Tools

GRID Certificate

You will need a GRID certificate to access many websites and resources within SNO+. The certificate MUST be installed in the browser that you will use to view such resources.

NOTE - When requesting a certificate, use Chrome, as Firefox has an issue. Once the certificate is ready, use Firefox to import it and use for any pages where a certificate is necessary, as Chrome has issues.

  1. For Canadian users: Go to this website
  2. Choose 2 - Request a Certificate, choose User Request and enter your home instititution (domain attached to your official email you are providing) and email. note you must use your instituational email. (MAKE NOTE OF THE PIN USED)
  3. For users from other countries, please follow the instructions here.
  4. After receiving the response, you can download and import the certificate into Firefox. While downloading the certificate the page will ask for a password associated with your key - input the PIN that was created in step 2.
  5. Finally, you need to apply to join the SNO+ virtual organisation (VO). Remember to use Firefox with an imported certificate.
  6. After your request gets accepted, you need to apply/request for a production role on VOMS. You can do that from the home page.

SSH Key

For Linux/macOS/GitBash

  1. Run cd ~/.ssh to navigate to your ssh directory. In case you do not have the directory, you can run mkdir ~/.ssh.
  2. Run ssh-keygen, it will ask you to enter the name and the keyphrase (password for the key file) if you want one.

For Windows

  1. Follow the directions using PuTTY here.

After the generation, you will see two files; one is the <name> you entered before, this one is your private ssh key; the other is <name>.pub. <name>.pub contains the public ssh key that you need to make connections. Try cat <name>.pub to see your public ssh key.

NEVER share your PRIVATE SSH key with anyone - remote sites only need to have your public key installed in order for you to connect using your private key

VPN

A VPN is required to access Buffer1 and various other SNO+ resources; please follow the instructions to install it.

  1. Go to this link which is the internal site for SNOLAB
  2. In IT Services, choose Computing Support Page
  3. In Work Tools section, select VPN - Virtual Private Network (a direct link to the VPN page can be found here)
  4. Choose the version to install according to your Operating System and follow the rest of the instructions on the page

Mailing lists

Once you sign up for a SNOLAB account, you can join various mailing lists. Two of the most important mailing lists are:

  • snoplus_vosupport@snolab.ca
  • snoplusdata@snolab.ca

I will warn you to send at least snoplus_vosupport to its own folder, it gets a lot of messages

There are two ways to join the lists:

  • Click here and search for the mailing list you want to join
  • Email sympa@snolab.ca in the following format: 
    subscribe <lists> <First name> <Last name>