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20051114: adde.ucar.edu IP address changed; action needed (cont.)



>From: "Corcoran, William T" <address@hidden>
>Organization: Missouri State University
>Keywords: 200508291349.j7TDnujo003962 McIDAS ADDE

Hi Bill,

>Monday morning and we're still at the same point, which is:

>- we have network connectivity and full functionality on machine
>cumulus.missouristate.edu  I can surf the web, etc, from this machine.
>(Maybe dog-paddle the web is a better metaphor, it is an old AIX 4.3
>~1992 machine.)

I was able to logon to cumulus this morning.  One strange thing that I
found was your shell-specific definition file .kshrc is _not_ being
read upon login (your 'mcidas' user's shell is ksh).  If I 'read' the
the values in the file manually I am able to run McIDAS some McIDAS
commands:

<as 'mcidas' on cumulus>

cd ~mcidas
. .kshrc

cd workdata
dataloc.k LIST

Group Name                    Server IP Address
--------------------         ----------------------------------------
BLIZZARD                     ADDE.UCAR.EDU
CIMSS                        ADDE.UCAR.EDU
GINICOMP                     ADDE.UCAR.EDU
GINIEAST                     ADDE.UCAR.EDU
GINIWEST                     ADDE.UCAR.EDU
MYDATA                       <LOCAL-DATA>
RTGINI                       ADDE.UCAR.EDU
RTGRIDS                      ADDE.UCAR.EDU
RTIMAGES                     ADDE.UCAR.EDU
RTNEXRAD                     ADDE.UCAR.EDU
RTNIDS                       ADDE.UCAR.EDU
RTNOWRAD                     ADDE.UCAR.EDU
RTPTSRC                      ADDE.UCAR.EDU
RTWXTEXT                     ADDE.UCAR.EDU
TOPO                         <LOCAL-DATA>
WNEXRAD                      <LOCAL-DATA>
WNOWRAD                      <LOCAL-DATA>

<LOCAL-DATA> indicates that data will be accessed from the local data directory.

This does not, however, solve the problem of McIDAS access to 
adde.ucar.edu or any other ADDE server EXCEPT the old adde.ucar.edu.
I found that I _am_ able to access the old adde.ucar.edu if I point
(DATALOC) to it by IP or by its new name:

dataloc.k ADD RTIMAGES 128.117.15.119
dsinfo.k I RTIMAGES

        Dataset Names of Type: IMAGE in Group: RTIMAGES

Name         NumPos   Content
------------ ------   --------------------------------------
ANTARCTIC     9999    POES 10.7 um Antarctic Composite
EDFLOATER-I   9999    Educational Floater I
EDFLOATER-II  9999    Educational Floater II
GE-39         9999    GOES-East 3.9 um short IR
GE-CO2        9999    GOES-East 13.3 um IR (CO2)
GE-IR         9999    GOES-East 10.7 um IR
GE-IRTOPO       10    GOES-East IR/TOPO Composite
GE-VIS        9999    GOES-East 0.65 um Visible
GE-VISTOPO      10    GOES-East VIS/TOPO Composite
GE-WV         9999    GOES-East 6.5 um IR (Water Vapor)
GEW-IR          10    GOES-East/West IR Composite
GEW-IRTOPO      10    GOES-East/West IR/TOPO Composite
GEW-VIS         10    GOES-East/West VIS Composite
GEW-VISTOPO     10    GOES-East/West VIS/TOPO Composite
GEW-WV          10    GOES-East/West H2O Composite
GW-12         9999    GOES-West 12.0 um long IR
GW-39         9999    GOES-West 3.9 um short IR
GW-IR         9999    GOES-West 10.7 um IR
GW-IRTOPO       10    GOES-West IR/TOPO Composite
GW-VIS        9999    GOES-West 0.65 um Visible
GW-VISTOPO      10    GOES-West VIS/TOPO Composite
GW-WV         9999    GOES-West 6.8 um IR (Water Vapor)
MDR           9999    Manually Digitized Radar
MDRTOPO         10    MDR/TOPO Composite
MOLL-IR       9999    Mollweide Composite IR
MOLL-IRTOPO     10    Mollweide IR/TOPO Composite
MOLL-WV       9999    Mollweide Composite WV

DSINFO -- done


cumulus:/home/mcidas/workdata> dataloc.k ADD RTIMAGES oldmotherlode.ucar.edu

Group Name                    Server IP Address
--------------------         ----------------------------------------
RTIMAGES                     OLDMOTHERLODE.UCAR.EDU

<LOCAL-DATA> indicates that data will be accessed from the local data directory.
DATALOC -- done
cumulus:/home/mcidas/workdata> dsinfo.k I RTIMAGES

        Dataset Names of Type: IMAGE in Group: RTIMAGES

Name         NumPos   Content
------------ ------   --------------------------------------
ANTARCTIC     9999    POES 10.7 um Antarctic Composite
EDFLOATER-I   9999    Educational Floater I
EDFLOATER-II  9999    Educational Floater II
GE-39         9999    GOES-East 3.9 um short IR
GE-CO2        9999    GOES-East 13.3 um IR (CO2)
GE-IR         9999    GOES-East 10.7 um IR
GE-IRTOPO       10    GOES-East IR/TOPO Composite
GE-VIS        9999    GOES-East 0.65 um Visible
GE-VISTOPO      10    GOES-East VIS/TOPO Composite
GE-WV         9999    GOES-East 6.5 um IR (Water Vapor)
GEW-IR          10    GOES-East/West IR Composite
GEW-IRTOPO      10    GOES-East/West IR/TOPO Composite
GEW-VIS         10    GOES-East/West VIS Composite
GEW-VISTOPO     10    GOES-East/West VIS/TOPO Composite
GEW-WV          10    GOES-East/West H2O Composite
GW-12         9999    GOES-West 12.0 um long IR
GW-39         9999    GOES-West 3.9 um short IR
GW-IR         9999    GOES-West 10.7 um IR
GW-IRTOPO       10    GOES-West IR/TOPO Composite
GW-VIS        9999    GOES-West 0.65 um Visible
GW-VISTOPO      10    GOES-West VIS/TOPO Composite
GW-WV         9999    GOES-West 6.8 um IR (Water Vapor)
MDR           9999    Manually Digitized Radar
MDRTOPO         10    MDR/TOPO Composite
MOLL-IR       9999    Mollweide Composite IR
MOLL-IRTOPO     10    Mollweide IR/TOPO Composite
MOLL-WV       9999    Mollweide Composite WV

DSINFO -- done


So, your problem is likely that somewhere along the network route there
there is an allow for traffic to the old version of adde.ucar.edu
(IP=128.117.15.119), but not the new (IP=128.117.114.119).  I suspect
that this is a configuration on the machine that sits between you and
the net (your next item).

By the way, I took the liberty of cleaning up a bit in your 'mcidas'
account:

- deleted core file in ~/workdata
- removed unused file REDIRECTions in ~/workdata/LWPATH.NAM
- removed unused ADDE dataset definitions in ~/workdata/RESOLV.SRV

>    +  there is a webredir machine in the middle of the routing of
>anything with an .smsu.edu domain (our old domain, as we are in the
>middle of a change to Missouristate.edu. I doesn't seem to affect
>anything else, so I wouldn't expect it to be a problem here, but some of
>these issues seem to hint of DNS problems, so I thought I'd mention it.

I suspect that this machine's configuration or some firewall setup
somewhere is your problem.  The fact that I can still access the old
adde.ucar.edu means that there is nothing wrong with your McIDAS
installation (even though it _is_ ancient ;-).

DNS appears to be working.  At least, I can do a lookup:

cumulus:/home/mcidas/workdata> nslookup adde.ucar.edu
Server:  POWERBALL.MissouriState.edu
Address:  146.7.4.129

Non-authoritative answer:
Name:    motherlode.ucar.edu
Address:  128.117.114.119
Aliases:  adde.ucar.edu

I would contact the IT folks and get them to trace down the
configuration that is blocking access to machines other than the old
adde.ucar.edu.  For the version of McIDAS that you are running, you
will need to have ports 500 and 503 fully opened, or at least
opened for access to the new adde.ucar.edu (IP=128.117.114.119).

>- mcidas cannot access any adde servers, get the message that it can't
>find the server (as noted before...nothing new on this). GRDDISP: Cannot
>contact server (connect() failed)

I am almost 100% sure that this is being caused by a configuration outside
of cumulus, or perhaps a firewall setting on cumulus.  This can be
demonstrated outside of McIDAS using telnet:

<on cumulus>

telnet adde.ucar.edu 500
Trying...

telnet 128.117.15.119 500
Trying...
Connected to 128.117.15.119.
Escape character is '^]'.


I strongly suspect that the problem is that the port access is being
blocked since I can telnet to the new adde.ucar.edu on port 80:

telnet adde.ucar.edu 80
Trying...
Connected to motherlode.ucar.edu.
Escape character is '^]'.

telnet> q
Connection closed.

>- our data ceased to flow at about 15Z Nov 10.

Yes, this is when you changed the pointing (DATALOC HOST) to the new
adde.ucar.edu.

>I need an opinion. Let's assume the whole problem would go away if we
>came into the 21st century with our systems.

The whole problem will go away when the cause for the block is found
and removed.  But, let's continue...

>Hardware is cheap enough
>nowadays, but I need to be pointed at operating systems and applications
>to go do my homework.  I will assume I want to keep doing what I'm
>doing, i.e., making weather maps each hour for consumption by our
>atmospheric science courses...which are all introductory non-science
>major type courses.  Thus, we use a small subset of mcidas's features.

OK.

>But my main needs, then, are to run mcidas and then serve the maps to
>the public; currently we run Apache servers on the unix boxes.  Any
>systems will have to totally supported by me.

Unfortunately, this is the case at too many Unidata universities.

>At this point, my systems
>skills have atrophied to the point that picking up any (new) system will
>be about the same amount of work.  So, going forward, in a small house
>such as ours, with limited expectations, do I want to make the jump and
>bring up a linux machine running mcidas and apache, or is there a better
>way to make the jump into the 21st century?

I would say that moving away from your old AIX machine would be a very
good move.  I would imagine that there is alot more expertise on your
campus for Linux administration than there is for AIX.  In fact, you
may even be able to find a student to help you out.  Also, since we run
numerous Linux machines, you would be able to get better support from
us for a Linux installation than for AIX.  The reason I say this is
that you are the last person running McIDAS on an AIX box in the
Unidata community (or, at least, I believe this to be true), and there
are very few sites running AIX for other packages (the NWS being one of
them, but they are migrating away from AIX).

So, my best advice would be to purchase an inexpensive, modern PC and
load Fedora Core 4 Linux on it.  You will then be able to run McIDAS
and other Unidata applications without the epic struggles you have gone
through in the past to get things to build.  That being said, this does
not solve your current problem.  It will be solved when your IT group
recognizes where it has instituted a block to IPs other than
128.117.15.119, and removes it/them.

>Thanks.

No worries.  Sorry for the hassels!

Cheers,

Tom
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