This issues marks a special milestone for the SIE group: 20 years of our newsletter! Since our first issue in September 2005, we've shared stories, updates, and achievements that reflect various aspects of the work carried out in the IT departments. Through these two decades, this newsletter has remained a constant connection between us all. Whether you've been reading from the beginning or just joined us recently, we're grateful to have you as part of our story. To revisit highlights from our journey or explore how far we've come, please browse through our complete archives at https://research.iac.es/sieinvens/SINFIN/ITNews/ and https://research.iac.es/sieinvens/SINFIN/SIENews/.
As already explained in the Computing/burros Zulip channel, denso and dejar have lately been experiencing hardware issues (memory and disk problems). Both of them were installed in 2017 and were offering very poor performance and efficiency compared to more modern machines. All of this means that the time has come for them to move into retirement, especially taking into account the need to lower the load on the refrigeration units in the CPD, and to reduce electricity consumption.
After several reminders to the users of both machines, denso and dejar have been shut off for good on December 1st, and soon will be taken physically out of the CPD.
Recently, we have developed a web dashboard for meteorological information at the Observatorio del Teide: https://ocan.iac.es/meteo/OT, which displays weather data and alerts at the OT for several stations from different facilities, including Stella, SPECULOOS, SONG and GONG. In addition, it includes sections for weather forecasts, real-time satellite maps and webcams.
This dashboard makes use of a meteorological data API in JSON format https://ocan.iac.es/meteo/api/v1/docs), also developed at the SIE, which provides data for multiple stations and can be used by any user facility that requires it. In future versions, we will incorporate additional stations, Meteosat images and videos, and other tools to support observations.
After several years of development, at the SIE we have created a new application for the submission of observing proposals for the Observatories of the Canary Islands: https://proposals.iac.es/. This tool will replace, in upcoming calls, the long-standing applications https://cat.iac.es < href="http://catsolar.iac.es">http://catsolar.iac.es, which are now obsolete and will be fully retired next summer. The new application unifies all observing time types, including Night-time, Solar, Service, and DDT.
It is already operational for Spanish Service Time, IAC Internal Time (IAC80, SARA, LGO, etc.), and Director Discretionary Time (DDT), and it has just been announced for the Solar call. In January it will be announced for the International Time Programme (ITP) and in March for the regular Spanish Time call.
Although there are no major changes, the new application no longer uses LaTeX templates and all content is written online. Due to the redesign of the application, previous users and proposals will not be available, which will require users to register again in the new system.
This application represents an important milestone and is a significant improvement for both users and the CAT committee, so we encourage anyone planning to submit proposals to register as soon as possible and begin preparing them when the corresponding calls are announced.
The BASTO storage system (accessed via the /storage mount point in several burros: deimos, diva, dalia, dampe, doctor, domino and divan) is going to be replaced by new hardware, to be likely installed during the first months of 2026.
Sadly, both systems cannot be operational simultaneously due to lack of space at the IAC data center, so users won't be able to wait until the new system is installed in order to transfer all of their data from BASTO. Instead, they'll have to move the data out of BASTO before 31st January 2026, and later copy the data back to the new system when it is installed.
We have talked with all people with data in BASTO and, for those who have asked so, we have already started to make a copy of their data on the two new NASes bought last month by The Department of Astrophysics at the ULL, which have a joint capacity of about 110 TB.
If you still have concerns about the retiring of BASTO, or questions about the transfer of your data to the future storage system, do get in touch with us.