The electronic logbook, integrated with Phoebus so that sending a screenshot or a plot into the log takes two clicks.
Overview: Toolbox → Logbooks.
| Service | github.com/Olog/phoebus-olog |
| Organisation | github.com/Olog |
| Client | The Logbook application in Phoebus, plus a web UI |
Reuse the Elasticsearch cluster you stood up for ChannelFinder or the alarm logger rather than running a third.
!!! note “Check the README for backing-store requirements”
Olog’s storage arrangement has evolved. The repository’s README and application.properties are authoritative; this page describes the shape rather than the specifics.
A Spring Boot service:
git clone https://github.com/Olog/phoebus-olog.git
cd phoebus-olog
mvn clean install
java -jar target/service-olog-*.jar
Configuration in application.properties: Elasticsearch and MongoDB addresses, the service port, and authentication (LDAP is the usual facility choice — you want logbook entries attributed to real people).
Container images are also published, which is generally less work.
Before anyone writes an entry, define the structure — logbooks and tags are the thing that makes the log searchable rather than merely readable:
| Concept | Examples |
|---|---|
| Logbooks | Operations, Accelerator, BL07, Vacuum, Controls, Maintenance |
| Tags | beam-dump, rf-trip, vacuum-event, shutdown, commissioning, user-run, follow-up-required |
A follow-up-required tag, reviewed at every shift handover, turns the logbook into a work-tracking tool as well as a record. Cheap and unreasonably effective.
Both are created through the service’s API or web UI, and both should be a deliberate, documented set rather than something anyone can add ad hoc — otherwise you get rf-trip, RF trip, rftrip, and no useful search.
# settings.ini
org.phoebus.olog.es.api/olog_url=http://olog.example.org:8080/Olog
org.phoebus.logbook/logbook_factory=olog-es
Then:
That last one is the entire value proposition. The friction of documenting something is the only thing that determines whether it gets documented, and an entry that takes twenty seconds and captures the plot you were already looking at will be written.
anonymous — if it is, fix authentication now rather than after six months of unattributed entries.Log the “why”, not the “what”. caPutLog and the archiver already record what changed. "Raised QF current 2.5 A to compensate the tune shift from ID07 closing" is irreplaceable.
Retain forever. Text and metadata are trivially small, and entries from a decade ago get read during the commissioning of the next machine.
Be careful what you attach. Personal data, credentials in a pasted config, unpublished results. Logbooks are widely readable and permanently retained — have a stated policy.
Back it up, including the attachment store. The logbook is institutional memory.
If you want a logbook running this afternoon with no Elasticsearch and no MongoDB, PSI ELOG is a single self-contained daemon with configurable entry forms, email notification and attachments. Widely used well beyond the EPICS community.
Trade-off: no Phoebus integration, so the two-click screenshot workflow doesn’t exist, and entries are less structured. For a test stand or a small group it’s a very reasonable choice.
→ PVWS for browser access.