A new user wanting to analyze NSTX data on the Linux cluster should have or do
the following:

1) A Linux cluster account (to request one, send e-mail to unixadmin@pppl.gov).
   A VMS account  will also be needed if CAMAC hardware access is desired.

2) Be in the nstx group on Linux (send e-mail to unixadmin, if this was not done
   during account creation).

3) If write-access is needed to some MDSplus trees, your username must be added
   to MDS$ROOT:[SYSMGR]MDSIP.HOSTS on VMS, and the corresponding account must
   have the appropriate VMS priviledges for the trees desired. For the trees
   on Lark, a similar entry must be made in /etc/mdsip.hosts. If a user needs
   to login to lark, she needs to be in /etc/netgroup.

4) To have read access to databases, as needed for accessing Logbook (via the
   IDL routine syb_entry) and EFITviewer, a new user should do following once
   on the Linux cluster, to create the necessary files:

       /p/nstxusr1/util/setup/mkmdsplusdbfile.csh
   
   To have read or write access to databases, or to use DbAccess from IDL, send
   e-mail to dbadmin@pppl.gov, and someone will give you appropriate
   permissions for the tables in the sqlnstx database (by, say, running Query
   Analyzer, or with the right permissions, do this in idl for user whomever:

      IDL> set_database, 'nstxlogs'
      IDL> a=dsql("sp_nstx_addlogin 'whomever','b'")

      IDL> set_database, 'code_rundb'
      IDL> a=dsql("sp_nstx_addlogin 'whomever','r'")

    ).

5) Include the following in your Linux startup file:

       module load nstx/mdsplus
   
   New users may just wish to:
   
       cp ~/.cshrc ~/.cshrc_before_replace
       cp /p/nstxusr1/util/setup/sample_nstx_cshrc.csh ~/.cshrc
   
   This ~/.cshrc file will be executed when you log in (assuming you are using
   the csh or tcsh shell), and the necessary environmental variables will be 
   defined.

Send questions or comments to DbAdmin@pppl.gov.