20010202: McIDAS: NEXRAD Config File Read Error

>From: Michael Keables <address@hidden>
>Organization: Geography Dept, University of Denver
>Keywords: 200102021959.f12JxiX16383 McIDAS-X NEXRAD DATALOC MCTABLE_READ

Mike,

>I've got the NEXRAD data reception up and running and it works well
>under use mcidas.

Excellent.

>I've tried to set things up for my own user account
>but am getting an opening configuration file error whenever I try to
>view or list the images in RTNEXRAD.

OK.  This may be a file permission problem or a problem in the specification
of something like the MCTABLE_READ or MCTABLE_WRITE enviornment variable
in your Unix session.

>Here's what I did yesterday to get things running under user mcidas:
>
>1) Copied DSSERVE.BAT to DSNEXRAD.BAT and edited the file:
>
>DSSERVE ADD RTNEXRAD/N0R          NEXR    1 9999 TYPE=IMAGE INFO=CONEXRAD.CFG 
>   
>"Base Reflectivity Tilt 1
>DSSERVE ADD RTNEXRAD/N1R          NEXR    1 9999 TYPE=IMAGE INFO=CONEXRAD.CFG 
>   
>"Base Reflectivity Tilt 2
>DSSERVE ADD RTNEXRAD/N2R          NEXR    1 9999 TYPE=IMAGE INFO=CONEXRAD.CFG 
>   
>"Base Reflectivity Tilt 3
>... etc.

OK, looks good.

>2) Copied NNEXRAD.CFG to CONEXRAD.CFG and edited it to point to the
>NEXRAD data directory:
>
>DIRMASK=/data/ldm/nexrad/\ID/\TYPE
>FILEMASK=\TYPE_*.\ID
>IPMASK=*

Very good.

>3) Added RTNEXRAD to data server:
>DATALOC ADD RTNEXRAD cyclone.natnet.du.edu
>DATALOC ADD RTNEXRAD LOCAL-DAT

OK.  The first DATALOC invocation would say to use the remote server
to access the RTNEXRAD data.  The second DATALOC, however, says to access
the data as LOCAL-DATA (assuming that there was a trailing 'A' on LOCAL-DAT).

>I can view and list the NEXRAD imagery without incident.

Great!

>I then logged in as mkeables and repeated the DATALOC ADD commands:
>
>DATALOC ADD RTNEXRAD cyclone.natnet.du.edu
>
>Group Name                    Server IP Address
>--------------------         ----------------------------------------
>DATALOC -- done

Since the DATALOC listing does not show RTNEXRAD coming from cyclone,
the DATALOC step failed.  This means that the file that was supposed
to be updated either can not be created or can not be written to.  Here
is where you need to examine the value of MCTABLE_WRITE in your session.
For non-'mcidas' users MCTABLE_WRITE should be set to be:

MCTABLE_WRITE="/home/user/mcidas/data/MCTABLE.TXT"

(where /home/user should be replaced by whatever the HOME directory for
the particular user is, like /home/mkeables).

If this is how your MCTABLE_WRITE is setup, then you should CD to the
~mkeables/mcidas/data directory and see if the file MCTABLE.TXT exists.
If it doesn't, it means that your mcidas/data subdirectory is not
writable for some reason (I doubt this, by the way).  If it does
exist, you should that you own the file and can write to it.  If you
can't, you should become 'root' and change the owner, group, and read/write
permissions on the file so that you own it.

>DATALOC ADD RTNEXRAD LOCAL-DATA
>
>Group Name                    Server IP Address
>--------------------         ----------------------------------------
>DATALOC -- done

This step failed as well.  I want to point out, however, that the
DATALOC ADD RTNEXRAD LOCAL-DATA invocation is telling your session that
you will need to have your own copy of the NEXRAD configuration file
CINEXRAD.CFG in your $MCDATA directory (which should be 
/home/mkeables/mcidas/data)

>Now when I try to list the images in RTNEXRAD:
>
>IMGLIST RTNEXRAD/NCR ID=FTG
>Image file directory listing for:RTNEXRAD/NCR
>IMGLIST: error opening configuration file
>IMGLIST: done

This says that CONEXRAD.CFG could not be found.  This must mean that you
did not copy it to your $MCDATA directory.

>I've checked the file permissions on CONEXRAD.CFG and they are the same
>as the rest of the .CFG files.

Yes, but in what directory?  I suspect you mean in the /home/mcidas/workdata
directory as this is where one will find a number of .CFG files.

Let's drop back and consider exactly what you want to do.  You have
two options to choose from:

o access the RTNEXRAD data from a remote ADDE server; this would be
  cyclone.natnet.du.edu in your case

o setup your own account so that you can access the RTNEXRAD data as
  LOCAL-DATA

The first option is the easiest for the average user.  It avoids that
user having to setup all of the supporting configurations in his/her
own account.  Let's pursue this avenue.  Given this, your problem now
boils down to the inability of your McIDAS-X session to write to
your MCTABLE.TXT file.  Again, you should verify that you can write
the file in your mcidas/data subdirectory.

>Suggestions?

I was going to try and login as you and check the permissions on
/home/mkeables/mcidas/data/MCTABLE.TXT, but your previous login
information did not work.

>Have a good weekend.

Thanks, you too.

>Thanks in advance.

You're welcome.

Tom