Configuring an LDM Installation


If you already have a previous version of the LDM installed and working, then you can probably skip these steps.

Steps

  1. Obtain upstream data-feeds

  2. Request authorization at the upstream LDM

  3. Edit the LDM configuration-file, etc/ldmd.conf

  4. Edit the pqact configuration-file, etc/pqact.conf, if appropriate

  5. Edit the scour configuration-file, etc/scour.conf, if appropriate

  6. Edit the LDM user's crontab(1) file

  7. Ensure that the LDM is started at boot-time


Obtain upstream data-feeds

First, find out who your upstream feed site(s) will be. If you don't know and you are qualified to participate in the Unidata IDD, then contact the Unidata Program Center at <idd-connect@unidata.ucar.edu> with the following information:

Note that you can have multiple upstream hosts for any given data-feed.

Request authorization at the upstream LDM

Ask the administrator of the upstream LDM to add ALLOW entries for your LDM to the upstream LDM's configuration-file, ldmd.conf. For example,

ALLOW UNIDATA  your.ldm.host
ALLOW NLDN  your.ldm.host

Workshop-specific instructions.


Edit the LDM configuration-file, etc/ldmd.conf

This file tells an LDM what to do on startup. Possibilities include executing programs, requesting data, and authorizing connections. The default file that comes with the distribution contains examples. More information on this configuration-file can be found on the ldmd.conf webpage.

Entries that you should or might have in this file -- depending on your exact situation -- are:

Workshop-specific instructions.


Edit the pqact configuration-file, etc/pqact.conf, if appropriate

This file tells the pqact utility how to locally process various classes of data-products. Processing actions include filing the data-product, executing a local program, and piping the data-product to the standard input of a local program. If you're not going to process data-products locally, then you don't need to edit this file.

More information on this configuration-file.

  • Configuring for Unidata Decoders
  • Configuring for GEMPAK
  • Configuring for McIDAS

    Workshop-specific instructions.


    Edit the scour configuration-file, etc/scour.conf, if appropriate

    This file tells the scour utility what old files should be deleted and when to delete them. This is useful if

    and you want to keep only the most recent files to prevent the file system from becoming full. If you're not doing either of the above, then you probably don't need to edit this file.

    More information on this configuration-file.

    Workshop-specific instructions.


    Edit the LDM-user's crontab(1) file

    Edit the crontab file of the LDM-user by, for example, executing the command

    crontab -e
    as the LDM-user. Then

    Ensure that the LDM is started at boot-time

    Although boot-time start-up procedures vary amongst operating systems, each can be tailored to start the LDM. It is best to start the LDM as late as possible in the boot process to avoid interfering with processes that could hang the system (e.g., the syslog daemon). One possible LDM script is:

    export PATH=/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/etc:/usr/ucb
    LDMADMIN=/usr/local/ldm/bin/ldmadmin
    
    case "$1" in
    
    start)
        if [ -x $LDMADMIN ] ; then
    	$LDMADMIN queuecheck >/dev/null 2>&1 || {
    	    echo "Corrupt LDM product-queue.  Recreating."
    
    	    /bin/su - ldm -c "$LDMADMIN delqueue"
    	    /bin/su - ldm -c "$LDMADMIN mkqueue"
    	}
    
    	echo 'Starting LDM using "ldmadmin start".'
    
    	/bin/su - ldm -c "$LDMADMIN clean"
    	/bin/su - ldm -c "$LDMADMIN start"
        fi
        ;;
    
    stop)
        if [ -x $LDMADMIN ] ; then
    	/bin/su - ldm -c "$LDMADMIN stop"
        fi
        ;;
    
    esac
    

    Consult the documentation on your operating system or with your system administrator for details on how to incorporate this script (or something similar) into the boot-time start-up procedure of your system.

    Workshop-specific instructions.