2. METviewer Installation Guide

2.1. Introduction

This chapter describes how to install METviewer. METviewer has been developed and tested on Linux operating systems. Support for additional platforms and compilers may be added in future releases.

2.2. Installing METviewer

METviewer relies on the following tools. These must be installed and tested prior to installing METviewer:

Java JDK 1.8+

Ant - download ant and install the latest version.

Database - METviewer works with MySQL and MariaDB. Download MySQL or download MariaDB and install the latest version. Use “SET GLOBAL max_allowed_packet=110000000;” by typing the command in MySQL and/or make the corresponding edit to /etc/my.cnf, so that the change persists after the next reboot.

Apache Tomcat - download Apache Tomcat 8 and install the latest version; test the sample JSP web apps.

Create an output directory under <Tomcat>/webapps for METviewer output files. Under this directory create 4 subdirectories: xml, plots, data, scripts

R and R packages

IMPORTANT: Starting from METviewer v4.1.0 R and R packages will be deprecated. Python packages will be used instead

download R and install the latest version. Install required R packages:

boot

plotrix

data.table

verification

gsl

Python: install Python 3.6 or higher. Create an environment (METviewer_py3.6.3) and install required packages:

Python 3.6.3
cartopy 0.18.0
cmocean
eofs
imutils 0.5.3
imageio
lxml
matplotlib 3.3.0
metcalcpy
metplotpy
metdatadb
netcdf4 1.5.1.2
numpy 1.17.0
pandas 1.0.1
plotly 4.9.0
python-kaleido 0.2.1
psutil 5.7.2
pymysql
pytest 5.2.1
pyyaml 5.3.1
scikit-image 0.16.2
scikit-learn 0.23.2
scipy 1.5.1
statsmodels 0.11.1
xarray 0.16.2
yaml

METviewer - clone METviewer repository

git clone https://github.com/dtcenter/METviewer.git

METcalcpy - clone METcalcpy repository

git clone https://github.com/dtcenter/METcalcpy.git

METplotpy - clone METplotpy repository

git clone https://github.com/dtcenter/METplotpy.git

2.2.1. Configure and build METviewer

Configure the batch and loading tools:
- Edit METviewer/bin/mv_batch.sh:
  - Set the variable JAVA to point at the desired jvm instance to run
  - Set the variable MV_HOME to point at [install]/METviewer
  - Set the variable PYTHON_ENV to point at the Python environment
  - Set the variable METCALCPY_HOME to point to METcalcpy directory
  - Set the variable METPLOTPY_HOME to point to METplotpy directory
- Edit METviewer/bin/mv_load.sh:
  - Set the variable JAVA to point at the desired jvm instance to run
  - Set the variable MV_HOME to point at METviewer
- Edit METviewer/bin/mv_prune.sh:
  - Set the variable JAVA to point at the desired jvm instance to run
  - Set the variable MV_HOME to point at METviewer
- Edit METviewer/bin/mv_scorecard.sh:
  - Set the variable JAVA to point at the desired jvm instance to run
  - Set the variable MV_HOME to point at METviewer
  - Set the variable PYTHON_ENV to point at the Python environment
  - Set the variable METPLOTPY_HOME to point to METplotpy directory
- Create a custom property file by copying METviewer/webapp/metviewer/WEB-INF/classes/build.properties to METviewer and providing custom values for the parameters:
  - Set db.host to the database server host and port, e.g. db.ncep.gov:3306
  - Set db.user and db.password to the database username and password
  - Set db.management.system to the database type - mysql or mariadb
  - Set redirect to the application name in url (ex. if the application URL is “http://www.dtcenter.org/met/metviewer/” redirect is “metviewer”)
  - Set output.dir to the absolute path of the output directory
  - Set webapps.dir to the absolute path of the Tomcat’s webapps directory
  - Set url.output to the url to the output folder
  - Set python.env to the absolute path of the Python environment directory
  - Set metcalcpy.home to the absolute path of the METcalcpy directory
  - Set metplotpy.home to the absolute path of the METplotpy directory
- Edit METviewer/webapp/metviewer/WEB-INF/classes/log4j.properties:
  - Set log4j.appender.logfile.File setting to the absolute path of a log file

Build and deploy the application:

Build METviewer and the web application. Replace the parameters values in the Ant command to what is appropriate for the user's setup:

 cd MRTviewer
 ant -Dbuild.properties.file=METviewer/build.properties \
 -Ddb.management.system=mariadb -Dmetcalcpy.path=METcalcpy/ -Dmetplotpy.path=METplotpy/\
-Dpython.env.path=METviewer_py3.6.3/  clean all

Deploy the web app to tomcat
cp METviewer/dist/metviewer.war Tomcat/webapps

Create a METviewer database:

Create a database to store MET data, which has the prefix ‘mv_’, e.g. mv_met_data:

cd METviewer
mysql -u[db_username] -p[db_password] -e'create database [db_name];'
mysql -u[db_username] -p[db_password] [db_name] < sql/mv_mysql.sql

Install test directory (for development, optional):

Check out test_data (../apps/verif/metviewer_test_data/test_data/) from CVS and move test_data directory to /d3/projects/METViewer/:
Create links to R script and sql files

cd /d3/projects/METViewer/test_data
ln -s /d3/projects/METViewer/src_dev/apps/verif/metviewer/R_tmpl R_tmpl
mkdir R_work
cd R_work
mkdir data
mkdir plots
mkdir scripts
ln -s /d3/projects/METViewer/src_dev/apps/verif/metviewer/R_work/include/ include
cd /d3/projects/METViewer/test_data/load_data/load
ln -s /d3/projects/METViewer/src_dev/apps/verif/metviewer/sql/mv_mysql.sql mv_mysql.sql

2.3. Making a Database Accessible in the METviewer Web Application

To make a new database accessible in the METviewer Web Application click on “Reload list of databases” button in the upper right corner of the main JSP page. The list of available databases should be updated and a new database should be in it.