* Local caching of maps and data is in use.
AWIPS2 always did some caching of this data but one of the thin client features
was the optional removal (or short-circuiting) of the “does the server have a
newer version” check/response (i.e., eliminate one potential round trip query
per fetch.) Removing round-trips was important for decent performance via
satellite links.
* There is no need for a proxy server, as httpd-pypies uses compression by
default on the EDEX machine.
Does the current Unidata version of the EDEX thrift server support compression
as well? Is the client compressing the request packets sent to EDEX/Pypies?
FYI, the other use case of the proxy configuration was to work in restricted
networks that don’t allow unusual ports to be open except dynamically to
accommodate normal web browsing (i.e. incident meteorologist who might be setup
in a hotel or school or even using airplane wifi! ).
* Unidata CAVE runs alertviz on start, the same as non-thin client mode.
Whether you could run CAVE with both ‘-alertviz’ and ‘-component thinclient’
options variously worked or broke over many different releases. Sometimes it
even varied between Windows and Linux builds in the same release, so last I
heard the combination was not officially supported.
The question is if the Unidata build supports those few extra features of
thin_client mode that eke out that last little bit of network performance
(thrift compression, “use cache only” options, don’t connect JMS, etc) and if
they are worth supporting.
> let me remind folks that Unidata does not support NWS AWIPS II, so if you
> download the NWS Windows client and have trouble connecting to a Unidata EDEX
> server, you're on your own :)
NWS CAVE to Unidata EDEX and vice-versa has never worked for me. Now that
Unidata has a MacOS client, there is not yet a common EDEX that can serve all
of Linux, MacOS, Windows.
--
Erik
From: awips2-users-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:awips2-users-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Michael James
Sent: Friday, December 11, 2015 2:25 PM
To: awips2-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [awips2-users] AWIPS2 Thin Client
Thanks for the in-depth explanation, Erik.
The current release of Unidata CAVE (14.4) makes use of many thin client mode
features (to be sure, there is no "thin client" executable separate from CAVE,
instead it's a mode of operation).
* Local caching of maps and data is in use.
* There is no need for a proxy server, as httpd-pypies uses compression by
default on the EDEX machine.
* Unidata CAVE runs alertviz on start, the same as non-thin client mode.
As for Windows, Unidata has not released a Windows client yet, but plans to.
The NWS Windows release is available at
http://collaborate2.nws.noaa.gov/partners/<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__collaborate2.nws.noaa.gov_partners_&d=CwMFaQ&c=DsZY2bea7iNIzyp-7sZ0t0F2UfNQZUfZhEPCv_2wBI0&r=QclfWik6GMvrzUddwYI95lvAzqClSLsmZgTYxAvoGGc&m=75liiZ6EearTY_LBHgAaumW-wfQ7MWrfEIuitt9OORU&s=Wp0lo3pA_stvAaa85-_XT6gJvlo2qSrjLNPca1V_mHU&e=>
in the various version subdirectories (distributed as .exe and .msi files).
For clarity, let me remind folks that Unidata does not support NWS AWIPS II, so
if you download the NWS Windows client and have trouble connecting to a Unidata
EDEX server, you're on your own :)
Michael James
Unidata Program Center
Boulder, CO
On Fri, Dec 11, 2015 at 12:04 PM, Magnuson.Erik
<Magnuson.Erik@xxxxxxxxx<mailto:Magnuson.Erik@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
Thin Client has been implemented in the NWS version of AWIPS2 since version
11.x for both Linux and Windows builds. It's described in Chapter 14 of the AUM
and Chapter 26 of the Combined SMM. Like most network programs, AWIPS2
performance depends on both latency and throughput of the link and so Thin
Client mode attempts to optimize these albeit at the cost of some loss of
functionality. In addition, AWIPS2 was designed to be have all configuration
data centrally controlled and dynamically updated but this means a lot of
round-trip client-server transactions for every action. The java serialization
of these transactions was also optimized for flexibility and not size/speed.
* The "Localization Caching" and "Map Caching" options disable checking for
new versions of this data and uses what's local. You may even pre-load all
localization data to the client which will speed CAVE startup considerably over
a slow link.
* Product data caching becomes more aggressive at the cost that partially
populated products may not be updated when complete.
* You can define a proxy server so both EDEX and Pypies use a single external
port (e.g. port 80 or port 443.) If you set this up as described, all
communications to/from the server will also utilize gzip compression (really
helps with some transactions, not so much for satellite images.)
* You can turn off the JMS push notification of new data and replace it with
timed updates.
Last I checked, Thin Client mode required AlertViz and CAVE to be started
separately (and with their respective '-component thin..." argument.)
--
Erik
________________________________________
From:
awips2-users-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:awips2-users-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
[awips2-users-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:awips2-users-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]
On Behalf Of Brendon Hoch [bhoch@xxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:bhoch@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]
Sent: Friday, December 11, 2015 11:38 AM
To: Neil Smith;
awips2-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:awips2-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [awips2-users] Teaching in a Computer Lab Environment?
[...]
I had read that NOAA and Unidata were separately working on developing a
AWIPS 2 Thin Client which would run under Windows and use remote
servers, but haven't seen any recent news regarding their efforts.
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