[McIDAS #MRQ-325827]: Question re scour.conf

Hi Martha,

re:
> We need to automatically delete "GRI?????" files that DMGRIB is
> generating on our NOAAP XCD system.
> If I edit scour.conf to include a line in the format
> 
> /data 5       GRI?????
> 
> Will this retain only the last 5 days worth of these files?

Some comments:

- it is preferable to use the McIDAS 'xcdscour' utility (script) to scour
  GRIB files.  You would use this if you are using the GRIB filer method
  of accessing model data ingested from NOAAPORT via the LDM.  This method
  also requires use of the MySQL database (client, server, and development
  environment) and McIDAS programs have to be recompiled and linked to
  use MySQL

- if you are creating McIDAS GRID files (i.e., decoding GRIB messages into
  GRID files), I would recommend using the 'mcscour.sh' approach to scouring
  the various files produced by XCD.  'mcscour.sh' is installed in the
  ~mcidas/bin directory of a Unidata McIDAS v2007x installation.

- you mention GRI????? files being created by DMBIN, but GRI????? files are
  created by DMGRID.  DMBIN is the GRIB filer, not decoder.  If you are,
  in fact, running DMBIN to file the GRIB messages and are not using
  the MySQL approach for accessing model output, you should consider switching
  from the DMGRID method of decoding the data.  The reason for this is
  that the GRIB messages take _much_ less space than the decoded GRID files
  and ADDE access to the GRIB data when MySQL is used is _much_ faster.
  I must add, however, that I have only tested the use of the MySQL approach
  on Linux (32 and 64-bit) and Solaris (also 32 and 64-bit) systems, so I
  can not assure you that everything will work seamlessly under a different
  OS.

- finally, you can use the LDM 'scour' utility to scour the data created
  by XCD, and your example:

  /data 5 GRI?????

  is correct _IF_ your GRI????? files are located in the /data directory.

  I would like to point out, however, that a typical McIDAS installation
  at Unidata sites running XCD has GRID files written into a directory
  that is specific to McIDAS, say /data/ldm/mcidas.  Since you are not
  a "typical" Unidata site, your installation may be different.
  
> The reason I ask is, I am a bit uncertain of the wild card expansion
> capabilities.  In McIDAS I have had little success in using the question
> mark wild card character, and I wanted to make sure that I am interpreting
> the help for scour.conf properly as to what wild card syntax can be handled.

The LDM understands extended regular expressions so use of a '?' is OK.  You
could, however, use the '*' wildcard as it is unlikely that you will have
non-McIDAS files named GRI????? on your system.

> Thanks.

No worries.


Cheers,

Tom
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Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: MRQ-325827
Department: Support McIDAS
Priority: Normal
Status: Closed