[IDD #AKW-491192]: rtstats server errors

Hi Blair,

re:
> Loading many URLs from RTSTATS yields 500 internal server errors, making it
> difficult-to-impossible to diagnose problems:
> 
> http://rtstats.unidata.ucar.edu/cgi-bin/rtstats/rtstats_topogif?NEXRAD2

Apparently the GEMPAK routine that creates the topology plots has
been seg faulting since being re-constituted on our 64-bit Linux
web server (the code previously ran as a 32-bit application on our
Solaris SPARC web server instance).  I took a quick look at the code
yesterday after we received your inquiry, but simply rebuilding the
application using libraries bundled with GEMPAK did not fix the core
dumping problem.  We will take a closer look at the code to see what
is wrong in the coming days.

re:
> And some take several MINUTES to load (3m15s on my gigabit fiber connection
> to load a simple feed tree for NEXRAD2):
> 
> http://rtstats.unidata.ucar.edu/cgi-bin/rtstats/rtstats_feedtree?NEXRAD2

It is likely that you tried producing the feedtree display while the system
was in the process of being backed-up.  Nonetheless, we will take a closer look
while troubleshooting the topology map creation issue.

re:
> We've been reporting on this issue for *over two years*, any no progress
> seems to be happening.

I looked back through our support inquiries and see that _nobody_, including
you has opened an inquiry about this issue before your email yesterday.

I also looked through our Apache logs and saw that there have only been
one or two users that have tried to produce topology plots over the past
year.  This strongly suggests that most IDD participants do not find this
plot to be of great importance in their use of the LDM and participation in
the IDD.

re:
> We're experts with code and servers, and we'd be
> happy to lend a hand if you want to deal with code/server/setup type
> issues.  That offer still stands, but dealing with RTSTATS is -- best case
> scenario -- just too slow.  In many cases, it's over before it can start
> with the 500 server error.

Thanks for the offer, but we will tackle this issue in-house.

Just so you know:

Since none of us here in the UPC are thrilled with our current rtstats
gathering/display setup, we have been planning on completely reimplementing
how reported statistics are stored (they are currently being written
to netCDF files which grow to more than one GB/day) and displayed for some
time. This effort has repeatedly been put on-hold awaiting free time from our
system administration and web developer staff members.  We are hoping to
be able to get to the rewrite sometime this summer, but this target can
be pre-empted by more pressing problems.

Cheers,

Tom
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Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: AKW-491192
Department: Support IDD
Priority: Normal
Status: Closed