McIDAS-XCD Fastrack Version 2010.1
Software and Instructions

This page contains the software and instructions for installing McIDAS-XCD version 2010.1, a fully supported Fastrack release. Modifications made since the previous release (version 2009.1) include:

• Added support for new WSR-88D and TDWR radar products available on NOAAPORT. Please see the McIDAS-XCD Administrator Information About New NWS Radar Products page for more information and the instructions that are completed in step 7 of the -XCD 2010.1 installation instructions below.
• Updated the station database (file STNDB.CORE) in McIDAS-X 2010.2 to include 20 new Metar stations; 18 are located on oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico; the other two are KPSO (Pagosa Springs, CO) and KC29 (Middleton, WI).
• Updated the Ship/Buoy/CMAN decoder to properly decode MISSING wind direction values (as MISSING rather than 0 degrees).

McIDAS-XCD 2010.1 is a fully supported Fastrack release. This means that the software is fully supported by SSEC, and that each change to the software has been tested on all of the supported system configurations. If you elect to install 2010.1, we ask that you notify the McIDAS Help Desk if you encounter any bugs. Please be sure to mention that you are running version 2010.1.

Also note that if you plan to upgrade to 2010.1 from a version earlier than 2009.1, you must first read and perform any required actions in the release documents for each of the versions you skipped so you know about their major changes and any required actions in the interim. For example, if you are upgrading from version 2008 to 2010.1, you must first read and perform the required actions in the release documents for versions 2008a and 2009.1. See the past versions page for links to those and other materials from past versions.

Obtaining McIDAS-XCD 2010.1

To obtain McIDAS-XCD 2010.1, download the following files to the ~oper/mcidas directory on your McIDAS-XCD workstation.

File name	Size	Description
xcd2010.1.sh	13 KB	shell script that installs the McIDAS-XCD software (right click to download)
xcd2010.1.tar.Z	977 KB	compressed tar file that contains all source and data files
xcd_README_2010.1	6 KB	information to review before installation

Installing McIDAS-XCD 2010.1

Note: You must install McIDAS-X 2010.2 on the workstation before you install McIDAS-XCD 2010.1. Then continue with the appropriate set of instructions, as described below.

If you are installing McIDAS-XCD for the first time on the workstation, go to the McIDAS-XCD Administrator's Guide's Installing McIDAS-XCD 2010.1 for the First Time and complete its instructions. (Use those instructions rather than those below.)

If you are installing McIDAS-XCD Fastrack version 2010.1 on a workstation that already has a previous version of McIDAS-XCD installed, complete the steps below.

1. If -XCD is running in the foreground, turn it off by exiting the McIDAS session and wait until all ingestors and data monitors have exited. From the McIDAS Text and Command window,

   Type: EXIT

   If -XCD is running in the background, stop the session by running the following command as user oper.

   Type: xcdadmin stop

2. As user oper, run the script below from the ~oper/mcidas directory to build and install McIDAS-XCD 2010.1 using the same optional flag (-noopt and -mysql) settings that were used to build McIDAS-X 2010.2. You must use the same compilers and optional flag settings for both the McIDAS-X and McIDAS-XCD builds.

Type: sh ./xcd2010.1.sh  flags  build

where flags is zero, one or both of the two optional flags described below.

• The -noopt flag is used to build McIDAS-XCD with no optimization. If you don't specify this -noopt flag, McIDAS-XCD is built using the default optimization: -O2 for builds with vendor compilers and -O1 for builds with gcc/g77.
  
• The -mysql flag is used to build McIDAS-XCD using the MySQL database libraries. Use this flag if this workstation will be serving real-time GRIB files from the NOAAPORT data stream and you have installed and want to use a MySQL database to make the GRIB data access faster for your McIDAS-X clients/users. If the database is in a non-standard install location, specify the flag as -mysql=directory, where directory is the root MySQL install directory. Remember, the -mysql flag must be specified when building both McIDAS-X and McIDAS-XCD.

When the script xcd2010.1.sh is finished, you will see the message below.

McIDAS-XCD binaries built correctly



3. As user oper, run the script below from the ~oper/mcidas directory to install the new executable code and a subset of the replaceable McIDAS-XCD data files for your workstation.

Type: sh ./xcd2010.1.sh cutover

When the script is finished, you will see the message below.

McIDAS-XCD package cutover is now complete



4. As user oper, start a McIDAS-X session and run the two commands below. The first command (BATCH REGROUP.BAT) recreates the GROUPS.DAT and COUNTRY.DAT files so they contain the station database changes included in McIDAS-X Fastrack 2010.2. The second command (BATCH REBILDRAP.BAT) rebuilds the Rapid Access Pointer files so they include the same station database changes. Note that running the second command erases the previous content of the *.RAP and *.RAT files, so they will contain only new data. That means that the user commands MOSRPT, OBSRPT, RAOBRPT, SFCRPT, SYNRPT and TAFRPT will not be able to access any data from prior to McIDAS-XCD being restarted (step 10 below).

Type: BATCH REGROUP.BAT
Type: BATCH REBILDRAP.BAT


When completed, exit the McIDAS-X session.

5. As user mcadde, start a McIDAS-X session and run the command below to recreate the GROUPS.DAT and COUNTRY.DAT files in the mcadde account so they contain the station database changes included in McIDAS-X Fastrack 2010.2.

Type: BATCH REGROUP.BAT


6. As user mcadde, make a backup copy of your RESOLV.SRV file (e.g., cp RESOLV.SRV RESOLV.SRV.BAK) in preparation of adding new radar and GRIB2 datasets in step 7.

7. Configure your system to file radar products and make ADDE datasets for them as instructed in the McIDAS-XCD Administrator Information About New NWS Radar Products page. Note: When the command BATCH XCDADDE.BAT is run in the instructions it also adds the new GRIB2 datasets ECM-NHME, GEFS-GLME and GFS-NHME to the RESOLV.SRV file. If you skip the radar instructions (on the linked page) you can add the GRIB2 datasets separately with command BATCH XCDGRB2.BAT.

8. As user mcidas, run the script below from the ~oper/mcidas directory to install the new ADDE server executable code in the mcidas account.

Type: sh ./xcd2010.1.sh install addeservers

9. Restart McIDAS-XCD. To do so from the foreground, start a McIDAS-X session from the oper account and run the command below from the McIDAS Text and Command window,

   Type: STARTXCD

   To restart -XCD in the background, run the following command as user oper.

   Type: xcdadmin start

This concludes the McIDAS-XCD Fastrack version 2010.1 installation procedure. If you would like to modify the configuration of your McIDAS-XCD workstation, go to the McIDAS-XCD Administrator's Guide's Configuring McIDAS-XCD.