Getting a Personal Grid Certificate from CERN

A personal grid certificate from CERN can be obtained by following the instructions on this WorkBookStartingGrid twiki. Once one has a CERN account, a certificate can be obtained from https://ca.cern.ch/ca/. An outline of steps to be done that are described in WorkBookStartingGrid:

1. Read instructions on WorkBookStartingGrid twiki, take note if you need a special non-CERN certificate


2. For CERN certificates, obtain here ("New Grid User certificate"): https://ca.cern.ch/ca/
• You must create your certificate with a password, otherwise it will not work for CMS websites
• Yearly renewal: "New Grid User certificate"


3. Sign the CMS VO agreement and associate your certificate: SWGuideLcgAccess twiki CMS VO instructions, these link to this page: CMS VO register (voms).
• Note that the voms page doesn't open in Chrome, in Firefox you will have to accept that the voms2.cern.ch website configuration is not secure.
• Additionally, your grid certificate must be installed in the browser you are using to access the voms2.cern.ch site
• Carefully follow the instructions in the email you receive to click on the proper link to accept joining the CMS VO (usually this happens only once ever for you)
• Renewal: Once a year you will have to re-sign the CMS VO AUP


4. You can install your certificate (new or renewal) on the cmslpc cluster following the commands on the WorkBookStartingGrid twiki
• How to transfer files to the cmslpc is described on the CMS LPC cluster computing environment setup file transfer page


5. You must have given Fermilab your grid certificate (and CERN username) to associate in the database with your cmslpc account. This will allow you to write to T3_US_FNALLPC (FNAL EOS SE area). The CMS Storage Space Request: Enable form in the LPC Service Portal will add your certificate to the Fermilab database and make a link to your CERN username if your CERN username is different. This will happen within one business day, Fermilab time.
• More detailed instructions can be found on the FNAL EOS page to request that your grid certificate be linked to your cmslpc account, this only needs to be done once unless your name changes at CERN


6. Troubleshooting:
   • ca.cern.ch/ca/Help for how to export your certificate with different browsers
   • SWGuideVOMSFAQ to troubleshoot common CMS certificate problems
   • cmsweb.cern.ch test page to test your CMS grid certificate
   • If needed, (this is rare) ensure that your certificate is properly associated with your CERN account. This should be correctly done by default, but in some cases, you may need to do this association.
   • You can also check with crab checkusername be sure to setup your crab3 working environment
   • SWGuideCrabFAQ to troubleshoot CMS CRAB specific issues