BEPC On-line Runtime Database Service System
P.ShiandL.MaInstitute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academia of Sciences
P.O.Box 918 (10), Beijing 100039, China
ship@bepc3.ihep.ac.cn
Abstract
An On-line Runtime Database Service System based onclient/server model via TCP/IP has been introduced toBEPC. It provides various services such as data stores,queries, statistics, analysis and reports. The kernel of thesystem is an on-line SQL Server database. Users such as
specialists, machine operators and managers can get dataand charts from any machine connected to the network.
They can also use Web Browsers to get information. Thesystem has been running successfully since the BEPC96'
autumn startup. This paper describes the overall design andfunctions of the system.
1 Introduction
The Beijing Electron Position Collider (BEPC) is a large
experiment physics equipment for high energy physics andsynchrotron radiation research. Much valuable researchand exploration have been done on BEPC by physicists.
With this in-depth of physics research, the traditional
methods of manual data recording and data querying are
not suitable for the demands of high efficiency.
The BEPC on-line runtime database service system has
been in service since the BEPC96' autumn startup. Thesystem gives the operators, accelerate physicists, engineers,managers and other users continuous service twenty-fourhours each day and seven days each week. The users caneasily acquire the BEPC machine parameters they want forphysical experiments, machine studies and BEPC runningstatistics. The establishment of the database service system
improves the running efficiency of BEPC, and it also
provides a very useful tool for troubleshooting BEPC.
2 System layout
The first step of the BEPC beam diagnostic system
upgrade was performed from the beginning of 1995 to themiddle of 1996. The PC based client/server model network
system utilizing TCP/IP has been installed. Under thesecircumstances, the database service system can beinstalled.
2.1 Client/Server model
Similar to many other laboratories, the beam diagnostic
system of BEPC is a distributed system, so the client/server model is the nature choice for theBEPC
beam diagnostic system. The flexible andscaleable features of the client/server model are suitable forthe beam diagnostic system. Because of the highperformance, low price and the large number of providersof both hardware and software, personal computers (PCs)were added to the beam diagnostic system to take theresponsibilities of device control and data acquisition.
2.2 Windows NT as the network platform
With the rapid progression of computer technology, it isdifficult to make a suitable choice of computer modeland operating system. Many issues have to be carefully
considered, such as modularity, reliability, the vendor
support, the vendor documentation, cost and our financial
support.
When making our choice, we must consider sufficient
functionality and ease-of-use. Considering that ouroperating environment demands long-term reliability,
industrial PCs were chosen for instrument control. Anotherhigh performance PC server with a large memory and harddisk was used as the database server and the datatransmission server.
Being an excellent application service platform,
Microsoft Windows NT was chosen as the primary
software platform. Windows NT Server provides thenetwork operation system (NOS), and also the application
server. Both Windows NT Workstation and Windows 95
are utilized on client workstations.
2.3 Microsoft SQL Server as the database server
Microsoft SQL Server is a relational databasemanagement system (RDBMS) which is well integrated
with Windows NT. It is specially designed for the
distributed client/server computing environment. We also
benefit from its internal data backup system, strong data
management tools and the open client/server architecture.
Microsoft SQL Server is therefore the kernel of BEPC
database service system. Any computer connected with theBEPC network can be a client of the service system, andall of the BEPC staff can get the information they need intheir offices using our system.
3 Database implementation
3.1 data description
All of the data in our system can be planed in thefollowing two categories.
•
Beam diagnostic data
(important BEPC operating information),•
beam current•
injection rate•
beam position measurement data••beam size and bunch length•
beam energy
Equipment data (hardware setpoints):•
magnet power supply setpoint for thestorage ring and the transportation line•
accelerating RF values•
vacuum values

3.2 data acquiring
As shown in figure 1, the data acquisition system getsdata from the BEPC control computer and also fromvarious local PCs. These PCs get data from the front-end
electronics and instrumentation via CAMAC or GPIB. All
the data are gathered in a dynamic database first. Since thedata are collected from PC and VAX systems of different
platforms, the TCP/IP protocol is used in the dynamicdatabase system. An Open Database Connection (ODBC)
provides the channel from the dynamic database to thelogging database.
3.3 data retrieving
A client workstation will have access to our system after
performing the following steps.
•connect PC to the BEPC network• install Microsoft windows 95, MicrosoftWindows95 or Microsoft Windows NT;•install Microsoft Excel•
configure all componentsMicrosoft Excel provides excellent data analysis,
data process and data presentation functions and also gives
a friend graphical user interface as a database front-endtool.
3.4 data publishing
The data stored in the BEPC database is also publishedon the Web. Figure 2 shows the data publishingarchitecture.
By
integrating
Microsoft
SQL
Server and Microsoft internet information Server, we
can publish the information in HTML format and provide ashortcut to the database. Users can get the current status of
BEPC from the Web using any Web browser such as
Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator.
3.5 BackupFor a computer based system, the most importation thingis the data, so the data backup process has thespecial position of the whole system. For our system,
data have been backed up automatically on the disk andalso on the tape store so that those useful data can be safely
stored for a long time.
4 Conclusion
The BEPC on-line runtime database service system has
been in operation since the October of 1996. During thiseight consecutive months of machine operation, the state of
the system has been stable. The system has stored over
300,000 groups of beam parameters. These parameters
include the magnet power supply setpoints, the vacuum,
the RF accelerating values and the beam diagnostic systemparameters. All the data have been backed up on hard disk
and also on magnetic tape. Technical support and data
query services are also provided by our beam diagnostic
workgroup.
Acknowledgments
The author would like to thank Y.Yu and others who
have provided assistance, when gathering machineparameters. We also thank our storage ring physics groupusers for their insight and feedback during the system
upgrade. At last we are very grateful for the financialsupport provided by our institute and also by our division.
References[1] L.Ma, etal. “Using PCs in the BEPC beam diagnostic
instrument system” ,this processing.
[2] P.Shi, “The data processing of BEPC beam diagnosticsystem” BEPC 96’

Control Syztem

devicesbeam diagnostic
instruments
beam diagnostic
hardwares

GPIB

Dynamic Database

Logging Database

PCEt
hernCAMAC

PC

et

Ethernet
t en
rehtE

magnet power
supply systemODBCMS SQL Server
RF system

CAMAC

PC dynamic
database server
vacuum system
VAX4500

Figure 1 The architecture of data acquisitionMicrosoft SQL Server

Microsoft Information Server

Web Pages

Windows NT Server

Web Browser

Figure 2 The connection between the SQL Server and the Web browser