Commercial Unix Installation

The commercial version of WXP can be delivered as a collection of:

• Binaries - the actual executables compiled for different platforms
• Source - the source code for WXP allowing local compilation (special license needed)
• Databases - extraneous files used by WXP for data processing and plotting
• Documentation - this documentation either in HTML or PDF form

This installation guide outlines how to prepare the local system, how to get WXP via the web, and how prepare WXP for general use. This last step includes setting up of resources, naming conventions and cron tasks.

Data Ingest

WXP can use either archived data or real-time data.  WXP comes with its own ingestor/product manager but some sites use either the Unidata Local Data Manager (LDM) or a local ingest product such as one that comes with the data feeds.

Unisys NOAAPORT Users: You can get the NOAAPORT platform with the WXP ingestor/product manager.  This will come preconfigured for WXP.  You can mount the data drives using NFS.

Note: WXP is designed to work well with the WXP and LDM ingestors but may not work as well with others.  WXP is robust enough to handle most other data but it might require some reformatting.

Prerequisites and Recommended Downloads:

• There are no prerequites for running WXP.  Precompiled WXP binaries will run without additional software.  If you are using RPM files, some prereq libraries may need to be loaded such as libz, libjasper and libpng.
• Many of the scripting examples are either written in C-shell or Perl.  Perl may need to be loaded on the system to use those scripts.
  
• If you are using the Perl/Tk based GUI for WXP, you will need to install the Perl Tk module.  This is available from CPAN.

Installation Steps:

1. Local System Preparation
   Prepare the system for use with WXP by creating a WXP account to administer WXP, creation of WXP directory tree and required disk allocation.
2. Downloading WXP
   The next step is actually getting WXP. This includes the binaries, source, database files and documentation.
3. Setting Up Data Sources
   WXP can run from archived data or from a live feed such as NOAAPORT.
   
4. Setting Initial WXP Resources
   WXP needs to know the where data are located on the system.
5. Testing WXP
   Test WXP to make sure parameters are set properly.

Once these steps are finished, WXP is ready to be run on the system. Proceded to either the Tutorials or Users Guide to see what you can do with the main body of WXP programs.

For further information about WXP, email technical-support@weather.unisys.com
Last updated by Dan Vietor, March 2007