ALPHA-g-Data-Handler

Web application for the ALPHA-g experiment. This is a UI wrapper for the alpha-g-analysis package and the analysis-scripts repository.

Installation

Before you start, make sure you have the following installed on your system: Python 3.9+, cargo, and the git command.

To facilitate installation, we provide pre-built binaries for some platforms. For example, to get the latest version of the alpha-g-data-handler program on alphacpc04, run:

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://github.com/ALPHA-g-Experiment/data-handler/releases/latest/download/alpha-g-data-handler-installer.sh | sh

For instructions on installing from different platforms and/or specific versions of the package, see our releases page.

Alternatively, you can build from source (requires cargo):

cargo install --locked --git https://github.com/ALPHA-g-Experiment/data-handler.git

After installation, you can start the server as (use --help to see all the available options):

alpha-g-data-handler update
AG_JWT_SECRET=secret alpha-g-data-handler serve -a 0.0.0.0:8080 -d /path/to/midas/files

Note

To allow file downloads from the server you need to set the AG_JWT_SECRET environment variable. Additionally, the application will manage the following directories for you (might vary depending on OS):

• $HOME/.alpha-g-data-handler: Contains the internally-managed alpha-g-analysis and analysis-scripts. Please do not modify this directory manually (only use alpha-g-data-handler update if you want to update these packages).

• $HOME/.cache/alpha-g-data-handler: Contains the cached data files. This directory can be safely deleted if you want to clear the cache.

• /tmp/alpha-g-data-handler: Contains the temporary files generated by the application. This directory can be safely deleted if you want to clear the temporary files.

Using a Process Manager

If you are hosting the application on a server for other users, you might want to use a process manager like systemd to run the web server:

Create a new service file at /etc/systemd/system/alpha-g-data-handler.service (check all the paths and user names):

[Unit]
Description=ALPHA-g Data Handler Service
After=network.target

[Service]
Environment="AG_JWT_SECRET=a_random_shared_secret"
ExecStart=/home/my_user/.cargo/bin/alpha-g-data-handler serve -a 0.0.0.0:8080 -d /path/to/midas/files -p "^run0*(?<run_number>\d+)sub\d+\.mid\.lz4$"
WorkingDirectory=/home/my_user
User=my_user
Restart=always

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Finally, reload the systemd manager configuration:

systemctl daemon-reload

This will allow you to e.g.:

systemctl start alpha-g-data-handler # Start the service
systemctl enable alpha-g-data-handler # Enable the service on boot
systemctl stop alpha-g-data-handler # Stop the service