20010827: McIDAS XCD decoders

>From: David Fitzgerald <address@hidden>
>Organization: Millersville University of Pennsylvania
>Keywords: 200108271943.f7RJhW128098 McIDAS-XCD rapid access

Dave,

>I am having a heck of a time getting RTPTSRC and RTGRID data to work in
>McIDAS.  I am trying to use the XCD decoders to decode into the directory
>/var/data/xcd.  I have followed the instructions in the installation
>procedures as well as I could, I also found support email between you and
>Wayne Bresky who seemed to have similar problems but I can't figure this
>out.

OK.  Its probably something simple.

>My ADDE server is set up ok for image data, and I AM decoding something into
>/var/data/xcd. Running DSINFO P RTPTSRC
>gives me a proper listing of the data, but PTLIST RTPTSRC/XXXXXXXX comes
>back with lots of fields that show missing.  Is this indicative of a decoder
>problem or McIDAS problem?

This is indicative of a decoder-related problem.

>I'm lost so please feel free to log on to twister.millersville.edu as the
>user mcidas.  Twister is my ldm server and the ADDE
>server.  I'm pretty sure this is just some minor McIDAS configuration
>problem, so hopefully it won't take long.

It shouldn't as long as data is being received.  Since you have not sent
anything to support related to data ingest, I assume that this is not the
case.

>If you need it, my ldm info is user ldm.

Thanks.  This was necessary.

>Needless to say, please don't publish these
>passwords on the support list!!

Never do.

Here is what I did.  I verified that the MDXX file for today's surface data
was properly created at 0Z and had some valid data in it, but not much.
I then verified that the XCD data monitor for surface data was running:

ps -eaf | grep DM

The data monitor in question is DMSFC, and it was running.

Next, I checked the rapid access files *.RA* in /var/data/xcd.  It was here
that I found the problem:  the rapid access file SAOMETAR.RAP was missing.
This file is needed for the rapid access system nad decoding of
surface data to work.  I have no idea why this file was deleted, but
remaking it was pretty simple:

1) stop the LDM: ldmadmin stop     <- run as the user 'ldm'

2) just to be save, delete all of the rapid access files on the system:

   rm /var/data/xcd/*.RA*

3) verify that the McIDAS string XCDDATA was correctly defined:

   cd ~mcidas/workdata
   tl.k XCDDATA

   This came back correctly as /var/data/xcd.

4) run the XCD setup BATCH files in order:

   batch.k XCD.BAT
   batch.k XCDDEC.BAT

5) verify that new copies of the rapid access files were created:

   ls -alt /var/data/xcd/*.RA*

   At this point, only the *.RAP files should exist; that is what I
   found.

6) restart the LDM:  ldmadmin start      <- run as the user 'ldm'

As I write this, I am waiting for the clock to proceed past the top
of the hour so I can verify that surface data is once again being
decoded.  We may have to wait until 0Z to really see stuff filling
a new MD file.

>Thanks for your help!!

I will check in on twister again tonight to make sure that things
are working.  Talk to you later...

Tom