[McIDAS #XGD-732939]: McIdas and LDM

Hi Ben,

re:
> I have been trying to set up McIDAS so that it could use the data
> files decoded from the LDM.

OK.  For reference, this means that you will need to:

- build and install both McIDAS-X and McIDAS-XCD on your machine.  This is
  simple in the Unidata distribution of McIDAS since all you need to do to
  build both is to run:

<as 'mcidas'>
cd ~mcidas/mcidas2006/src
make all
make install.all

  'make all' will build McIDAS-X first and then build McIDAS-XCD
  'make install.all' will install both McIDAS-X and McIDAS-XCD

- configure McIDAS as per directions in the Unidata McIDAS-X Users Guide

- configure XCD as per directions in the Unidata McIDAS-X Users Guide

- copy the script 'xcd_run' from the McIDAS bin directory to a directory
  that will be located in the PATH of the user running the LDM.  For example:

<as 'ldm'>
cd ~ldm
mkdir decoders util
-- add ~ldm/decoders and ~ldm/util to the PATH for 'ldm'
cd decoders
cp ~mcidas/bin/xcd_run .
-- edit xcd_run and adjust any environment variable setting if needed
cd ~ldm/etc
-- edit ldmd.conf and add a line to 'exec' xcd_run:

exec "xcd_run MONITOR"

- edit ~ldm/etc/pqact.conf to add actions to run xcd_run for data
  ingested by the LDM:

IDS|DDPLUS   .*    PIPE
     xcd_run DDS
HDS          .*    PIPE
     xcd_run HDS

NB: whitespace in the above actions are tabs, not spaces!

- configure XCD from your 'mcidas' account

> I went through both the ldm-mcidas
> documentation and the mcidas installation documentation, but was
> unsuccessful (When I changed the source of the data in Mcidas to be
> "local-data", an error message reported that no data was found.

I am uncertain about which step you are talking about here.  The
term 'LOCAL-DATA' is used in ADDE, not in decoding data.  The process of
getting McIDAS setup to use data is twofold:  first decode the data
into McIDAS-compatible formats; second to setup ADDE datasets that
access the data that is being decoded.

> We
> recently got a new server, and have installed the latest version's of
> McIDAS, LDM, and the ldm-mcidas decodoers.  I am again carefully going
> through the documentation and hoping to have better luck this time.  So
> far I have two questions:
> 
> 1) Both the ldm-mcidas decoders and the mcidas-x distribution come
> with SATANNOT and SATBAND files (and I believe also the SCHEMA,
> SYSKEY.TAB, ROUTE.SYS files).  Both sets of documentation told me to
> copy these two files to the ~ldm/etc folder, but I've noticed that the
> files are not identical in the ldm-mcidas or mcidas-x distro's.  So my
> question is, does it matter which one I use?

Actually, yes, it does matter.  I suggest that you use the copies of
SATANNOT and SATBAND that are distributed with ldm-mcidas.  In order
to use these files, you should copy them to the ~ldm/etc directory
and then add appropriate flags ('-a etc/SATANNOT' and '-b etc/SATBAND')
to pqact.conf actions that run the ldm-mcidas pnga2area decoder.

As far as SCHEMA goes, I would use the copy that is included in the
McIDAS distribution, but either will do.

> Is one preferred over the
> other?  Or will either distro's files work even though there are
> differences?

See above.

> 2) Last time I was trying to get McIDAS to be able to use the LDM
> data, I did NOT install the ADDE server.  I was wondering if perhaps
> this is required?

The ADDE server is part of McIDAS.  It gets installed when you install
McIDAS.  What does not get setup, however, is the remote access to the
ADDE server.

> As I read about the ADDE server, I was under the
> impression that it was only necessary if I wanted to be able to share
> the data with users on another machine, and that if the data was local
> on the same machine that was running mcidas that it wouldn't matter.
> Can you straighten me out on this issue?

Your impression is correct. You do not strictly need to setup remote
access to the ADDE server, but it is recommended that you do so.
Access to the ADDE remote server can, in fact, be from the same machine
that McIDAS is running on.  If, for instance, your objective is to
allow any user account on this or any other machine in your lab to
access ADDE datasets served on this machine, then you will want to
setup remote ADDE server access.  If your objective is to only access
the data served by ADDE from the 'mcidas' account on this machine, you
do not have to setup remote ADDE server access.  Confused?  Don't be.
The concept of "remote access" from the same machine seems to confuse
everyone.

> Thank you for your help!  I'm sure I'll have more questions later.

No worries.

By the way, I would be happy to login to your machine to check out your
setup and tweek where needed.  In order to do this, I would need login
access as both 'mcidas' and 'ldm'.  If you want remote ADDE server access
setup also, I would need 'root' privilege.  Please let me know if you are
interested...

Cheers,

Tom
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Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: XGD-732939
Department: Support McIDAS
Priority: Normal
Status: Closed