The dCache central storage system at RAL (the ATLAS datastore) currently has separate tape and disk storage systems. These are accessible from the lcgui.gridpp.rl.ac.uk RAL lcg user interfaces. The points of access are :

      /pnfs/gridpp.rl.ac.uk/data/lhcb/user/    for disk storage
      /pnfs/gridpp.rl.ac.uk/tape/lhcb/user/    for tape storage
    

Note that CASTOR is going to be brought online sometime in the next 4 - 6 months after which dCache usage will not be encouraged, followed by its termination in April 2007.

RAL PPD computing (RAL Tier-2, user interface : linux.pp.rl.ac.uk) supports a dCache data storage system which plans to remain a dCache system for the forseeable future. The entry point here is :

      /pnfs/pp.rl.ac.uk/data/lhcb
    
Note that in both the cases you have to define the environment variable

      setenv LD_PRELOAD libpdcap.so    (for csh type shells)
      export LD_PRELOAD=libpdcap.so    (for sh  type shells)
    

Once this is done, you should be able to treat it as just another directory (ls, cp, rm, mkdir, ... commands should work interactively). For bulk file transfers, refer to the other web page on this website regarding GridFTP at RAL


For more information try to contact Raja Nandakumar ( R _dot_ Nandakumar _at_ rl _dot_ ac _dot_ uk )