Remote Coral
If on the Cornell campus network, Coral can be run "remotely" from any web browser with an appropriate java runtime installed. Run the latest version of Java7 or Java8 (Java 6 and earlier are no longer maintained). Versions of Java newer than version 8 may not work – Java8 can be directly downloaded from https://java.sun.com
SeaBird is a web-based application for managing Coral reservations.
Start Remote Coral by clicking the Coral link on the CNFUsers web page.
For more information on accessing Coral from off-campus, please see the Coral Off-Campus page.
Mac OS X and Remote Coral
Make sure to use the Mac link for Remote Coral. Using the non-Mac link will require disabling GateKeeper to run Coral.
Clicking on the "Coral" link on the CNFUsers website will not start Coral but will instead download an Apple DMG (Disk Image), "OpenCoral-Mac.dmg". Look in your Safari downloads and choose to "open" this file, which will open the disk image – a Finder window should open. Double click the "coral.jnlp" file to start Coral. You may receive a warning about running applications downloaded from the Internet.
Local Coral
"Local" coral is run from your CNF Thin linux account.
Start Coral either by typing in "coral" (without the quotes) at a command prompt or by choosing Coral from the Applications -> CNF Applications menu.
You can also remotely run "Local" Coral via a login to remote.cnf.cornell.edu. You will need to enable X11 forwarding/tunneling and run an X server (such as Exceed on Windows).
If your AFS tokens have expired, you will not be able to run Coral.
Viewing Equipment Status and Qualifications
When initially starting Coral, the left most pane will display a list of
process areas. To expand a particular process area and see the equipment under
that area, double click the process area.
If there is an asterick after the name of the piece of equipment, then you
have been qualified to use that equipment. Qualificiation means you have
successfully completed training on that equipment and the equipment manager
has entered you in the list of allowed users for that equipment. If you have
completed training but not yet been marked as qualified, talk to the primary
or backup contacts for that piece of equipment.
You cannot make reservations on or enable equipment for which you have not yet
been qualified. Only make reservations to use equipment for which you are not
yet qualified if you know you will have completed training by that point or if
a staff member will be helping you to use the equipment
If someone has a piece of equipment enabled, the username will appear in
parentheses after the name of the equipment.
A traffic light to the left of the equipment name shows the status of the
equipment. Green indicates there are no problems with the equipment. Yellow
indicates a problem has been reported with the equipment, but the equipment
may still be used. Red indicates the equipment has been shutdown and is not
available for use.
More information on the status of equipment with yellow or red traffic lights
is available by highlighting either the equipment or the equipment area and
then clicking either the Maintenance or Equipment Status Summary tabs. Each
tab allows you to select which type of statuses to show. The Maintenance tab
also allows a date range search.
Scheduling Equipment
In the left pane of the Coral client, highlight the piece of equipment for
which you would like to reserve time. In the right pane, select the
"Reservations" tab, and use the mouse to drag and highlight the time period to
reserve. Then, under the "Reservation Actions" menu, choose "Make". A "Machine
Reservation Information" windows pops up. Select the Project and Account to
which you are planning on charging your time (when enabling equipment, you
will choose which project/account is actually charged... this is for your and
for staff information when viewing the reservation). In the "Process" box,
leave any quick notes that staff may need to prepare the equipment for your
use.
Scheduling equipment across midnight requires making two separate
reservations. And, to advance or step back the week show for reservations, use
the "Next" and "Previous" items under the "Reservation Actions" menu.
To view an existing reservation, just double click that reservation in the
Reservations tab grid. To make changes to the reservation, first delete the
reservation and second create a new reservation.
To delete an existing reservation, click once on any portion of the
reservation in the Reservations tab grid, then choose "Delete" from the
"Reservation Actions" menu.
Various scheduling restrictions apply to each piece of equipment. The
easiest way to view the scheduling restrictions for a piece of equipment is on
the Equipment Information Sheet for that piece of equipment. You can also look
at the Reservation Policies for that piece of equipment in the Coral client.
First, highlight the piece of equipment. Second, select the "Policy" tab.
Third, double click "ReservationManager" to expand the tree. Next, double
click "CNFReservationPolicySet" to further expand the tree. You will then see
the rest of the policy tree. Highlight any item in the policy tree to view an
brief explanation of the policy rule.
Note that not all scheduling restrictions are enforced by Coral. Refer to the
Equipment Information Sheet.
Enabling Equipment
If you are not yet qualified to use a piece of equipment in the Coral system,
you will not be able to enable that piece of equipment.
First, highlight the piece of equipment in the left pane. Second, choose
"Enable" from the "Equipment Actions" menu. Next, a "Machine Enable
Information" window pops up. If not already selected, choose the "Project" and
"Account" to which to charge the equipment usage. Then, press "Ok".
Disabling Equipment
First, highlight the piece of equipment from the left pane of the Coral
client. Second, choose "Disable" from the "Equipment Actions" menu.
A box labeled "Run-Data Collector" will appear. Some fields (such as pad
change information) are required and some are optional. While the fields shown
will vary for each piece of equipment, all pieces of equipment will have at
least a few standard fields. These include a "Recipe" field where you may
enter any notes to yourself on the process you performed on the equipment.
The standard fields also include the "Comments for Staff" field, where you
should send any notes to staff concerning your use of the equipment (such as
forgetting to logout or problems using the equipment which you think should
affect how you are charged for your time on the equipment). Problems with the
equipment should also be reported using Coral's built-in problem reporting
mechanism. Once you have entered all your runtime data, click the "Save and
Disable" button.
Equipment Use History
From the History tab in the Coral client, you can view a history of who has
used which piece of equipment.
To view the details of the charged time for a piece of equipment, double click
the entry in the History tab grid. You will not be able to Adjust the "Machine
Charge Information".
After you click the "OK" button, you will see the "Run Data History" of this
entry. You may adjust the Run Data by clicking the "Adjust" button.
Advance or step back the weeks displayed by choosing the "Next" and "Previous"
options from the "History Actions" menu.
Reporting Problems
If there is a problem, with a piece of equipment, you should follow the normal
lab procedures to post a note on the equipment itself and to contact the staff
member(s) in charge of the tool. You should also, in the Coral client,
highlight the equipment in the left pane and choose "Report Problem" from the
"Equipment Actions" menu. This will mark the equipment with a yellow traffic
light in the Coral client (and allow other users to view the nature of the
problem before entering the lab). Staff can clear the equipment problem from
the Coral client once the problem has been resolved.
Mutliple problems can be reported for a piece of equipment.
Flash-based Tutorial
Link to flash tutorial on CNFUsers Website