Checklist for new ATLAS members

Welcome to the ATLAS collaboration! Before completing this checklist it is advised that you first read through the ATLAS Welcome Page to get an overview of the experiment, expectations and resources available to you as a collaboration member.

Introduction

This guide is intended to assist a new ATLAS group member in successfully navigating the lengthy series of steps necessary to obtain full access to all the required areas. The steps must be taken in the order presented; you must have a CERN account before you can obtain a Grid certificate, for example. This guide is interactive; where a link appears, follow that link (preferably in a new tab or window) to proceed.

Using the ATLAS TWiki

Much of the information related to ATLAS procedures, data, computing, and analysis are organized on the ATLAS TWiki. You will need to first register as a TWiki user then apply to obtain access to the protected area.

To register, click on the "register" link on the main ATLAS TWiki page, or follow this link. You will need to enter your newly acquired user name and password to register for the Twiki.

Registration steps:

1. Enter your first and last name and organization (e.g. Indiana University)
2. Use your CERN email address (which you should have received in part I above) for both "Identity" and "E-mail address"
3. Enter "CERN" for "Organisation name," "http://www.cern.ch" for "Organisation URL" and "Switzerland" for country"
4. Put "ATLAS" in the comment field

You can modify your account information at any time by going to the TWiki homepage and clicking on your name (which will have the format FirstnameLastname) at the top of the bar on the left side of the page.

To familiarize yourself with how the TWiki works, follow this introduction

Accessing the protected area

You need to be a member of the "atlas-current-physicists" group in order to access the protected area of the TWiki. See Access to Protected ATLAS Information for details on the account flags that are necessary to be added. Once your information is in the database (by following the registration steps above) you should automatically be added to the appropriate group by the next morning. If you are having difficulty, check your account information in the ATLAS database and make sure the correct information is there, as the Access to Protected ATLAS Information site indicates.

Contact your group leader if you are having difficulty getting onto the appropriate list for access to the protected area.

Joining e-groups

Obtaining a Grid Certificate

Follow the link and instructions to obtain a Grid Certificate: Installing Your Grid Certificate, Grid Certificate and VO Membership.

Joining the ATLAS Virtual Organization (VO)

Make sure you are still using the same browser into which you successfully imported the certificate above

Navigate to the ATLAS TWiki page Starting on the Grid and scroll down to the "Joining the ATLAS Virtual Organization" topic.

After being approved, you can verify your status by going to https://lcg-voms2.cern.ch:8443/voms/atlas then navigating to the Member Info->Check Authorization Status then clicking "Search." You should see your name with "authorization status" set to "Approved." If this is not the case, contact your local VO administrator through the link provided in the email you just received.

At this point you should have full access to the Grid and all resources needed as an ATLAS group member. Congratulations!

Important Further Sources of Information (Computing and Physics Analysis Workbooks)

Aside from the other links contained in this checklist, the Computing Workbook and Physics Analysis Workbook are repositories of essential information.

• The Computing Workbook provides an excellent introduction to the ATLAS experiment, computing model, and data structure framework.
• The Physics Analysis Workbook, which is in the protected area of the TWiki, gives detailed instructions for a wide range of analysis tasks performed on ATLAS data and includes several examples.
• The Computing Tutorials, specifically the Software Tutorial is highly recommended for new people to the collaboration.

Obsolete information

updates:

-- ChrisFaesi - 09-Nov-2009 -- VivekJain - 3 Feb, 2010