Remote access

SOLEIL offers the possibility to carry out remote experiments on PROXIMA-1 and/or PROXIMA-2A and/or SWING beamlines.

These experiments can be carried out with only one on site participant or without any on-site user, by mailing samples in Dry Shipper (s).

For other beamlines, please contact the beamline manager to consider the feasibility of this experiment method.

 

Instructions for this specific access are detailled below:

 

Statement of Interest for Remote Access

Either in Standard proposals or in MX/Bio SAXS BAG proposals, you can declare an interest for remote access directly from the proposal submission, as soon as you select a beamline offering this option (in the “General” part on Beamlines TAB).

If you are interested in remote access, you can express this as a percentage of the total beamtime requested by selecting one of the following values: 25%, 50%, 75% or 100%.

If the proposal is accepted, expressing interest in this option does not guarantee that the remote access will be granted. The decision to grant remote access will be made by the beamline manager, after discussion and planning with the Main Proposer or the BAG coordinator, as well as with the colleagues concerned.

Accordingly, one or more sessions may be scheduled in remote access.

 

 

Access request (Before experiment)

Samples selection

Please note that only samples classified (on the sample forms) as BioChemistry, Crystal, and Frozen, and which are given a green safety level (no risk) will be accepted for remote access sessions.

Other types of samples will not figure among the list of selectable samples for a remote access session.

 

Participants declaration

Three types of participants can be distinguished, based on their access mode to the experiments.


On-site Participants

An On-site Participant physically comes at SOLEIL to take control of the beamline.

For these participants, ‘Dates’, ‘Subsidies’, ‘Guest house’ and ‘Computer’ parts have to be filled in the Participant form, as before. 


Remote Access Users

Remote Access Users can only be added to sessions tagged as “remote access”. On-site participant can be part of the session as well.

A Remote Access User can take control of the beamline from a geographically remote location during a session tagged as “remote access”. They may also be the person responsible for the session.

Providing a phone number is mandatory for a Remote Access User. By default, the telephone number entered in the SUN set in the personal account form will be displayed in the record of the participant responsible for the session.

⚠️ Please, make sure that this phone number is up to date and that the Remote Access User participant can be contacted at this number throughout the remote session when necessary. 
In addition, please note that if you modify the phone number in the participant file, the modified number will be pushed into the user account form.

Remote Access Users (as well as On-site Participants) can only be added or removed from the participants list when the list is in ‘Not submitted’ status.

They have access to all applications offered by SOLEIL.


Remote Users

Remote Users cannot take control of the beamline or the experiments, but will have access to the ISPyB database for protein crystallography and Bio SAXS experiments. 

Contrary to the other types of users, Remote Users can be added to, or removed from, the participants list either in ‘Not submitted’, ‘Submitted’ or ‘Accepted’ status without any restrictions.

Remote Users need to be declared in the participants list. The Main Proposer or BAG Coordinator must indicate the connection and disconnection dates in the participant declaration, in the “Dates” section. This information is required for your declaration to be complete.

Please also note the following:

  • The On-site Users are responsible for loading and unloading all the Unipucks, related to a remote access session, into the robot.
  • The On-site Users should arrive at 8.30 AM in order to listen to the instructions on the use of the beamline during the time of the remote access experiments.
  • In the instance of a difficulty in performing remote access experiments, the On-site Users take the responsibility to complete and fulfill the experiments locally. It should not be assumed that the work be done by the SOLEIL local contact.
  • Dry Shippers transfer and return forms are to be completed in case those need to be shipped back. Please contact the User Office.

 

SOLEIL local contact policy remains unchanged, and should be clearly agreed upon by all the experiment participants (See Users’ charter).

➤ Would you require more information, please contact the beamline manager.

 

Preparing experiments

To prepare for remote experiments at SOLEIL, we recommend the following:

  • A good internet connection. 

  • No firewall for incoming communication that would block your connection to the beamline from your institution.

  • One monitor with a good resolution attached to a fast Linux running PC.

To have remote access control to the beamlines PROXIMA-1 and PROXIMA-2A at SOLEIL, you will need to get the middleware NoMachine (NoMachine connexion) installed on your computer.

Access and use of the beamline instructions can be found on the PROXIMA-1 and PROXIMA-2A  websites.

Further information can be provided upon contacting the beamline manager.
No additional software should be required for accessing the beamline control. 

Further instructions can be found on the following links:

In terms of organisation, we require the Main proposer or the BAG coordinator to gather and collate ALL information related to the visit (number and codes of Dry Shippers; which pucks are in which shipper; which pucks are to be loaded) and to send this list to the local contact or to the beamline manager at least 2 days before the visit (for weekend visits: by Wednesday afternoon).  This list should be send complementary to the information contained within the ISPyB database, and will only be used in case of major issue with the ISPyB server.

Additionally, the list must allow your local contact:

  • To rapidly check that the correct number of dry shippers have arrived at SOLEIL, so they can alert you in the eventuality of missing Dry Shippers.

  • To effectively coordinate puck loading and unloading on SOLEIL’s side in case of logistics trouble - this can be a major logistical exercise, and we need your help.
     

 

To get experiments started

On-site Users are given access to the beamline normally without additional requirements from SOLEIL side. However and as indicated above, it is highly recommended that all On-site users are familiar with the scheduling of the experiments and logistics involved.

Among the information required to access the beamline control via MXCuBE (being locally or as a Remote Access User), the following details need to be known:

  • Proposal number and proposal password (these information are indicated in the SUN set, in Proposal & Experiment Management > Before Experiment TAB, search the proposal number and click on "Project account password").

  • Contact details for SOLEIL Local Contact (including phone number).


First time users are encouraged to contact their local contact in the first instance to discuss any queries you may have.

Instructions to log in as a Remote Access User (Remote Access Manual).