The SolarSoft Data Base ($SSWDB) Site Configuration

Related Documents

SolarSoft DataBase SSWDB Installation

Many SolarSoft instrument PI Teams include various calibration and ancillary data bases in an area ($SSWDB) which is seperate from the software tree ($SSW). The division permits site customization based on local analysis needs while minimizing the local disk requirements. Many of the data base sets are of limited interest and/or have very large free disk requirements and may not be desired at particular sites. Utilities are provided within the SolarSoft distribution (with an optional WWW FORM front end) to manage installation and upgrading of desired SSWDB subsets.

General Notes

Although individual $SSWDB sets may be split among multiple disk/path areas, site configuration and maintainence is simplified when the number of individual locations is minimized. In the simplest case, all of $SSWDB is organized under a single tree. If splitting of the tree is required due to limited resources or future growth, UNIX system site managers may want to make use of symbolic links to physically split the largest data bases (subdirectories under $SSWDB) onto seperate disks "transparent" to the software. If this approach is used, it is important that all machines sharing the data bases have consistant mount point names so the links will work properly for all SSW site users.

Suggestions:

Select the largest available contiguous area for the $SSWDB parent. For sites which have multiple users sharing an SSW/SSWDB installation, we suggest an NFS (or equivilent) mounted disk. For illustration, let's call this pathname/mountpoint: /LOCAL_PATH although your actual pathname will be very different.
Create a subdirectory sswdb on the desired disk/archive (ie, directly under the path you selected in step 1. above)
% mkdir /LOCAL_PATH /sswdb

The /.../sswdb directory created in the preceding steps is the top of your $SSWDB tree and various mission and instrument level data bases (branches) will be located under this - setting the 'pointers' ( environmentals) so that SSW applications will look in the correct location is accomplished by simple modification to site configuration files. Most SSW applications reference the data bases by secondary environmentals which (by default) are defined relative to $SSWDB - for the simplest site organization where all data bases are maintained under $SSWDB, this provides the single point location for mapping the SSW system to the local site hardware.

Required SSWDB site configuration:

A few fundamental, top level SSW environmentals (including $SSWDB) are mapped to local disk names using the site configuration file:

$SSW/site/setup/setup.ssw_paths

The SSW site manager (usually the person who installed SSW) may edit that file to accomodate local hardware/disk configuration changes.

In that site configuration file, modify references for at least $sdb, $SSWDB, and $ydb as follows:


  [ File: $SSW/site/setup/setup.ssw_paths]

  [..................................]
  setenv sdb   /LOCAL_PATH/sswdb          # sdb is an old $SSWDB synonym
  setenv sswdb /LOCAL_PATH/sswdb      
  [...]
  setenv ydb $SSWDB/ydb                   # may already look like this
                                          #  ydb => Yohkoh data base

  [..................................]

The site configuration file(s) are executed as part of the standard SSW setup procedure so that downline applications will refer to the locally defined system.

Descriptions of various $SSWDB data bases and procedures for installation and upgrading are found in the SSWDB Installation Document

Note about the Yohkoh Data Base, $ydb

For historical reasons, the "Yohkoh Data Base", aka $ydb actually contains many useful ancillary data bases which are independent of Yohkoh but which were developed by the Yohkoh team to provide important contextual information. For example, GOES 6,7,8,9,10 X-Ray lightcurve, GOES event listings, NOAA Active Region data bases etc. These general interest data bases, access, and analysis routines are now fully integrated within the SSW environment but (at least for the time being), the default location of these ancillary data base files is defined relative to the Yohkoh data base, $ydb. At most sites, (and suggested for new sites) the location for $ydb is $SSWDB/ydb. For sites which already have a pre-SSW installation and independent system for maintaining $ydb, they can simply substitute the existing ydb path in place of $SSWDB/ydb in the site configuration file.

freeland@penumbra.nascom.nasa.gov