XMM-Newton Data Center at MPE Analysis System Setup

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This description was written for XMMSAS version 5.3.0. but also applies in general to the most recent version. It does apply mostly for users at the MPE only. Some of the steps such as starting the XMMSAS may be different at your home institute, depending on the installation of the XMMSAS at your institute. In doubt, please ask your local system manager.

In order to work with XMM datasets, you should do the following steps:

1. Choose the shell you want to work in, e.g. in the bash:

    bash 

2. XMM data require lots of memory and the tasks may crash if you have not set the memory high enough. It is recommended to do the following step:

      for the bash: ulimit -S -d 1024000
      for the tcsh, csh: unlimit
      

   In some rare cases the tasks may still crash. If this happen you have to set the SAS_MEMORY_MODEL parameter to low, e.g.:

      for the bash: export SAS_MEMORY_MODEL='low'
      for the tcsh: setenv SAS_MEMORY_MODEL low
   

   
   
3. Usually when your system manager has taken care of it, the following step should have been already installed in you login or/and bash_profile files. If this is not the case, in order to activate the XMMSAS, perform the following step:

          source /util/xmmsas-setup.sh  (for the bash)
          source /util/xmmsas-setup.csh (for the csh)
      

   Please make sure that you start the XMMSAS only in a window in which it has not been started before. Otherwise this can cause confusion and the software will not work properly. You can of course already start the XMMSAS every time you log onto your computer by setting the commands above into your .login or .bash_profile file. However, please remember that in this case you will always get the most recent official release of the XMMSAS and you cannot start an older or a developer's version due to the reason given above.
   
   
4. If you have not already enabled FTOOLS, enable FTOOLS tasks for analyzing/checking the data:

        source /util/lheasoft-setup.sh
   

   This will also enable XSPEC.

5. Create the working directory, where you want to analyze the data, and move to it

      mkdir my_directory
      cd my_directory
   

6. If you already have an event file, you can stop reading this page here and start working with your data. If you do not have an event file and have to create it from the Observational Data File (ODF), please follow the following steps:
   
   
7. Getting XMM data:

   If you do not have data already on your disk, here are the ways to get XMM observation onto your disk:

   1. If you want top copy data from the public archives, go to Public Archive pages and copy the data from there. Please not that the MPE `public' archive is only accessable for users which do have permission to use it. If you want to use the archive and do not have permission yet, please contact Frank Haberl (fwh @ mpe ...) (3320) or Achim Bohnet (ach @ mpe ...) (3322). The public archive at VILSPA, on the other hand, is available for everybody.
   2. Copy the data from a CD-ROM onto your disk:
      • The PC in the EXOSAT room at MPE: put in the CD into the CR reader and copy the file onto the PC disk. After this transfer the data to the machine you will work on.
        
        
      • If you have a PC in your room you can copy the data from the CD-ROM to your disk by the following steps:

               copy-cdrom pcname outdir
             

        where pcname is the name of your PC (e.g. ds16) and outdir the directory onto which you want to copy the data.

        Usually the copy-cdrom task should already rename the filenames from small into capital letters. If this is not the case, rename the filenames from small letters into capital letters by the task uc-tree:

             uc-tree outdir
             

8. Setting ODF directory:

   If you want to work with the Observational Data File (`raw data') set the SAS_ODF parameter:

            export SAS_ODF=the-odf-directory
        or  setenv SAS_ODF the-odf-directory
   
   example: setenv SAS_ODF /xmm_archive/orbitData/0070/
      

9. Setting/Changing Verbosity:

   If you use the default most recent XMMSAS release with the current setup at MPE the verbosity is set to 4 which will give you enough information for most cases. If you want to change this or you use a developer's version were this parameter is not set automatically, please change/set it with the following command:

     export SAS_VERBOSITY=4
     

   or

     setenv SAS_VERBOSITY 4
     

10. Create Calibration Index File:

    This step is only necessary if you want to create event files from the ODF. In this case you have to create your own Current Calibration Index File (CIF). You have to perform the following steps in order to create your own CIF file:

    1. Check first if the SAS_CCFPATH parameter is set to a CCF directory, where the Calibration files are stored. You can check by:

             env | grep SAS_CCF
         

       At MPE this is set automatically when you run source /util/xmmsas-setup.eh to SAS_CCFPATH=/xmm/ccf/public. If you are from another institute, or you use a developer's version of the XMMSAS you might have to set this parameter by hand to your own CCF directory.

    2. If you had run some XMMSAS processes in your working window before on a different ODF, please set back the SAS_CCF parameter to the SAS_CCFPATH:

             bash: export SAS_CCF=$SAS_CCFPATH
         

       Otherwise the creation of the CCF file does not work properly.

    3. Create a Calibration Index File (CIF) in you working directory (using the task cifbuild), e.g.:

           cifbuild 
         

       This will create a Calibration Index File with the default name ccf.cif.
       
       
    4. Set the Current Calibration file to the Calibration Index File ccf.cif:

          tcsh: setenv SAS_CCF ./ccf.cif  or bash: export SAS_CCF=./ccf.cif 
         

11. Create the ODF Summary File ...SUM.SAS:

    Check if you have a Summary File ...SUM.SAS in you ODF directory. If this is the case you can start working now. If not, please perform the task odfingest:

        odfingest outdir=$SAS_ODF odfdir=$SAS_ODF 
       

    This task will create a new Summary file with additional information of the instrumental housekeeping and calibration. Due to this reason, if you want to reprocess your dataset with a new version of the SAS, you have to create a new ODF summary file. Please delete the old one and re-run odfingest before you start re-process the data.

Now you can start with the analysis (see Data Preparation).

© X-Ray Group at MPE (group)
last update:2008-01-11, editor of this page:Frank Haberl, Dirk Grupe