19990830: McIDAS-XCD at the University of Delaware (cont.)

>From: Kenji Matsuura <address@hidden>
>Organization: University of Delaware
>Keywords: 199908301644.KAA13280 McIDAS-XCD

Kenji,

Thanks for the logon information.  I logged onto climate a few minutes
ago, and here is what I found:

o It appears that you have chosen to not following the installation
  and configuration guidelines that are presented in the online
  McIDAS-X, -XCD web pages:

  http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/packages/mcidas/mcxmcidas-x.html

  In particular, you have defined MCDATA to be the
  /export/home/ldm/data/mcidasd directory.  Our recommendation is
  to keep this as the /export /home/mcidas/workdata directory.
  The biggest issue in which directory to keep as the working
  directory for XCD decoders is one of separation of ingested/decoded
  data files (e.g. MDXX files) and configuration files (e.g. DDS.CFG,
  HRS.CFG, etc.)

  If your objective is to have a working directory that does not get
  overwritten with succeeding McIDAS-X installations, then I recommend
  making a separate directory and copying all of the files in the
  ~mcidas/workdata directory to it.  Your ingested/decoded data files
  will/should still be kept in a different location (say in
  /export/home/ldm/data/mcidasd).  You have essentially made the
  copy of the configuration files in a manner similar to what I 
  suggest (in /export/home/ldm/data/mcidasd), but I think that this
  will end up causing problems down the road.  The reason?  All
  users running McIDAS-X will probably end up sharing files in
  the XCD output data directory (/export/home/ldm/data/mcidasd).  It
  would be best if they could not have access (even if it is only
  read access) to the XCD configuration files.

o I see that the XCD output data directory (again,
  /export/home/ldm/data/mcidasd) does not have any of the XCD rapid
  access files in it (e.g. *.RAP).  This tells me that one or more
  steps in the XCD configuration process has not been done, or that
  it was done once and then the output data directory was changed.

  I think that this is one of the main reasons that your XCD stuff
  is not working.

o Although not needed, you may want to setup the McIDAS ADDE remote
  server.  This will enable you to participate in a data sharing
  network composed of Unidata McIDAS-X sites that I am putting
  together.

The question now becomes one of what you wish to accomplish with your
installation.  (By the way, I was pleased to see that you have implemented
the LDM kind of version control by making use of "runtime" links.  This
will make switching between McIDAS versions very easy).

Before going any further, I need to determine what you would like to do.
After that, I can either give you a point-by-point guide for what you
should do, or I could do the steps and give you a point-by-point
list of what I did.

Tom Yoksas