Quick-Start Tutorials

The intention of this tutorial is to get a quick glimpse into the Airavat middleware by exercising its features through the hosted version of Airavata Reference Gateway written in PHP hence called PGA. The user can follow the carefully constructed user guide in order to receive general capabilities of the middleware.

Airavata Reference Gateway

Airavata PHP Gateway is set of User Interfaces to demonstrate the core functionalities provided by Airavata. This user manual provides step-by-step information on obtaining a complete science gateway experience for science and scholarly communities using Airavata as a middleware platform. In the user manual we would also discuss main features and services provided for gateway communities via Airavata.

User manual will facilitate:

• How to create and modify projects

• How to register users in PHP reference gateway.

• How to create, execute and monitor experiments.

• How to submit issues, user feedback and user request for new applications.

For more details on Airavata please visit Airavata site

Test/Demo Environment Details

1. PHP Reference Gateway link;
   https://testdrive.airavata.org
2. Download application input files from;
   https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/AIRAVATA/XSEDE14+Gateway+Tutorial+Application+Input+Files+and+Parameters 

Tutorial I - Accounts on Test Drive Gateway

Create Account

1. A new user has to create an account using ‘Create account’ link on top right-hand corner of the gateway top banner.
2. To create an account;
   1. Please enter User information and submit.
   2. Important;
      1. Username cannot have spaces.
      2. Username & password must be longer than 5 characters.
      3. Password is case sensitive.
      4. Enter all the mandatory fields indicated by a star; *.
   3. Account creation page
      1. Link:https://testdrive.airavata.org/create
      2. Create User Account Page
   
   Image I - Create Account
   
   
3. Account activation;
   1. The user will receive an email upon creating the account in the given email box to confirm the creation is real. User needs to click the link and login to the gateway using the username and password.
   2. Initial user accounts will not have access to use the gateway; submit jobs to resources. Gateway admin has to provide necessary access to each user after validating the user account.
   3. Gateway admin will notify access grant via email. 
   4. User might need to logout from the gateway to be able to access job submitting permissions.

Login to Account

1. Once the account is created successfully; login to the gateway using the created account.
2. Gateway login screen link
   1. https://testdrive.airavata.org/login
3. OR
   1. use the 'Log In' link given on the 'Create New Account' page after account retain is successful.
   2. Login Page;

Image II - Login

Password Recovery

1. Gateway user can recover the forgotten password using '(Forgot Password? Click here)' link below the login page.
2. User will be navigated to a page where the username needs to be provided.
3. An email will be sent wit ha link to enter new password.

Tutorial II - Create & Search Projects

Create Project

1. 'Projects' within Airavata is simply to group a set of experiments. Every user will have a 'Default Project' which is auto created when user logs into the gateway for the first time.
2. To create Projects navigate to ‘Project --> Create’ from the main menu. Enter Project Name (Mandatory) & Project Description (Optional) and Save.
3. Project creation Screen
   
   
   Image II - Create Project
   
   
4. Prior to submission, fields can be cleared using Clear button.
5. User will be navigated to Project Summary page upon successful creation of the project.

Search Projects

1. Screen navigation 'Project --> Browse' from the main menu.
2. Search keys are;
   1. Project Name
   2. Project Description
3. Search Project Page;
   
   Image III - Search Project
   
   
4. After selecting the search by key, user has to give  a value to search using the selected key. Click on Search.
5. All the Projects as per entered key value pair will be listed.
6. User can search for all projects by using (*) as a wild character. The * can be used when searching either options; Project name or description.
7. When projects are listed by clicking ‘View’ at the end of the row user can navigate to ‘Project Summary’ page. 

Image IV - Browse Projects

All experiments created under the project will be listed

Image V - Project Summary

User can click on the experiment ‘Status’ and navigate to ‘Experiment Summary’ page.

Image VI - Experiment Summary

Tutorial III - Create & Launch Experiment

Create Experiment

1. To create an experiment click on ‘Create Experiment’ from the main menu. Navigation Experiment --> Create Experiment
2. Create Experiment Page - Experiment Information
   
   Image VII - Create Experiment
   
   
3. Initially user needs to enter/select given fields in order to continue.
   1. Experiment Name (Mandatory)
   2. Experiment Description (Optional)
   3. Project (Select from the available LOV)
   4. Application (Select from the available LOV)
   and click on ‘Continue’ button. At this point, user can clear any entered fields by clicking ‘Reset Values’ before continuing.
4. Then continue entering Application configuration information.
   1. Experiment application input (Mandatory) - Application input can be in the form of entering data manually or uploading a single or multiple files.
      NOTE: Uploading file validity is not checked by the gateway. User has the responsibility of uploading correct files.
   2. Compute Resource (select from the available LOV. If the application is existing in a single resource, it will be the default value)
   3. Queue (a default value will be taken if not changed by the user)
   4. Node Count (If not entered default value will be taken as the input)
   5. Total Core Count (If not entered default value will be taken as the input)
   6. Wall Time Limit (If not entered default value will be taken as the input)
   7. Total Physical Memory (If not entered default value 0 will be taken as the input)
5. NOTE:
   1. For values d, e and f if user does not enter,  default value will be taken as the input. For some compute resources, this default value will not be correct. User needs to change the node count in such cases.
   2. For d and e user has to enter a value greater than or equivalent to 1.
   3. For f user has to enter a value greater than or equivalent to 0.
6. Create Experiment - Application Configuration Part
   
   Image VIII - Create Experiment Contd..
   
   
7. While entering application configurations user can start over from the beginning using ‘Start Over’ button.
8. Once saved or saved and launched user will be directed to ‘Experiment Summary’ page; can refresh the page and monitor experiment status changes.
9. Experiment Summary Page
   
   Image IX - Experiment Summary

Launch Experiment

1. To launch an experiment can use the same 'Create Experiment' screen. Apart from saving the experiment user can Save & Launch at the same time using button ‘Save and Launch’.

2. User can also create and save the experiment to launch later. To launch later user has to navigate to 'Experiment Summary' Page.

3. If the experiment is not supposed to launch e.g.: a COMPLETED, LAUNCHED experiment, then the launch button will be disabled.

Tutorial IV - Browse Experiments

1. User can search for experiment created by him/her through

1. Experiments → Browse

2. Browse Projects → View Project → View Experiment (by clicking on the status of the experiment) - Please refer Search Projects in Tutorial II above.

2. In Search Experiments search keys are;

1. Experiment Name

2. Experiment Description

3. Application

4. …

3. Browse Experiments Page

Image X - Search Experiments

1. All the experiments of the user will be listed; latest on top. User  can also select the search by key, user has to give  a value to search for using the key. Partial values, complete values, (*) wild card can be used to search.

2. Click on Search once the search key is selected and value is entered. User can also search for experiments by giving the status.

3. All the experiments as per entered Key value pair will be listed.

4. By clicking on the 'Status' user will be navigated to ‘Experiment Summary’ screen of each experiment.

5. In experiment summary users can;

1. Launch experiment - Explained in above Tutorial III

2. Cancel experiment

3. Clone experiment

4. Edit experiment

6. User can edit an experiment by navigating to 'Edit Experiment' page. Edit button next to each experiment name will navigate user to 'Edit Experiment' page of each experiment.

Tutorial V - Modify, Cancel & Clone Experiments

Modify Experiment

1. Modify experiment by clicking on the edit icon (pencil) next to experiment name OR by clicking on ‘Edit’ button in Experiment Summary Page.

2. User can modify all available fields except experiment status, application & experiment ID.  

3. User can update experiments with statuses;

1. CREATED

4. Edit Experiment Page

Image XI - Edit Experiment

Cancel Experiment 

1. Experiments can be canceled by navigating to experiment’s 'Experiment Summary’ screen.
2. Experiment statuses which allow cancellations;
   1. LAUNCHED
   2. EXECUTING
   3. SCHEDULED
3. Click on ‘Cancel’ button and immediately the Experiment status will change to CANCELING.
4. If the job is not already processing in the remote resource (already COMPLETED in the resource) the job will proceed to COMPLETE and upon completing the experiment status will change to CANCELLED. Since the user requested a cancellation generated output will not be provided back to the gateway.
5. If the job was successfully CANCELLED upon changing the job state to CANCELLED experiment status will also change to CANCELED.
6. CANCELED experiments are only available for cloning in the PGA.

Clone Experiment

1. Experiments can be cloned irrespective of the experiment status by clicking ‘Clone’ in ‘Experiment Summary’ page.
2. When clicks ‘Clone’ from experiment summary user will be navigated to ‘Edit Experiment’ page of the new experiment. The new experiment will have exact same information as the earlier existing experiment.   
3. The new experiment will have a new experiment ID and the status will always be CREATED.
   New experiment name = Clone of + Old experiment name
4. User can change existing information (except the Application) in ‘Edit Experiment’ page and save or save & launch.

Tutorial VI - User Assistance

Report Issue

1. Gateway user can report issues faced within the gateway through this page.

2. Page navigation: Help → Report Issue

3. Raise a Bug Page

Image XII - Raise a Bug

Request Feature

1. Gateway allows users to provide feedback as well as request for new applications via Request Feature Page.

2. Page Navigation; Help → Request Feature

3. Got Feedback? Page

Image XIII - Got Feedback?