[mcidas-x] 20220831: Requests of users of Unidata ADDE servers

• To: mcidas-x@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
• Subject: [mcidas-x] 20220831: Requests of users of Unidata ADDE servers
• From: Unidata User Support <support@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
• Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2022 15:38:00 -0600

Users of Unidata ADDE data servers:

We are in the process of updating our ADDE services to increase the
robustness of our offerings.  As part of this effort, we are moving
towards making ADDE a service that can be moved to new systems while
keeping the same service name, adde.ucar.edu. In order to accomplish
this transition with the least impact possible, we need your help!

Request #1

All ADDE users:

The first thing we are asking users to do is stop pointing at atm.ucar.edu
and/or atm-nwsc.unidata.ucar.edu for ADDE services and to move to using
the more generic service name: adde.ucar.edu.

Our traffic monitoring shows that there are still some users (both
McIDAS-X and IDV) who are accessing ADDE services directly from
atm.ucar.edu, and this is hampering our ability to perform needed system
maintenance on the machine.  At some point in the not too distant future,
we will be forced to shutdown atm.ucar.edu for maintenance, so this note
is intended to inform ADDE users of atm.ucar.edu of the need to update
their configurations as soon as possible.

McIDAS-X users:

McIDAS-X access to our servers poses a particular challenge since it
has always included local caching of the IP addresses for ADDE server
being accessed, presumably to avoid doing name to IP address lookups
each time a process contacts a remote ADDE server. The downside of the
caching approach is that the IP address used in the ADDE transaction will
continue to be used even though the name of the server has been moved to
a machine that has a different IP address.  McIDAS-X users can use the
McIDAS command 'DATALOC HOST' to force a update of all cached name <->
IP parings, but it is likely that only a few users will remember/know
that this is something that is best done periodically.

For reference, the name <-> IP address pairings can most often be found
in Unidata McIDAS installations the files:

$MCHOME/data/ADDESITE.TXT
$MCDATA/MCTABLE.TXT

The exact set of file(s) that will be used is specified by the definitions of 
the environment variables McTABLE_READ and McTABLE_WRITE.

NOTE: the entries in ADDESITE.TXT and/or MCTABLE.TXT can be updated
directly by editing the files. The settings that one will encounter in
either/both of these files for a specific dataset will look something
like:

ADDE_ROUTE_WEST=ADDE.UCAR.EDU
HOST_ADDE.UCAR.EDU=128.117.135.126

'ADDE_ROUTE_WEST' defines the server name that the user specified for
the dataset whose group name is WEST, and 'HOST_ADDE.UCAR.EDU' defines
the IP address to use when to accessing that server.

Request #2

All ADDE users:

In an attempt to reduce the number of ADDE dataset definitions that we
maintain on all of our public-facing ADDE servers and to increase the
usability and persistence of dataset definitions, we are asking all users
to migrate to use of the following for GOES L1b imagery and L2 products:

EAST    - real-time GRB imagery from GOES-East
EASTALL - "rolling archive" of GRB imagery from GOES-East

WEST    - real-time GRB imagery from GOES-West
WESTALL - "rolling archive" of GRB imagery from GOES-West

NPGEAST - real-time NOAAPort imagery from GOES-East
NPGEALL - "rolling archive" of NOAAPort imagery from GOES-East

NPGWEST - real-time NOAAPort imagery from GOES-West
NPGWALL - "rolling archive" of NOAAPort imagery from GOES-West

L2GEAST  - real-time GOES-East Level 2 products from NOAAPort,
           a subset of NPGEAST
L2GEALL  - "rolling archive" of Level 2 products from GOES-East,
           a subset of NPGEALL

L2GWEST  - real-time GOES-West Level 2 products from NOAAPort,
           a subset of NPGWEST
L2GWALL  - "rolling archive" of Level 2 products from GOES-West,
           a subset of NPGWALL

Comments:

- Currently, GOES-East imagery is provided solely by GOES-16, but
  GOES-West imagery can be from either GOES-17 or GOES-18, GOES-18
  during interleave testing.

- We are intending to remove old dataset definitions at some point in
  the future, so migrating to use of the above datasets sooner than later
  is strongly encouraged!

To recap:

1) We are asking all ADDE users to stop pointing at atm.ucar.edu and/or
   atm-nwsc.unidata.ucar.edu, and point at adde.ucar.edu instead.

2) We are asking all ADDE users to migrate to use of the EAST, EASTALL,
   WEST, WESTALL, etc. datasets for GOES L1b imagery and L2 products.

Please let us know if the information above is unclear, or if you are
uncertain of what you need to do to accommodate our requests by sending
email to:

McIDAS-X Users: support-mcidas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
IDV Users:      support-idv@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Best regards,

Unidata User Support
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