20030128: DSSERVE/IMGLIST error message (cont.)

>From: "Kwan-yin Kong" <address@hidden>
>Organization: CCNY
>Keywords: 200301272351.h0RNpd617689 McIDAS DSSERVE

Hi Kway-yin,

>Nice to talk to you again.  (How's the weather in Boulder? 
>It's very cold here in New York.)

It has been very warm here in Colorado.  The bad news is that we are
not getting the precipitation that we desperately need (rain or snow).

>This is what I get now.  After entering the command,
>
>DSSERVE ADD SCOTT/IMAGES AREA DIR='goes8*' TYP=IMAGE "Scott's images
>  
>I tried to list the images using
>                 
>IMGLIST SCOTT/IMAGES
>
>But I got the following message.
>                 
>Image file directory listing for:SCOTT/IMAGES
>IMGLIST: Image directory server unable to resolve this 
>dataset: SCOTT/IMAGES         
>IMGLIST: done 

This is like the DATALOC for SCOTT is pointing to something
other than LOCAL-DATA.

The problem may be in the "'" you included in the comment at the end or
in the fact that the images are located in a directory not in the
MCPATH for the user running McIDAS.

The online help for DSSERVE has this to say about "special characters"
in the comment section:

DSSERVE -- Manages and lists ADDE dataset names on the local server
   DSSERVE ADD dataset format bfile efile <keywords> "comment
   DSSERVE DEL dataset
   DSSERVE LIST group format
Parameters:
   ADD  | adds a new ADDE dataset name to the local server
   DEL  | deletes an ADDE dataset name from the local server
   LIST | lists the ADDE dataset names on the local server (def)
   dataset | ADDE dataset name to add or delete; must be specified in
             the group/descriptor format; see Remarks for restrictions
   format  | file format; valid formats include AREA, GRID, MD, MODS,
             MODX, MSGX, NCDF, SYSN and TEXT (no def for ADD;
             def=all formats for LIST)
   bfile | beginning file number assigned to the ADDE dataset; 'bfile' and
           'efile' are required for AREA, GRID, MD, NCDF and SYSN formats
   efile | ending file number assigned to the ADDE dataset
   "comment | comment describing the ADDE dataset; max of 80 characters;
              the comment cannot contain an equal sign (=), apostrophe (')
              or comma (,)

The first change I recommend, therefore, is that you try:

DSSERVE ADD SCOTT/IMAGES AREA DIR='goes8*' TYP=IMAGE "Scotts images

(i.e., leave out the apostrophe).

If this solve the problem, I recommend that you be very specific about
where the files reside:

DSSERVE ADD SCOTT/IMAGES AREA DIR='/export/home/wxnut/mcdata/goes8*' TYP=IMAGE 
"Scotts images

The reason for this is that the location of the files according to your
DMAP output:

>When I tried to list them using the command: DMAP goes8*, 
>they were listed as follows.
>
>-rw-   3966312 Nov 21 12:40 goes8_4_2002_133_0402.area 
>/export/home/wxnut2/mcdata    
 ...

is a directory that may not be in the MCPATH of the user running McIDAS.

>Is this because the path was not set correctly?

This sounds like it could be part of the problem.  Remember that each
user should have several McIDAS environment variables defined in
his/her Unix session, and this is done in the user's shell-definition
file (.cshrc for C shell users, .profile for Bourne shell, etc.).

>(By the 
>way, we were doing a total system reinstallation in the 
>past two weeks after a possible hacker broke in.  That's 
>why I am doing a reinstallation of McIDAS.)

Sorry to hear that you were hacked into.  This happened to me at home,
and it took several days for me to get back to the point I was before
the breakin.

>Thanks for your help again.

No worries.

Tom