Overview

The Siemens IDEA environment is being virtualized by PMACS, within their vSphere server environment. For each version of IDEA, you'll need to establish two VMs: one for the Windows environment, and one for the Linux environment.

Communicating with PMACS to make requests

Please use the PMACS ticket system http://helpdesk.pmacs.upenn.edu. In each section below where a ticket might be required, please use the exact ticket template provided. If your ticket seems to be not progressing, let Dylan know and he can contact Jerry at PMACS to help triage.

Getting an account:

You'll first need a PMACS account (ask Dylan to file a ticket for you). Once you have that, you can enter the ticket system. To create a new user for the vSphere system (the management system for the VMs), file a ticket as follows:

  • Ticket Description: New user setup for Robust Methods of Magnetic Resonance (RMMR)
  • PennKey:
  • Group: VPN-rad-tisdal

Setting up a new virtual machine

Instantiating the VMs

You'll need to request both the Windows and Linux VMs associated with the version of IDEA you'd like to have setup. For this, you can use a ticket like this:

  • Ticket Description: New VM setup for Robust Methods of Magnetic Resonance (RMMR)
  • Windows Operating System: Windows 10 or Windows 7
  • Windows Template: copy from list below
  • Linux Template: copy from list below

Here's a list of the templates associated with each IDEA verson

IDEA Version Windows Linux
N4VE11C RAD-MRI_VE11C_Distribution_Win7_Template RAD-MRI_VE11C_linux_win7_20160120_mars
NXVA30A RAD-MRI_XA30A_DistributionOVF_win10_Template RAD-MRI_XA30A_DistributionOVF_linux_win10_Template

Connecting to the VPN

Go to: https://remote.pmacs.upenn.edu to initiate a connection. If this is your first connection, you will need to install the Pulse Secure App Launcher.

Connecting to the vSphere

https://pmacsvc.pmacs.upenn.edu

List the available VMs by clicking on the VM list option.

vSphere VM List

Pick the Linux VM for the IDEA version you're instantiating, and then click on Lauch Web Console.

vSphere VM Interface

You will see a pop-up, in which you again choose Launch Web Console (this may require disabling pop-up blockers). Version-specific instructions follow below.

Configuring VE11C VMs

Linux VE11C

If you just get a black screen in the web console, tap any key to bring up the Linux login prompt.

Log in as root. It will not require a password.

We need to bring this machine's network connection online at the correct IP address. To do this, run:

ifconfig up eth0 <ip>
ifconfig eth0 netmask 255.255.255.0

where you should replace <ip> with the IP address you were assigned for this machine. If you don't know the IP address, file a ticket to request you get assigned one and add it to the table at the end of this document.

You can then close the web console for the linux system.

Note that if you need to restart the Linux VM for some reason, you'll need to run those two commands again in order to reconnect it to the network.

Windows VE11C

Using the same steps as above, now open the web console for the Windows version of the machine.

Log in as user IDEA password idea

Need to figure out firewall settings. For now, just disable the Windows Firewall.

You should now be able to both connect to this system via RDP. The username:password for both these interfaces is now idea:idea. From here on out, I like to do things via RDP, and not via the web console.

Start IDEA and run externalmars true. You'll be prompted for the IP address of the Linux machine, which you should enter. You should now be able to build the Linux binaries for a given sequence.

You should now be able to connect to this system via RDP (download Microsoft Remote Desktop or similar client). The username:password for is now idea:idea. From here on out, I like to do things via RDP, and not via the web console.

On your local system, checkout the N4_VE11C_LATEST_20160120 branch of the idea_vmware_tools repos from the group github. Make sure you name the directory N4_VE11C_LATEST_20160120, as scripts rely on this name (e.g., check this out to ~/IDEA/N4_VE11C_LATEST_20160120).

Configure your Remote Desktop client to share ~/IDEA/N4_VE11C_LATEST_20160120/ (or wherever you checked out the repos) with the remote system.

Sharing local drive with VM

On the remote Windows system, enable sharing on C:\MIDEA for user IDEA.

You should now be able to mount MIDEA on your local system via SMB, using the mount_midea_share.bash script, which will mount it into the current directory as ./midea-mnt.

Once the remote drive is mounted locally, run config_built_dir.sh to ensure binaries are copied back to your local machine (you only need to do this once).

Put any source packages you have received from Siemens in the packages directory and run install_source.sh. This can be re-run whenever you get new source packages.

Configuring XA30A VMs

Linux XA30A

If you just get a black screen in the web console, tap any key to bring up the Linux login prompt.

Log in as root. It will not require a password.

We need to bring this machine's network connection online at the correct IP address. To do this, run:

ifconfig up eth0 <ip>
ifconfig eth0 netmask 255.255.255.0

where you should replace <ip> with the IP address you were assigned for this machine. If you don't know the IP address, file a ticket to request you get assigned one and add it to the table at the end of this document.

You can then close the web console for the linux system.

Note that if you need to restart the Linux VM for some reason, you'll need to run those two commands again in order to reconnect it to the network.

Windows XA30A

Using the same steps as above, now open the web console for the Windows version of the machine.

Log in with user IDEA, password idea

Start IDEA and run externalmars true -ip <ip>, replacing <ip> with the IP address of the Linux machine, which you should enter. You should now be able to build the Linux binaries for a given sequence -- try it out before proceeding!

Need to figure out firewall settings. For now, just disable the Windows Firewall.

You should now be able to connect to this system via RDP (download Microsoft Remote Desktop or similar client). The username:password for is now adminUser:idea. From here on out, I like to do things via RDP, and not via the web console.

On your local system, checkout the NXVA30A_162141 branch of the idea_vmware_tools repos from the group github. Make sure you name the directory NXVA30A_162141, as scripts rely on this name (e.g., check this out to ~/IDEA/NXVA30A_162141).

Configure your Remote Desktop client to share ~/IDEA/NXVA30A_162141/ with the remote system.

On the remote Windows system, enable sharing on C:\MIDEA for user IDEA. When asked if you want to update sharing settings for C:\MIDEA\VirtualBox\ select Don't change settings.

You should now be able to mount MIDEA on your local system via SMB, using the mount_midea_share.bash script, which will mount it into the current directory as ./midea-mnt.

Once the remote drive is mounted locally, run config_built_dir.sh to ensure binaries are copied back to your local machine (you only need to do this once).

Put any source packages you have received from Siemens in the packages directory and run install_source.sh. This can be re-run whenever you get new source packages.

Resetting the virtual machines

If something goes wrong, you can always request PMACS to reset the VM. THIS WILL ERASE EVERYTHING ON THE MACHINE so make sure your code is committed and pushed to GitHub. To request a reset, please use the following ticket format:

  • Ticket Description: Re-initialize VM for Robust Methods of Magnetic Resonance (RMMR)
  • Name of VM(s) to delete
  • Windows Operating System: Windows 10 or Windows 7
  • Windows Template: copy from list above
  • Linux Template: copy from list above

Assigned IP addresses

VE11C Linux VE11C Win XA30A Linux XA30A Win
dylan 172.16.42.30 172.16.42.29 172.16.42.39 172.16.42.28