Be aware of the cdsutils command (also available as z): 

cdsutils
usage: cdsutils <cmd> <args>

Advanced LIGO Control Room Utilites

Available commands:

  read         read EPICS channel value
  write        write EPICS channel value
  switch       read/switch buttons in filter module
  sfm          decode/encode filter module switch values
  step         step EPICS channels over specified range
  servo        servo EPICS channel with simple integrator (pole at zero)
  trigservo    servo EPICS channel with trigger
  avg          average one or more NDS channels
  dv           plot time series of NDS channels
  audio        NOT SUPPORTED: No module named pygst
  water        NOT SUPPORTED: No module named PyQt4

  version      print version info and exit
  help         this help