Onboarding a new technician

This page is the checklist a senior technician walks through with someone new. The goal is that after this you can solve most problems yourself: restart the right system, reconfigure it, or swap the right piece of hardware.

Week one checklist

Accounts and access

• LiU account, and membership of the C-tech group
• Bitwarden access — c-bitwarden.itn.liu.se. Every device credential you will ever need is here. Read the password policy first.
• Network access to the facility VLANs. The spaces sit on separate subnets and some tools only work from the "right" network — for example, Medialon Showmaster Editor must be run from VMIX-01 for the Dome (172.19.6.0/24) and VMIX-02 for the VR-Arena (172.19.66.0/24).
• Access to the on-call schedule — jour.c.itn.liu.se
• Physical access: server rooms, projector positions, and the racks in each space

Passwords

Passwords are never stored in this documentation, in email, in documents or on paper. They go in Bitwarden. If you find one written down anywhere, move it to Bitwarden and remove the original.

Bookmark these

System	URL
Barco decoder/encoder status	barco-status.c.itn.liu.se
Showmaster 1 (Dome)	showmaster1.c.itn.liu.se
Showmaster 2 (VR-Arena)	showmaster2.c.itn.liu.se
Bitwarden	c-bitwarden.itn.liu.se
On-call schedule	jour.c.itn.liu.se
Speedtest	speedtest.c.itn.liu.se

Full list with internal DNS alternatives: Common web systems.

Read, in this order

1. The troubleshooting method — the shared diagnostic ladder
2. What is a PDU / UPS? and Important information
3. Barco ENA-340 encoders and decoders — this is how video actually gets from a computer to a projector here
4. Showmaster and Medialon
5. The overview page for the space you will work in first

Walk the signal chain, physically

Ask a senior technician to walk you through one complete chain end to end — for the Dome that is: render node → GPU output → ENA-340 encoder → 10 G switch → decoder → projector → dome surface, plus the PDU outlet that feeds each box. Once you have seen one chain, every troubleshooting guide on this site will make sense.

Naming conventions

Understanding the naming saves a lot of lookups. Names generally follow <space>-<function>-<device><nn>.c.itn.liu.se, for example:

• dome-proj-pdu01.pdu.c.itn.liu.se — PDU 01 feeding Dome projectors
• dome-ena-dec01 — Dome ENA-340 decoder 01
• atlas-00.c.itn.liu.se … atlas-06 — the Dome ATLAS render cluster
• lvl2-water-proj01.c.itn.liu.se — Level 2, "WATER" exhibit, projector 01

Encoder and decoder IP addresses are 172.19.7.x, where x is the unit number shown in the Unit column of the Barco status page.

The spaces

Space	Primary use	Start with
Dome / Wisdome	Fulldome shows, stereo presentations	Operator manual
VR-Arena	Collaborative sessions, presentations	Operator manual
Decision Arena	Workshops, decision support	Operator manual
Wadströms Lab	Exploranation, school groups	Overview
Visual City	Exhibition, digital twin	Overview

Your first solo tasks

Good early tasks, in increasing order of risk:

1. Check the Barco status page and identify which decoder feeds which projector.
2. Restart a single exhibition station from its PDU using the Reset button.
3. Run a Dome pre-show start-up with a senior technician watching.
4. Take a full VR-Arena session from power-on to shutdown.

Habits we expect

• Announce before you cut power. Someone may be calibrating in a room you think is empty.
• Restart the sync master last on any render cluster.
• Write it down. If you solved something that is not in the troubleshooting page for that space, add it before you leave.
• Ask early. An hour before a show is not the time to learn a system.

TODO verify with senior technician

Add the local specifics: who runs the introduction, which physical keys and access cards are issued, the expected on-call rotation for a new technician, and any mandatory safety training for working at height or in the server rooms.