o Applications ready for using survey geometry, conditionsDB P Still difficulties in commissioning CondDB access at Tier1s m Plans for the shutdown o Use opportunity for “cleaning” part of the framework P Unifying some interfaces, remove obsolete parts… o New ROOT schema evolution P Under investigation (POOL) o Support file-related records P Needed for file summary records (luminosity, statistics for skimming etc…) o More on interactivity (GaudiPython) o Merger with ATLAS on “configurables” P Python-based configuration of applications o Some improvements for Online usage o Studies on multi-core support (parallel file processing) P In collaboration with LCG-AA / PH-SFT PhC2 LHCb QR, October 2008

3. PhC3 LHCb recent activities m Commissioning of DIRAC3 o Fully reengineered system o Main features: P Single framework for services, clients and agents P Fully integrated Workload and Data Management Systems P Supports production and user analysis activities d Allow to apply VO policy: priorities, quotas… P Uses pilot jobs as DIRAC2 d Ready for using generic pilot jobs (not switched on yet) d Full scale test with generic pilots will take place in the coming weeks P New bookkeeping system (also integrated) m Production activities o Complete simulation and stripping of MC data (so-called DC06 as was launched in 2006) o CCRC-like activity at low rate (10%) o Start 2008 simulation P Mainly for alignment and calibration studies P Wait for first data for tuning generators and detector response LHCb QR, October 2008

4. Recent issues encountered m Storage o Instability of SEs, in particular dCache P Very good response from sites and dCache developers P Permanent struggle due to various causes: d Software issues (addressed with sites and developers) d Sub-optimal hardware configuration at some Tier1’s d Unavailability of files: are in the namespace at site but cannot be accessed or even get a tURL  Damaged tapes, unavailable servers… o Transfers are OK (low throughput needed: 70 MB/s) m Workload Management o Three severe issues with WMS P Mixing up credentials of jobs submitted by the same user with different roles P Limitation in proxy handling (too few delegations allowed) preventing some users to run jobs (e.g. from French CA) P Misbehavior of WMS after some idle time: cannot find suitable sites even for a job without requirements! m Issues with local shared software repository at sites o Stability and access rights (being addressed) PhC4 LHCb QR, October 2008

5. Outlook for DIRAC m DIRAC3 will be fully ready for first data o Analysis will have fully migrated o End of September: no dependency any longer on SRM v1 (legacy files) m Still to come: o Glexec on worker nodes P Will allow to exploit the full power of DIRAC d Allows late binding of jobs, VO policy etc… P Running analysis jobs with higher priority without site intervention P DIRAC3 model was certified long ago by the GDB working group P Waiting for middleware to be ready (SCAS service) o Commissioning of the alignment and calibration loop P Setting up an LHCb-CAF (Calibration and Alignment Facility) d Requirements are rather modest (“simple” detector) d Start with 2 8-core machines, 200 GB of disk P Full commissioning of Conditions Database update and streaming d Currently very few commits to CondDB PhC5 LHCb QR, October 2008

6. LHCb delayed startup m Not clear whether this is a longer or advanced shutdown… m LHCb can’t make much use of cosmics… o Vertical detectors m More simulation will be needed for replacing 2008 data in commissioning o Alignment and calibration o Full chain (including HLT) m Calibration and Alignment (CAF) o Survey of Calibration done on the Online monitoring farm o Low rate (~5 Hz) calibration stream to Tier0 P Reconstructed promptly (smallish files on D1 storage) o Calibration loop triggered by this monitoring P Stop automatic reconstruction P Run calibration and alignment d At CERN (CAF): dedicated queues set up (currently 20 slots) P Validation of calibration d At CERN (Tier0) using the calibration stream PhC6 LHCb QR, October 2008

7. Full Dress Rehearsal m Complete commissioning of: o HLT (for early and further data) P Algorithms, memory leaks… o Event streaming and real data online monitoring P Started with first beams but… o Automatic transfers and reconstruction (à la CCRC) o Calibration loop m Preparatory phase: o Large samples (as available, events can be reused) of minimum bias events o Online injection software (mimicking Front-End electronics) m Time scale: o Ready in January o Actual date depends on maintenance (cooling) at the pit P February of March for the test P Typically running every other week, interleaved with pit commissioning activities PhC7 LHCb QR, October 2008

8. Resources m No plan to change the resource needs after the LHC incident o 2008 data was small anyhow, no influence on the future o Give priority to required activities o Low pace generic activity P “Keep the machine warn”… P Verify all Grid services (storage, transfers, WMS…) P Scrap not needed data m Reassessing the needs at CERN in particular o First data and hot checks better done at CERN P Already 25% of analysis anticipated in TDR o Better understanding of P Calibration needs (monitoring and validation) P Needs for analysis P Include software testing and validation activities (non negligible) m Need to have better control on user activities o How to avoid a single user to exhaust VO’s share? PhC8 LHCb QR, October 2008