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---------- Forwarded Message ----------
FROM: John H. Ward
Chief, Production Management Branch
SUBJECT: Changes to the NWS Production Suite
A test of the backup operations for the IBM SP is
tentatively scheduled to be conducted during the first week in
April. This test will only involve the delivery of two RUC
forecasts (tentatively 13Z & 14Z) from the backup workstation at
the NWS Telecommunication Operations Center (TOC). A test of the
full backup capability from the TOC system will be conducted
sometime during a 30-day period beginning 15 June 2003. More
details on the dates and times of these tests will be provided
when they become available.
Problems have developed with the portion of the operating
system on the CCS which deals with "Group Services" such as GPFS
and Load Leveler. Fixes are currently being tested. A minimum
of an additional three weeks of parallel testing will be
performed once the problems have been resolved. It is
anticipated that the CCS will not become operational prior to 15
April. The Production Status WEB page for the parallel runs on
the CCS is available at:
http://www.nco.ncep.noaa.gov/pmb/nwpara/prodstat/index.html
As the month progresses and these times become more
representative of the 30-day average, they should closely mirror
the schedule on the IBM SP prior to the T254 Global Forecast
System (GFS) implementation. The parallel status page now also
contains the target completion times for specific forecast
products from each model run. As model upgrades are implemented,
every effort will be made to deliver products no later than the
target times indicated. No changes will be made to these target
times without discussions with the customers of NCEP products.
In a number of cases the target times do not currently match the
30 day average completion time. The target times are based on
plans to adjust the production suite to conform to a completely
symmetric six hour forecast cycle, as the transition to the CCS
is completed.
No changes in product content or format will be made during
the switch to the CCS. The only differences that should be noted
by the end-users of NCEP products are these minor adjustments in
the production schedule.
The moratorium on changes to the Production Suite will
continue until the CCS is fully operational. During March and
April, user access to the CCS may be interrupted for testing and
minor system configuration changes. Whenever possible, prior
notice of system downtime or unavailability will be provided.
An on-line user guide for code conversion to the CCS is
available on the NCEP internal WEB server at:
http://www.nco.ncep.noaa.gov/pmb/nwprod/ccs_guide/
The guide will be continually updated as new features or
problems with the code conversion are uncovered.
The AVN and MRF descriptors on the NCEP Model Analysis &
Forecast WEB page are tentatively scheduled to be replaced with
the GFS on Tuesday, 15 April. Directories and files with this
new naming convention are now available on this web site. Users
who access these data outside of the web page interface may now
modify their processing to pull files with the GFS name instead
of AVN or MRF. After 15 April, the AVN and MRF files will no
longer exist on this web site. During the next year all
references to the AVN and MRF descriptors will be replaced
by GFS on NWS WEB sites and ftp servers. A schedule will be
provided when it becomes available.
A preliminary list of implementations for 2003 can be found
at:
http://www.nco.ncep.noaa.gov/pmb/changes
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