About the Portal

This site is to let you know about a new way we're managing and providing data and computing to neutron scattering facility users via a web based portal for neutron scattering sciences.   For SNS and HFIR, we have developed an automated system that flows data from the data acquisition system (DAS) into the data management system via a process we call "live cataloging." During this process, data are packaged and placed in the data archive. Data are organized by facility/instrument/proposal, and the portal will facilitate browsing or searching for data.  Data access is restricted to the experiment team members, instrument team members, and administrative personnel. If the principal investigator wishes, these data can be made public. Using the portal, users can download, view, inspect, and search data. Currently the portal primarily serves facility users at both SNS and HFIR, though it is also in limited use for both the LENS and Lujan facilities as well.  Note that the IPNS data repository will also be provided via the portal.

Getting Access to the Portal

To access to the portal requires users to first acquire an XCAMS user ID, then request access to the portal, and upon resource request approval users can login to the portal.  Here are the links for these steps:

1. Get an XCAMS user ID
2. Request access to computer resources
3. Portal Login - https://neutronsr.us/portal/

Services Provided

In addition to data management described above, a number of tools such as data reduction, 2D visualization, sample activation calculator, and other facility-developed and community-produced applications are available via the portal. Applications are made available both on-site at the instrument analysis computers and as remote applications running on our computers but being displayed on your remote computer display both capable of using the same centralized data management system.  A portal based architecture supports both centralized data management and computing for users.

A New Way of Working

Many of the data sets produced by SNS instruments could be too large to effectively process on personal computers. The portal environment is well suited to help with this, as data and computing are kept in proximity to each other. Once you sign up for your portal account, a portal home area is created for you. Applications can access data in the data repository and place results in your home area, where they can be further processed, examined, or downloaded for use locally. Thus, a new environment is being created that combines using both local and remote computing resources.

Questions

Steve Miller — (millersd@ornl.gov)