Local System Preparation

Creating the WXP Directories

Disk space requirements

Here is a planning sheet for disk space requirements for WXP:

File Type Disk Space Required Comments
WXP binaries 30 MB yes  
WXP database files 20-30 MB yes Depends on map files downloaded
WXP HTML documentation 20 MB no Available online
DATA 100MB-2GB yes often put on separate drive or remote system

If data is to be ingested locally on the Windows PC, you should allocated anywhere from 400 MB to over 1 GB of space for data depending on the number of data feeds and the number of days to keep online.  It is recommended to create a separate disk partition to hold data.

Make sure enough space is allocated prior to downloading WXP. A rough estimate is no less than 75MB.

Directory Structure

The WXP programs themselves will not take up much disk space but the data will so local disk space requirements are not significant unless data is to be stored locally.  The documentation seen here assumes a regular directory structure.  The files may be placed under the wxphome directory (c:\wxp or d:\wxp- pick the drive).  The documentation will list "/home/wxp" or "c:\wxp" (in the Install Guide) in all examples but use the appropriate drive and directory in its place.

Once the root directory for WXP is established, it is recommended to create the following directory structure:

Directory Contents
c:\wxp\bin contains the binary executable files for WXP
c:\wxp\scripts contains specialized scripts that use WXP
c:\wxp\src contains the source code if compiling WXP
c:\wxp\lib contains the libraries created in compilation
c:\wxp\etc contains the database files used by WXP
c:\wxp\doc contains the HTML and PDF documentation
c:\wxp\ddplus
c:\wxp\hds
c:\wxp\intnl
c:\wxp\...		 FOS (Family of Services) data directories.There should be a subdirectory for each data type or source saved by the WXP ingestor.  NOTE: These directories will likely reside on a data server so they will be mounted directories such as "i:\wxp\ddplus". 
c:\wxp\data
c:\wxp\text
c:\wxp\model
c:\wxp\sat
c:\wxp\...		 NOAAPORT data directories. Multiple directories are set up for better organization of data.  NOTE: These directories will likely reside on a data server so they will be mounted directories such as "i:\wxp\data".  
c:\wxp\convert
c:\wxp\grid
c:\wxp\raw
c:\wxp\images		 WXP converted/decoded files. NOTE: This directory may reside on a data server such as "i:\wxp\convert".
WXP generated grid files
WXP generated raw files
WXP generated image files

Using a network server for data

If the data is contained on a network drive rather than on the local hard disk, you need software to access the data on the remote server.  There are several possible solutions.

If the server is a Win95/98/NT PC

It is easy to access remote drives by connecting in through the "Network Neighborhood" on the PC.  To access the drives on the remote server, make sure the drives are sharable in read/only mode and make sure to make the password to the drive is available to those users wishing to access the drive. Then just connect to the server using the "Map Drive" button on the PC.  It is recommended to make sure the drive is "reconnected at login".  Once connected, remember the drive letter and location on the new disk of the data.

If the server is a Unix platform

There are several possibilities for connecting a PC to a Unix server.  Here are two:

  1. PC-NFS or equivalent - this allows the PC to connect to a Unix drive using the NFS protocol.  This requires a PC-NFS client to be installed on the PC which will cost some money.  Refer to the documentation to map NFS drives.
  2. Samba - this allows a PC to connect to a Unix drive using the SMB protocol which is how Windows 95/98/NT share files and printers.  Samba is free and is set up on the Unix server.  Once installed, the Unix system shows up in "Network Neighborhood" and can be used as if it were a NT server.
    Note: for Unisys NOAAPORT systems, the system will show up in the "noaaport" workgroup as computer name "noaaport".  For multiple NOAAPORT sustems, the names will be noaaport1 and noaaport2.   The share names will be based on each channel: nwstg, goese, goesw, and spare.

Make sure that you have permission to read the files from the server.  WXP opens all files in shared mode so that other applications can use the files.

For further information about WXP, email devo@ks.unisys.com
Last updated by Dan Vietor on September 13, 2002