Dear AMMRLers,
Thanks very much for all the replies and sorry for the late summaries. Since a few people showed their interests in knowing the replies, I would copy the replies here so you could get all the details. But generally most people are using Linux/unix systems which are a lot easier for tracking the usage, some recommended using FACEs for reservation and billing, some suggested using LinRl.
I decided to try out using the windows event viewer log information to track each log on and log off, then use a script to calculate the usage for each group. However, I have found one problem of this method is the logfile is not always complete and reliable. In some cases (power outage, or forgotten log off), there is no log off for certain logons, and this can mess up with the script to recognize the log info for correct calculations.
Here are all the replies:
Yes, the time people actually used the machine can be different from the reservation in the website. You can set rules with them such as - they have to login within 3 minutes of their reservation etc. The reservation system can have an auto-deleter, say if within 3 minutes nobody logins, then it automatically cancels the whole reservation for that person.
For the LinRl program, yes you can have a linux computer which controls the PC monitors. There is also a reservation monitor which when somebody logs in, the PC monitor will turn on. If the user logs out, the PC monitor turns off. The logging in and logging out creates the actual usage time for billing. Note that only the monitor turns off but the PC itself is always on.
In LinrL, each user has their own individual username and password.
If you are interested, please contact Rudi Nunlist "Rudi Nunlist"
<Rudi.Nunlist_at_gmail.com<mailto:Rudi.Nunlist_at_gmail.com>>. He is the one who created this program.
Chris
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The only TopSpin feature I know about is built into ICONNMR.
We certainly use that when it comes to billing for use of our spectrometer equipped with a BACS sample changer.
As for "walk-up" users, we use a web-based system called FACES:
http://faces.ccrc.uga.edu/
I know the topic of scheduling has been brought up previously in the AMMRL, so you should find lots of information in past posts.
We have several Bruker systems, some using Linux and some using Windows. We have been using FACES for over five years now to handle monthly billing.
Bob.
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One caution about electronic billing: Check with your Business Office to see what signature requirements there are for billing federal research accounts. You will find that there must be a signature, so your electronic system will need to have signatures on file to prove billing authorization.
Cheers, -Jerry
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I have Linux systems but the accounting might be applicable. I don't use Bruker's accounting or the Linux system accounting but do my own.
I change the PATH such that when Topspin is clicked, it instead calls a very short script I wrote that enters username and date info into a file and then starts Topspin. when topspin exits, it also logs this info. Then I have a Perl script that that once a month takes all this raw data and processes it. The Perl script would applicable as is. The startup script might need adjusting for Windows. For my Linux systems, I have each user log into and out of the Linux system. how do you account for different users? do they log into Windows under different accounts?
John
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The UMass High Field NMR Facility has changed the way it does billing since I retired 5 years ago but during my tenure we did billing based on the unix command 'last'. 'last' lists users and time used and date used. You have to have unix segt up to store the data properly...somewhere there is a choice about how often and to which files the logs are made (I think in cron). I have lost the details but we had a neat system which took the output from 'last' and then converted the information to individual research group totals and billing.
The output from 'last' was read selectively by column into an EXCEL file and than that file was analyzed into the filter and sort functions in excel.
Sorry I do not have the details after 5 years but it was fairly simple and anybody who is into unix and Excel could quickly set up such a billing system.
Good Luck
Charles Dickison
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In the ammrl email last Jan 5th with subject: summary - scheduling software, I am sure that these softwares can account the people logging in on the computers so that you can do the billing easily.
Here, we use the LinrL program by Rudi Nunlist <Rudi.Nunlist_at_gmail.com<mailto:Rudi.Nunlist_at_gmail.com>>. The program is installed in a linux computer, but it should be able to control the PC monitor.
Chris
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We don't have any Windows systems running NMR spectrometers. I avoid that like the plague. Our host computers are Linux. That way I can use UNIX / Linux shell scripts to get the login and logout time information from the internal system files, then massage that into a chronological list. Then my UNIX script billing program converts it into a bill for each group.
Unix and Linux make a distinction between remote logins and console logins. I really don't know much about Windows. TopSpin might have its own accounting software that keep track of the time the TopSpin program is running. I know they have billing sofware for ICON-NMR (the TopSpin program that runs the autosampler). Another thing would be to search the AMMRL archives for Windows programs that other facilities have written.
Good luck!
Neil
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I agree - the windows event logs are cumbersome and difficult to interpret. I have adapted two short vbs scripts that can be set to run at logon and logoff, which write to a log file, and only contain the information that I need to calculate usage figures; the username, computer name and time of logon or logoff. The vbs scripts can be assigned to user actions using Group Policy within Windows Administrator Tools. I then use a php script to collate all of this information to tally up usages which outputs a (fairly) simple summary table. This works for over 150 users logging on to 10 different computers in a Windows XP network.
The vbs scripts were adapted from freely available scripts which I got from the Hilltop Lab website -
http://www.rlmueller.net/freecode2.htm . Naturally, they need to be changed a little to incorporate the correct computer names, and what information you include in the log file.
I hope this helps - I am happy to send the scripts I use if you think they might be useful.
Cheers,
Ian
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We use the reservation system FACES and bill off of that. We audit against logins now and then and handle outside work with submission sheets.
Joe
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We do not use either Windows or Bruker here, but we do use computer logs for calculating our billing for our Varian Linux & Solaris spectrometers.
The key element that makes this successful is the use of Perl scripts to process the logs. The Perl scripting language allows very flexible/powerful means of selecting the relevant information from the log files, calculating the user charges, then producing formatted output. The output can be in spreadsheet format (csv files for Excel) or "Banner"
ready format that is used by our campus accounting/business office.
I maintain a text-file data base that has the research group info & billing account numbers for each instrument user which the script draws upon for it's calculations.
If your Windows logs include username and the beginning/end times of the login session, then you should be all set. It's just a matter of creating the right rules to ignore all the extraneous info. Perl is very nice as a programming language because it doesn't have to be compiled... the script is a simple text file... and it's strength is line-by-line record processing.
Good luck!
--Mike
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One of our IT guys has written scripts that digest the event logs for logins/logoffs for XP and Windows 7. The scripts sort through all other events, I think also remote logins. We then feed the output into a database for accounting purposes.
Marc
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We bill using Rudi Nunlist's LinRL (
http://advtechsys.com/ats/ats.html) and avoid the operating system all together. That way we can use it for a large variety of instruments. I recommend it.
Jane
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From: Yang, Fei Dr.
Sent: Tuesday, February 08, 2011 11:43 AM
To: 'ammrl_at_ammrl.org'
Subject: AMMRL: How do you do billing in windows systems
Hi, All,
I would like to get some idea how you do monthly billing for topspin under windows systems, for e.g., every month we need to send each PI the usage of their group. Right now users just write down how long they have used in a logbook, and we will manually input to excel and calculate the hours. I would like to do billing electronically in near future.
We have:
Topspin 1.3 in Windows XP
Topspin 2.1 in Windows XP
Topspin 3 in Windows 7
I know in windows systems----administrator tools----event view, there is a security log that records every logon/off information, and I have been trying it, but it records all the logon/off information, not only users who logged on the computer, but many external network or anonymous logons. Also, the later processing of the security file and calculating the usage is not that easy.
I also heard that for topspin2, and topspin3, the software should have a billing feature, anyone is using it?
Any suggestions would be helpful on this matter, I would post a summary, thanks a lot.
Fei
Fei Yang, Ph.D
Instrumentation Specialist
Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry
Miami University, Oxford, OH
Rm 76B Hughes
701E High Street
513-529-3163
Received on Mon Mar 07 2011 - 06:21:55 MST