I'm going to ask that you either keep this discussion on the list, or, if
that's not practical, please keep me in the loop. I use IDV occasionally,
and I'm about to institute a TDS here for some of our research. I need to
know when things stabilize and it's time for me to update. I have also
found the discussion interesting. Roy, sorry if it's too much traffic but
having it go offline means it suddenly goes into a black hole for some of
us.
gerry
On Thu, Apr 3, 2014 at 8:25 AM, Robert Mullenax <
Robert.Mullenax@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Yes agreed there are a lot of advantage to remote and THREDDS and McIDAS
> ADDE are really amazing!
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: John Caron [mailto:caron@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <caron@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]
> Sent: Thu 4/3/2014 8:04 AM
> To: Robert Mullenax
> Cc: thredds@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; idvusers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: [idvusers] [thredds] Update - Changes to thredds.ucar.edu
>
> Hi Robert:
>
> Good advice, thanks.
>
> GEMPAK is an interesting contrast in table management. It uses
> hand-maintained mappings of GRIB tables to an assigned variable name. it
> is NCEP specific, so cant be used as a general solution to all GRIB
> files. NCEP is focused on keeping operational software like AWIPS
> current (probably GEMPAK is in this category), and not much else, in
> particular archived data is an afterthought. Tools like wgrib and wgrib2
> use these hand maintained tables, but its up to the user to ensure that
> the tables are current, though users typically dont have the expertise
> to know how to do that. The system hangs together likely 99.44% of the
> time, but it sometimes "silently fails" by misidentifying variables.
>
> Anyway, the problems with changing names is part of GRIB, regardless of
> whether its local or remote. The advantage of remote is that, in
> principle, the right thing can be done on the server and clients can
> take advantage of it.
>
> Regards,
> John
>
> On 4/2/2014 8:03 PM, Robert Mullenax wrote:
> > I would also add that depending on bundles from Unidata is short
> sighted. As has been noted Unidata is not 24/7. The great thing about
> GEMPAK is it forces you to be self sufficient at least to the point where
> you are responsible for your own downloads. Maybe a greater reliance on
> local datasets would be a good thing for IDV. I know that GEMPAK and McIDAS
> are passé but their are advantages..even in the teaching and research realm.
> >
> >
> >
> >> On Apr 2, 2014, at 8:08 PM, "Robert Mullenax" <
> Robert.Mullenax@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >>
> >> I am not a frequent IDV user but the basic rule of being a sys admin or
> developer is to not make changes on a Friday afternoon unless you are
> staffed 24/7. I am a just a met guy and a somewhat annoying presence to
> Unidata but that has been my experience over the years as a pretend sys
> admin and developer.
> >>
> >> In other words, test it thoroughly, and don't release on a Friday
> unless there is a lot of backup support..
> >>
> >> Hang in there,
> >> Robert Mullenax
> >> CSBF/NMSU
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>> On Apr 2, 2014, at 7:38 PM, "John Caron" <caron@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> Hi all:
> >>>
> >>> The rollout on friday hit a few snags, compounded by me being sick so
> I couldnt respond quickly. "Bundles broke" because there was a file leak
> that brought the whole server down. Also there was a problem with the way
> the new GRIB indexer handled GRIB1 timeType=10. Those problems have been
> fixed now.
> >>>
> >>> You might think "why dont we just wait?" The problem is that the TDS
> 4.3 server is not getting updated as the data changes. We made a decision 2
> weeks ago that it wasnt worth fixing, since the problem is fixed in 4.5. So
> its in all of our interests to get 4.5 onto thredds.ucar.edu, as soon as
> possible .
> >>>
> >>> You might think "Why didnt we find these problems before releasing?"
> Because we dont have a separate test team, like commercial software release
> cycle does. We constantly improve our testing, but plenty gets past us. We
> rely on the users to find the last set of bugs. And its all but impossible
> to get users to try beta software. Fact of life.
> >>>
> >>> The variable names have not changed. The bundles will still work. We
> are fixing the ones that Darryl discovered had changed.
> >>>
> >>> The ncss service changed its service endpoint. Users reading the
> catalog or using the html form will pick that up transparently. If you have
> it hardcoded in a script, then you need to change it. If its operational,
> you have to do it immediately after we switch. Just remove the /grid/ part
> of your URL. The IDV doesnt use the ncss service. If theres an actual
> script user who is using the ncss service, who cant make changes in a
> timely manner, let us know and we will work with you. We dont need to
> imagine possible scenarios that may not exist.
> >>>
> >>> Right now, we know there's a problem with the radar server, which we
> will have fixed by tommorrow. Otherwise, try your bundles against
> thredds-test.unidata.ucar.edu. Give it a try, report the problems, we
> will get them fixed. When they are fixed, we will make the switch. But
> please dont wait a week, do them this week.
> >>>
> >>> Theres typically a long tail of problems that get fixed over time. If
> you cant get to it, ok, let us know when you find them and we will fix the
> problem then. The IDV could make a contribution here by allowing users to
> easily update the URLS in their bundles. The NCEP models are constantly
> changing, not to mention the GRIB tables themselves. The idea that URLS can
> never change is not a real possibility. Just a fact of life.
> >>>
> >>> We arent releasing 4.5 yet for others to use. We are shaking it out
> against the thredds.ucar.edu live server. We dont really have any better
> options. We are working really hard to make this work. I would personally
> appreciate any help you can give.
> >>>
> >>> Thanks,
> >>> John
> >>>
> >>> _______________________________________________
> >>> idvusers mailing list
> >>> idvusers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >>> For list information, to unsubscribe, visit:
> http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/mailing_lists/
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> idvusers mailing list
> >> idvusers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >> For list information, to unsubscribe, visit:
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>
>
>
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--
Gerry Creager
NSSL/CIMMS
405.325.6371
++++++++++++++++++++++
"Big whorls have little whorls,
That feed on their velocity;
And little whorls have lesser whorls,
And so on to viscosity."
Lewis Fry Richardson (1881-1953)
