Installation Manual: Iris™ and Rda Software

INSTALLATION MANUAL
IRIS™ and RDA SOFTWARE
M211315EN-E
PUBLISHED BY
Vaisala Oyj Phone (int.): +358 9 8949 1

P.O. Box 26 Fax: +358 9 8949 2227
FI-00421 Helsinki
Finland
Visit our Internet pages at www.vaisala.com
© Vaisala 2016
No part of this manual may be reproduced, published or publicly displayed

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical (including
photocopying), nor may its contents be modified, translated, adapted, sold
or disclosed to a third party without prior written permission of the
copyright holder. Translated manuals and translated portions of
multilingual documents are based on the original English versions. In
ambiguous cases, the English versions are applicable, not the translations.
The contents of this manual are subject to change without prior notice.
Local rules and regulations may vary and they shall take precedence over
the information contained in this manual. Vaisala makes no
representations on this manual's compliance with the local rules and
regulations applicable at any given time, and hereby disclaims any and all
responsibilities related thereto.
This manual does not create any legally binding obligations for Vaisala
towards customers or end users. All legally binding obligations and
agreements are included exclusively in the applicable supply contract or
the General Conditions of Sale and General Conditions of Service of
Vaisala.
________________________________________________________________________________
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1 ABOUT THIS MANUAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.1 Audience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.2 Version Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.3 Related Manuals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.4 Document Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.5 Safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.6 Trademarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
CHAPTER 2 INSTALLATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.1 Before You Start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.2 Mount the CD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.3 New Software Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.3.1 Preparing for a New Software Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.3.2 Performing a New Software Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.3.3 Run Setup Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.3.4 Get Your License . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.3.5 Run sigmet_env . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.4 Initial Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.4.1 Setting Up for SCP and Other SSH Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.4.2 Setting Up for RCP and Other R Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.4.3 Serial Line Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.4.4 Shared Memory Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.4.5 Installation Security Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.5 Upgrade Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.5.1 When Should I Upgrade? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.5.2 What Should I Do Before I Upgrade? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.5.3 Where to Get Software Upgrades? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.5.4 How Should I Upgrade? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.5.5 Getting the Network Upgrade Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.5.6 Performing an Upgrade Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.5.7 Post Upgrade Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.6 Install Utility Window Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.6.1 Read From Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.6.2 Install To Option (Including Network Installs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.6.3 Manuals Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2.6.4 Product Example File Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2.6.5 IRIS WebView Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2.6.6 IRIS 3DView Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2.6.7 Verbose Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2.6.8 Keep Old Files Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
2.7 Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
VAISALA ________________________________________________________________________ 1
Installation Manual _________________________________________________________________
2.7.1 File Ownership and Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

2.7.2 Authorizing Remote X–Windows on Your Node . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
2.8 Basics of Login, Logout, and Shutdown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
2.8.1 Power-up Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
2.8.2 Local and Remote Login . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
2.8.3 Default Operator and Root Login Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
2.8.4 Login Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
2.8.5 Logout Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
2.8.6 Power-off Shutdown Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
2.9 RVP8 and RCP8 (RDA) Software Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
2.9.1 Install the Upgraded Kernal Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
2.9.2 Installation Steps to Flash FPGA in Vaisala Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
2.9.3 Reboot Power-up Check and RDA Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
2.10 RVP9 (RDA) Software Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
2.11 RDA Software Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
2.11.1 RCP8 Setup Configuration Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
2.11.2 RVP8 Setup Configuration Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
2.11.3 Configuring the softplane.conf File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
2.12 Testing, Backup, and Calibration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
2.12.1 Ascope Test (RVP8 Installations ONLY) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
2.12.2 Antenna Test (RCP Installations ONLY) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
2.12.3 IRIS Test (IRIS systems ONLY) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
2.12.4 Print Special Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
2.12.5 Make a Full Backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
2.12.6 DSP Calibration (RVP Installations ONLY) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
CHAPTER 3 UNIX SURVIVAL SKILLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

3.1 Running IRIS Utilities from a Remote Node . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
3.2 Managing an IRIS System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
3.2.1 Checking the IRIS Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
3.2.2 Reporting the Free Blocks on a Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
3.2.3 File Ownership and Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
3.3 Command Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
3.4 Linux Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
3.4.1 Backup Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
3.4.2 Time & Date . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
3.4.3 LINUX for Experienced Users of Other OS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
3.4.4 Red Hat Configuration Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
CHAPTER 4 IRIS DIAGNOSTIC UTILITIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

4.1 sigmet_env Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
4.2 ps_iris Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
4.3 restart_iris Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
4.4 show_iris Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
4.5 structmap Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
APPENDIX A INSTALLING CENTOS 7.X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

A.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
2 ____________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
________________________________________________________________________________
A.2 Creating Installation Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

A.2.1 Creating DVD Installation Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
A.2.2 Creating USB Installation Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
A.3 Automated Installation (Unattended Installation with KICKSTART) . . . . . . . . . 84
A.3.1 Booting the System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
A.4 Initial Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
A.4.1 Setting Localization Date & Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
A.4.2 Configuring the System and Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
A.4.3 Setting the Root Password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
A.4.4 Creating Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
A.4.5 Finishing the Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
A.4.6 Logging In With Your User Account . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
A.5 Manual Installation (Interactive) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
A.5.1 Booting the System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
A.5.2 Setting Localization Date & Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
A.5.3 Selecting the Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
A.5.4 Configuring the System and Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
A.5.5 System / Destination Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
A.5.6 Partitioning the Destination Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
A.5.7 Vaisala-recommended Partition Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
A.5.8 Deleting Existing Partitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
A.5.9 Creating New Partitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
A.5.10 Re-using Existing Partitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
A.5.11 Starting Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
A.5.12 Performing the Initial Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
A.5.13 Setting the Root Password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
A.5.14 Creating Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
A.5.15 Rebooting the System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
A.5.16 Logging In With Your User Account . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
APPENDIX B INSTALLING CENTOS6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

B.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
B.2 Installation Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
B.2.1 Using this Manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
B.2.2 Types of Installation Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
B.2.3 Installation Preparation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
B.3 Manual Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
B.3.1 Install CentOS6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
B.3.2 Welcome to CentOS6! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
B.3.3 Disc Found . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
B.3.4 CentOS6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
B.3.5 Installation Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
B.3.6 Keyboard Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
B.3.7 Type of Device for Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
B.3.8 Hostname . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
B.3.9 Please Name This Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
B.3.10 Time Zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
B.3.11 Set Root Password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
B.3.12 What Type of Installation Would You Like? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
B.3.13 Please Select A Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
B.0.1 Boot Loader Operating System List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
VAISALA ________________________________________________________________________ 3
B.0.2 Default Installation of CentOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

B.0.3 Package Group Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
B.3.14 About to Install . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
B.3.15 Congratulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
B.3.16 Welcome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
B.3.17 License Agreement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
B.3.18 Set Up Software Updates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
B.0.4 Create User . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
B.3.19 Date and Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
B.3.20 Kdump . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
B.0.5 Disable Firewall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
B.4 Post-Install Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
B.4.1 Configuring Your Time Zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
B.4.2 Basic Network Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
B.4.3 Routing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
B.4.4 Configuring NTP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
APPENDIX C SIGCONFIG INSTRUCTIONS FOR CENTOS6 AND 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

C.1 Automatic Sigconfig Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
C.1.1 Overview to Running Sigconfig . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
C.1.2 Creating the IRIS RDA Installation Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
C.1.3 Logging in as ROOT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
C.1.4 Opening a Terminal Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
C.1.5 Installing Media and Verifying Mount Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
C.1.6 Running SIGCONFIG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
C.1.7 Completing the Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
C.1.8 Rebooting the Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
C.1.9 Logging in as RADAROP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
C.1.10 Updating RVP9 (RDA) Firmware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
C.2 Verifying Services Are Running . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
C.3 Manual Sigconfig Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
C.3.1 Installing Additional rpms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
C.3.2 Configuring User Accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
C.3.3 Creating IRIS Root and Data Directories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
C.3.4 Installing IRIS / RDA Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
C.3.5 Configuring Home Environments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
C.3.6 Authenticating RPC (CentOs 6) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
C.3.7 Raising Maximum Shared Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
C.3.8 Configuring RDA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
C.3.9 Configuring Sound (CentOs 6) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
C.3.10 Configuring for Automatic Startup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
C.3.11 Rebooting the Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
C.4 Operator List Defined in the Startup File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
C.5 Configuring Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
C.5.1 Configuring Services for CentoOs6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
C.5.2 Configuring NTP Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
APPENDIX D LINUX SYSTEM FILE LISTINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

D.1 /etc/sigmet/profile.conf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
D.2 /etc/profile.d/sigmet.sh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
4 ____________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
________________________________________________________________________________
APPENDIX E PRINTER CONFIGURATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

E.1 Configuring Printer Queues for IRIS use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
E.1.1 Configuring a Local Printer Queue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
E.1.2 Configuring a Network Printer Queue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
E.1.3 Configuring a Remote Printer Queue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
E.2 Displaying Print Queues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
E.3 Configuring Printer Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
E.3.1 Printer Setup Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
APPENDIX F SIGBRU UTILITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

F.1 System Configuration for sigbru . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
F.1.1 Authorization to login as root on a remote system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
F.1.2 Authorization to use a remote tape drive or remote disk drive . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
F.1.3 Archive Device and Media Configuration for sigbru . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
F.2 Starting sigbru . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
F.2.1 Command Line Options for Starting sigbru . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
F.2.2 Running from a Local Terminal Window (IRIS is installed) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
F.2.3 Running from a Remote Workstation (IRIS Installed on Target System) . . . . 173
F.2.4 If IRIS is Not Installed- Start sigbru from the CDROM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
F.2.5 Copying the sigbru Files from a Local or Remote CDROM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
F.2.6 Copying the sigbru Files From Another IRIS System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
F.3 The sigbru Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
F.3.1 Title Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
F.3.2 File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
F.3.3 Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
F.3.4 Backup/Restore <host name> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
F.3.5 Archive Host (Backup and Restore) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
F.3.6 Device or HDD (Hard Disk Drive) Path (Backup Case) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
F.3.7 Device or HDD (Hard Disk Drive) Path (Restore Case) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
F.3.8 gzip Compress (Backup only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
F.3.9 Make Inventory (Restore only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
F.3.10 Restore Path (Restore Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
F.3.11 Path and Contents (Backup and Restore) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
F.3.12 Include and Exclude from Backup (Backup Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
F.3.13 Include in Restore (Restore Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
F.3.14 Tape Archive Position Features (Restore Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
F.4 Making System Backups for Linux Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
F.4.1 When Should I Backup? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
F.4.2 What Should Go into a System Backup? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
F.4.3 What Should NOT Go into a System Backup? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
F.5 Documenting Your Linux Disk Partitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
F.5.1 Running df . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
F.5.2 Running fdisk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
F.6 Documenting Your Basic Network Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
F.1 Selected File Restore Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
F.7 Linux Disk Restore Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
F.7.1 Disk Restore Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
F.7.2 Step 1: Basic Linux Installation into a Mini-Root Partition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
F.7.3 Step 2: Restore the sigbru backup to main partition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
F.7.4 Step 3: Configuring to boot from the main or mini partitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
VAISALA ________________________________________________________________________ 5
F.8 Test IRIS and Backup Your Restored System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

F.9 Disk Crash After Mini-Root is Installed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
F.10 sigbru -auto: Auto Archive Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
F.10.1 Auto Archive Enable/Disable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
F.10.2 Archive Source: Quota and Current, sigbru Polling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
F.10.3 Archive Media Use: Total and Record # . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
F.10.4 Delete Files After Archive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
6 ____________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
Chapter 1 _________________________________________________________ About This Manual
CHAPTER 1
ABOUT THIS MANUAL
This manual provides information about installing and upgrading IRIS

and RDA software.
1.1 Audience
This manual is intended for system managers responsible for installing the
software and maintaining the system. Familiarity with the operating
system and computer concepts is required.
VAISALA ________________________________________________________________________ 7
1.2 Version Information

Table 1 Manual Revisions
Manual Code Description
M211315EN-E This manual. February 2016
M211315EN-D Previous manual. Fourth version. September 2014
M211315EN-C Previous manual. Third version. November 2013
M211315EN-B Previous manual. Second version. March 2013
M211315EN-A Previous manual. First version.
1.3 Related Manuals

Table 2 Related Manuals
Manual Code Manual Name
M211316EN IRIS and RDA Utilities Manual
M211317EN IRIS Radar Manual
M211318EN IRIS Programmer’s Manual
M211319EN IRIS Product and Display Manual
M211320EN RCP8 User's Manual
M211321EN RVP8 User's Manual
M211322EN RVP900 User's Manual
M211452EN IRIS and RDA Dual Polarization User’s Manual
8 ____________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
Chapter 1 _________________________________________________________ About This Manual
1.4 Document Conventions

Different typefaces, type styles, and phraseology indicate specific user
interactions with the system as illustrated in Table 3.
Table 3 Document Conventions

$ The dollar sign is shows the
# operating system prompt, though
it may differ from one system to
the next. On UNIX systems, the
pound sign is also used to indicate
the superuser's operating system
prompt. Prompts specific to a
utility are shown as they are
displayed by the utility.
user input command parameter User input and command syntax
are printed in bold, monospaced
type. User-supplied parameters are
shown in italics. Enter the
command as shown and supply the
appropriate parameter or argument
values. All commands are
terminated by pressing the Enter
button (not shown). In addition,
UNIX filenames and keywords are
printed in bold, monospaced type
when referenced within the text.
Command output Some commands generate output.
The text of this output is displayed
in monospaced type.
Ctrl + X Some key sequences require you
to press the Control key and
another key at the same time.
When you see this notation, hold
down the Ctrl button and press the
specified key.
VAISALA ________________________________________________________________________ 9
1.5 Safety
Throughout the manual, important safety considerations are highlighted
as follows:
WARNING Warning alerts you to a serious hazard. If you do not read and follow
instructions very carefully at this point, there is a risk of injury or even
death.
CAUTION Caution warns you of a potential hazard. If you do not read and follow
instructions carefully at this point, the product could be damaged or
important data could be lost.
NOTE Note highlights important information about using the product.
1.6 Trademarks
IRIS™ is a trademark of Vaisala Oyj.
Linux® is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.
Red Hat® and Enterprise Linux® are registered trademarks of Red Hat, Inc
in the United States and other countries.
UNIX® is a registered trademark of The Open Group.
All other company and product names may be trademarks of their

respective companies.
10 ___________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
Chapter 2 ________________________________________________________________ Installation
CHAPTER 2
INSTALLATION
2.1 Before You Start

The IRIS and RDA software is supplied on a DVD containing files that
work on Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® 6 (RHEL6) for servers.
Additionally, installation files may be downloaded at
ftp.sigmet.vaisala.com. We provide an X-Windows based install utility for
installing the software on local or remote systems.
Before you install the IRIS/RDA software, do the following:
1. Check the operating system version. Verify that the operating system
level is at least CentOS5 or Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (RHEL5) for
desktops. See Appendix A, Installing CentOS 7.x on page 81 for
installation details. Other Linux brands work as long as the kernel
version is at least 2.6.9.
NOTE Vaisala does not provide support for operating system specific support
questions on other Linux brands.
NOTE Vaisala provides an automated installation procedure for installing

RHEL5.
2. Use the following sections to perform a new install or upgrade:

• "Mount the CD" on page 12
• "New Software Installation" on page 13
VAISALA ________________________________________________________________________11
• "Initial Configuration" on page 17

• "Upgrade Installation" on page 22
• "Install Utility Window Options" on page 29
• "Troubleshooting" on page 33
• "Basics of Login, Logout, and Shutdown" on page 34
• "RVP8 and RCP8 (RDA) Software Installation" on page 37
• "RVP9 (RDA) Software Installation" on page 39
• "Testing, Backup, and Calibration" on page 60
2.2 Mount the CD

1. Log into the system as 'root' and start the X-Windows environment (if
it is not already running) with:
startx
2. Insert the CD into the CD-ROM drive.

The system must mount the CD. The installation scripts expect the CD
to be mounted at:
/mnt/cdrom
If Linux automounts it, record the mount device using df, and unmount
it with:
# umount /dev/cdrom
3. Mount it with:
# mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom
NOTE On a new system, you may need to first create the /mnt/cdrom
directory with the following command:
# mkdir /mnt/cdrom
Type of installation:
12 ___________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
• If this is a new installation, go to "Performing a New Software

Installation" on page 14
• If this is an upgrade, go to "Performing a New Software Installation"
on page 14
For a general description of the install utility and its options, "Install
Utility Window Options" on page 29.
2.3 New Software Installation
2.3.1 Preparing for a New Software

Installation
Follow the instructions in this section if you are installing a new
IRIS/RDA system. If you are upgrading from a previous IRIS/RDA
version, go to "Upgrade Installation" on page 22.
If you used the sigconfig script described in:
• Appendix A, Installing CentOS 7.x on page 81

• Appendix B Installing CentOS6 on page 107
go to "Run Setup Utility" on page 16.
If this is a new installation on a new computer or a new hard disk, read

Appendix A, Installing CentOS 7.x on page 81 before proceeding.
1. Check that there is enough disk space.

The IRIS/RDA software uses about 100 megabytes on the disk. The
data stored on disk by IRIS typically uses at least 100 megabytes.
Thus, you need at least 200 megabytes of free space on the disk before
the installation is begun. The software and data can be on separate
disks, if desired. If there is not enough space, unnecessary files should
be deleted before proceeding. You can see the amount of free disk
space using the df command.
2. Check for conflicting user names.
The IRIS software (including the installation procedure itself) requires
the creation of two new login names: operator and observer. If
either of these names are already in use, they must be changed. You
may, however, use any convenient (new or old) group name for these
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 13
two new login names. In this discussion, it is assumed that the group
name is "users". Use the redhat–config–users or linuxconf utility on
Linux to make the changes.
NOTE Do not proceed without making these login name modifications. The
install utility cannot run if the operator name is undefined. If this is a
new system (OS installation) see Appendix A, Installing CentOS 7.x on
page 81 and run sigconfig from the CD.
3. Choose an anchor point for the IRIS directory tree.
2.3.2 Performing a New Software

Installation
Log into the system as 'operator' and start the X-windows environment.
Become the 'superuser' by using the su command and supplying the
appropriate password. (NOTE: If you are performing a network-based
install to option, it is not necessary to become the 'superuser' – see "Local
and Remote Login" on page 34). You can run the sigconfig script, which
modifies the OS, and also installs IRIS as an alternative.
NOTE A new installation completely overwrites any existing files in the

${IRIS_ROOT}/bin, and ${IRIS_ROOT}/config trees. Make sure
you do not have any irreplaceable data in these areas before
proceeding.
To install a new software installation:
• For Linux systems (IRIS):
# cd /mnt/cdrom/RHEL5/iris
• For Linux systems (RDA):
# cd /mnt/cdrom/RHEL5/rda
• For all systems:

# ./install
14 ___________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
Figure 1 New Install Dialog Box

1. In the What to Install section of the install utility window, select the
New Installation box (as shown in Figure 1 ).
NOTE If you are performing a RDA and IRIS install, first install the IRIS
software, then install the RDA software with the Keep Old Files box
selected.
2. Optionally, you may select other support software packages to install

by selecting the appropriate boxes (IRIS WebView, IRIS 3DView,
etc.).
3. Click Start.
The installation utility takes a few minutes to complete and prints

progress messages as it runs.
4. Once installation is complete, unmount the CD-ROM by:
# cd /
or
# eject /mnt/cdrom
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 15
5. Continue with the following sections to complete the installation

process and required configuration.
NOTE For a detailed description of the full capabilities of the install utility, see
"Install Utility Window Options" on page 29.
Now for a new OS installation, run the sigconfig steps manual as

described in Appendix A, Installing CentOS 7.x on page 84 (CentOS5) or
C.3 Sigconfig on page 136 (RHEL5).
2.3.3 Run Setup Utility

Use the setup utility to configure your software (this utility is described in
detail in the IRIS and RDA Utilities Manual).
$ setup
Successful operation of setup does indicate that the utilities can modify
the configuration files. All of the configurations in the setup utility should
be checked for your system.
If your system is an analysis or display system, be sure to set that in the

General setups, and in the RVP section specify that there is no processor,
and the RCP should specify that there is no antenna.
If your system is a radar system (i.e. connected to an antenna/signal

processor) the values in the RVP and RCP sections of setup are
particularly important. These need considerable fine tuning before the
RCP can be controlled accurately. For example, the maximum antenna
speeds in both azimuth and elevation should be set at least six degrees per
second slower than the maximum the antenna can go. To check how fast it
can go, widen the limits, then run the antenna utility to see where it
maxes out. The antenna utility is also discussed in the IRIS and RDA
Utilities Manual.
Finally, in the license section of the utility, enter a desired site name.
Make sure that this is unique and somehow relates to your radar site. Also,
if you plan on sharing data with others, it is important that the site name is
recognizable.
16 ___________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
2.3.4 Get Your License

Run show_machine_code, which displays licensing information for your
system — Machine code, Check code, Site ID, and OS Version number.
For new installations, you need to get a new license number from
Vaisala.
Contact Vaisala ([email protected]) with the information

supplied by show_machine_code, and for the license numbers If the
machine code is the same as on your current license, no upgrade is
required.
When you receive the new license, run the setup utility and click the
License button. Type the numbers at the Features License and
Products License prompts.
For display systems, please use our free IRIS/Display license service on
our web site (http://www.vaisala.com).
2.3.5 Run sigmet_env

Run the sigmet_env utility program. It checks for obvious mistakes like
directories which do not exist. The sigmet_env defaults to IRIS only
systems, to check the directories on an RDA system, run sigmet_env –
rda.
2.4 Initial Configuration
2.4.1 Setting Up for SCP and Other SSH

Commands
This is the preferred method for copying files between systems. First
verify that the ssh daemon is running on both systems. This can be done
with the command:
$ ps –aef | grep sshd
To turn on sshd run the following command as root:
# chkconfig --add sshd
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 17
This program is configured with the file /etc/ssh/sshd_config. The default

file should work for basic IRIS scp needs. In order to authorize opening X
applications on your display afer ssh'ing to a remote machine, edit the file
to add the following line (You can get the same effect by always typing
"ssh –X"):
X11Forwarding yes
The security authorization is different for each user, so be sure to run all
the applicable commands while logged in as operator. On the source
machine generate your private key with the following command:
$ ssh–keygen –t dsa
You are prompted for a password, enter blank for no password. This
creates the directory $HOME/.ssh with the files: id_dsa and id_dsa.pub.
Copy the contents of the id_dsa.pub file to all the target machines.
Append it to the $HOME/.ssh/authorized_keys file. If there is no such
file, then rename it to match. Ssh is picky about directory protections,
the.ssh directory must have protection 755. Now test by trying a simple
command like:
$ ssh target date
The first time this is run, it asks you to confirm the target host. You should
not receive a prompt for a password. If you are asked for a password,
there is a problem, check the /var/log/secure log file.
Because the IRIS daemons run as root, you must copy the radarop key
files to the /root/.ssh directory. This is a bit tricky because root does not
have read access to the /home/radarop/.ssh files. Use the following
commands:
$ cd
$ cd .ssh
$ cp id_dsa* /tmp
$ su –
# mkdir –m 700 .ssh

# cd .ssh
# cp /tmp/id_dsa* ./
Log out and back in again so the new ssh files can take effect:
# exit
$ su –
Now test in a similar way by trying a simple command like:
18 ___________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
# ssh radarop@target date
Again, the first time this is run, it asks you to confirm the target host.
After you get this working, delete the temporary file copies:
# exit
$ cd /tmp
$ rm id_dsa*
2.4.2 Setting Up for RCP and Other R

Commands
Old IRIS systems use the rcp shell command internally to copy product
files between computers over the network. For security reasons, this
feature is by default blocked, and requires configuration to enable it.
There are two mechanisms to configure the remote commands: The

~/.rhosts file and the /etc/hosts.equiv file. These files are placed on the
receiving computer to enable access from the outside world. The .rhosts
file is placed in each user's login directory, and the hosts.equiv file is
placed in the /etc directory and applies system wide. We recommend
using the hosts.equiv file and checking to make sure there is no .rhosts file
for the applicable users. Note that root requires a private .rhosts file to do
rcp. This file is basically a list of hostnames and user names. Though
wildcarding is allowed, we recommend adding every host and user who
needs it.
This can be little tricky to configure, so always test manually. The

development cycle is very simple. Test with an rsh command like:
$ rsh target date
If it fails, then edit the hosts.equiv file and try again. Once the rsh
commands are working, the rcp commands should work. A good starting
point it to rsh to your own host to see if it works. If that does not work
then certainly you cannot expect it to work from other hosts.
Table 1 Sample /etc/hosts.equiv File

# Comments allowed
radar.company.com operator
analysis.company.com operator
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 19
2.4.3 Serial Line Setup

Set World Read/Write Permission:
Each serial device must be set so that users can read and write to it. For a
device called /dev/ttyS0, you can test this with the following command:
# chmod 666 /dev/ttyS0
The permissions change back to the default values during the bootup
process. To set this at boot on RHEL6 and RHEL5 create the file
/etc/udev/rules.d/10-sigmet.rules. Insert a line which reads:
KERNEL=="ttyS0", NAME="%k", GROUP="uucp", MODE="0666",

OPTIONS="last_rule"
Note that the "tty" is the group owner, which may vary on different
systems. Check what yours should be by first typing:
$ ls –l /dev/ttyS*
Disable Modem Manager:
If your serial device supports modem control lines, then the modem
manager daemon checks if there is a modem attached. This causes the
device to be busy at boot time, and causes the device lock up on open.
This happens, for example with a USB-to-serial converter. Please disable
this by adding a command like this to your /etc/udev/rules.d/10–
sigmet.rules file:
ATTRS{idVendor}==”067b”, ATTRS{idProduct}==”2303”,
ENV{ID_MM_DEVICE_IGNORE}=”1”
Disable Logins on the Serial Lines:
A problem that sometimes arises when assigning the computer’s serial

lines to IRIS is that the system may already be running a getty process to
log users onto that line. This process must be removed before IRIS can
use the serial line. On RHEL6, this is controlled by the /etc/sysconfig/init
file. On RHEL5 systems, there are command statements in the /etc/inittab
file that startup getty. These should be modified or commented out
(using a ’#’ at the beginning of the line).
20 ___________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
2.4.4 Shared Memory Size

On RHEL systems there is a system kernel parameter which determines
the maximum shared memory allowed. The default size varies on
different OS versions, but it often is 32 MB. Typically this causes a
problem allocating the product inventory in IRIS, with an error such as:
EINVAL; Invalid argument <shmget iris_products (52975876

bytes)>
If you do not need it, you can lower the maximum products on disk to
60,000 in setup/general. Or you can raise the limit on your system by
editing the /etc/sysctl.conf file and adding a line which reads, for example:
kernel.shmmax = 100000000
Then reboot for this to take effect.
2.4.5 Installation Security Issues

During the course of an installation, the install utility needs to perform
certain root level privileged operations. Such operations include the
setting of the ownership and mode of certain IRIS executables. Because
normally the install utility is run by the root user, these operations are
allowed without question.
In the case of doing a network based installation using the "INSTALL

TO" option, this installation method is not performed by root, but is
instead performed by the operator. To grant the user operator the
permission required to do these privileged operations, the iris install
utility uses the Unix sudo facility.
By use of the sudo utility, the operator effectively is allowed to execute

the install utility as the superuser. There are some minor security
implications of this. Under most circumstances it is fine for the operator
to perform these operations. If you wish to allow the operator to perform
these actions (normal scenario), then no special action is required – just
run install as documented in the following sections.
By disabling the root privileges for the install utility, when doing a
network based "INSTALL TO" installation, after the install is finished,
you must login to the remote system as root to complete the privileged
part of the installation. The install utility prompts you with the exact
command to execute in this case.
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 21
2.5 Upgrade Installation
2.5.1 When Should I Upgrade?

If your system is operational and you do not require the new features of a
release, then often the best thing is to NOT upgrade. Check the release
notes available at www.vaisala.com/sigmet in the customer support
section to see what changes have been made since your current release
was installed. Be sure to check the release notes for all intervening
releases.
To check the release that you have currently installed, you can type the
command:
$ show_machine_code –version
IRIS Version 8.00 (indicates version 8.00)
2.5.2 What Should I Do Before I Upgrade?

1. Save customized files.
As part of the upgrade, many of the files in the tree are erased and
replaced. If you have placed anything important there, be sure to save it
first. The upgrade procedure preserves everything in ${IRIS_CONFIG}.
2. Print the current setup.
Run the setup utility on the old system and generate an ASCII listing
file with the File/List command. The format of these files can change
between software versions. Therefore, some of the information may
have to be entered again.
3. Before you can upgrade, you must make certain that all sigmet
applications are stopped. You can do this by exiting any IRIS/RDA
utilities that you are running and executing the following commands.
22 ___________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
For IRIS:
$ qiris
$ qant
For RDA:
$ su
# service rvp8 stop (or service rcp8 stop)
# service dspexport stop
Then type ps_iris to verify that all sigmet processes are stopped. If
there are remaining processes, you can stop them as root with the "kill
<process ID number>" command. The process ID number is the first
column of numbers from the ps_iris output.
2.5.3 Where to Get Software Upgrades?

The RVP8 and RCP8 (collectively the RDA) and IRIS are active products.
New features and bug repairs are provided in the form of software
upgrades. Software upgrades from Vaisala can be obtained from two
sources:
• FTP (Internet) Upgrades—These are available from ftp.sigmet.com.

For example, to obtain the release RDA 8.00 you would go to:
ftp.sigmet.com/outgoing/releases/8.X.X
"Getting the Network Upgrade Files" on page 24 shows a typical ftp

session. These public releases are FREE of charge but do not include
support services unless you are under warranty or have purchased a
support contract from Vaisala. Contact [email protected] if
you need to arrange a support contract.
• CDROM Upgrades— These are provided as part of a support contract
or upon request.
2.5.4 How Should I Upgrade?

There are two basic upgrade techniques:
• Upgrade using "install" utility—This is the preferred technique since

it leaves all configuration files intact. This is described in "Performing
an Upgrade Installation" on page 27.
• CD–ROM Operating System Upgrade & Vaisala software Full Re-
Install—Backup your configuration files and network files and then do
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 23
an install from scratch as described in Appendix A, Installing CentOS

7.x on page 81. Then restore your configuration files to the new
installation. This is the preferred technique only when it is required
that you upgrade the operating system which might be necessary in the
event of hardware or new hardware.
Once you have decided on either a network or CDROM upgrade, then

proceed with the upgrade installation as described in the sections below.
2.5.5 Getting the Network Upgrade Files

There are two ways to get the network upgrade files. Both techniques use
ftp to get the files from ftp.sigmet.com. The ftp client service allows you
to run an ftp session and "get" files from another networked computer:
• Use your IRIS workstation/RVP8/RCP8/RCW to get the files— a

one-step procedure that requires that you have internet access.
• Use another machine on the network— a two-step procedure to first
ftp the files to another computer, and then "get" them from this
machine by running ftp on the IRIS workstation/RVP8/RCP8/RCW.
Note that an alternative is to copy the files to a CDROM.
Both techniques require some familiarity with ftp. Here we assume that
our computer with the name sigcomp has direct internet access (the one-
step procedure). The two-step procedure is similar.
One-step Approach: Direct Download:
• On your IRIS Workstation/RVP8/RCP8/RCW create a directory called

/tmp/iris-X.XX. If you are also downloading RDA software, use a
separate directory named /tmp/rda-X.XX. Here the X.XX is the version
number of the RDA software that you want to install. This naming
convention makes it easy to identify the version of the install files. You
should make a directory for each version and type (IRIS/RDA) of
software that you download. As operator type (assuming version
8.11.0 for all examples here):
$ cd /
$ mkdir /tmp/rda–8.11.0
• Position yourself in the /tmp directory by typing:

$ cd /tmp/rda-8.11.0
24 ___________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
Note that on a windows machine, all of the commands below can be typed
in the MS–DOS prompt window (remember to use the "\" backslash for
DOS).
• Start ftp and follow the sample session below (your responses are
indicated by bold)
$ ftp ftp.sigmet.com
Connected to ftp.sigmet.com
220 Welcome to Vaisala Westford Operations FTP Serve
Name: anonymous
331 Guest login ok, send your complete e-mail address as
password.
Password: <Use your email address>
230 Guest login ok, access restrictions apply.
ftp> cd outgoing/releases/
ftp> dir
• You see a directory listing of available releases. You are looking for an
8.11.0 release, then:
ftp> cd 8.11.0
ftp> dir
• Enter the appropriate directory for your OS version. Round the version
down, so if you are running RHEL5.1, use RHEL5:
ftp> cd RHEL5
ftp> dir
• In the listing of the release type, look for the "rda" release, then:
ftp> cd rda
ftp> dir
• When you see a list of files with file sizes, download all the files. The
absolute minimum required files for an upgrade are:
app.gz
install
install.gz
install.rf
instiris
tplates.gz
• Make a list of the files that you want to download including at least the
six files in the list above. Of the other files on the FTP site, man.tgz
contains the manuals, and web.tgz contains the IRIS/Web feature
which you might not need. Prepare to download by selecting BINARY
file transfer:
ftp> bin
200 Type set to I.
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 25
NOTE Important: If you do not specify BINARY transfer, the download does
not work.
• Now "get" the files, for example:

ftp> get app.tgz
200 PORT command successful.
150 Opening BINARY mode data connection for app.gz
(4897560 bytes)
226 Transfer complete.
You get a confirmation that BINARY transfer is being used and the
size of the file in bytes is displayed. Depending on the size of the file
and the speed of your connection, the download could take many
minutes. When the file transfer is completed, you get a confirmation
message.
You can also use the multiple get command "mget" to get all the files:
ftp> mget *
You are prompted for each file download so you can still pick-and-
choose by typing "y" or "n" to select (yes or no).
• After you have downloaded all of the files, then end your session by
typing:
ftp> quit
221 Goodbye
$ (back to UNIX prompt)
For the one-step approach, you have all of the files that you need in the
directory /tmp/rda-8.11.0 on the RVP8.
Completing the Two-step Approach Using Another Computer:
The two step approach is to use another computer to get the upgrade files
and then get these files on the RVP8. The first step of getting the files
from Vaisala is done analogus to the one-step approach described above.
The second step is to ftp the files from the other computer to the RVP8.
This is also analogous to the procedure described above. You may also
put the files on a CDROM, mount the CDROM on the RVP8, and then
copy the files to the RVP8.
The end result of all these procedures is that the upgrade files are on the
RVP8 in a directory called /tmp/rda-X.XX. N
26 ___________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
Set the Modes on the Files:
Become root using the su command and password. Go to the RVP8

directory where the files were downloaded and change the mode on two
of the files that require execute privilege, i.e.,
# cd /tmp/rda-8.11.0
# chmod +x install
# chmod +x instiris
You are now ready to move on to the next section.
2.5.6 Performing an Upgrade Installation

If you are upgrading from a previous Vaisala system:
1. Login to the system as 'operator'.

2. If it is not already running, start the X windows environment.
3. Become the superuser by using the 'su' command and supplying the
appropriate password (Note network installations do not use root–see
"Install To Option (Including Network Installs)" on page 31).
WARNING Warning: An upgrade installation overwrites any existing files in the

${IRIS_ROOT}/bin tree. Backup any important files before proceeding.
LINUX SYSTEMS (IRIS):
# cd /mnt/cdrom/RHEL5/iris
LINUX SYSTEMS (RDA):
# cd /mnt/cdrom/RHEL5/rda
# ./install
4. In the What to Install section of the install utility window, select

Upgrade.
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 27
Figure 2 Upgrade Install Dialog Box

5. Optionally, select other optional software packages to install in the
What to Install section.
6. When you are ready to perform the installation, select Start.
NOTE If you are performing a RDA and IRIS install, first install the IRIS
software. Then select Keep Old Files and install the RDA software.
The installation script takes a few minutes to complete and prints progress
messages as it runs.
7. When the installation is complete, unmount the CDROM.

# cd /
# eject /mnt/cdrom
8. If you are updating RDA software in a system with RVP901

(RVP9IFDR), you must also update the RVP901 Software. See "RVP9
28 ___________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
(RDA) Software Installation" on page 39.
2.5.7 Post Upgrade Tasks

Because some setup files may have changed formats, please run the
following command:
$ makeAsciiSetups
2.6 Install Utility Window Options

The install utility is on the distribution CDROM, as well as in the
${IRIS_ROOT}/install directory after installation.
Figure 3 Install Dialog Box
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 29
The first section is labeled Install from/to. This default information

(shown above) assumes that the installation is from the directory from
which the installation was run, and are installing to the default directory
(/usr/sigmet) in the local computer. In "Install Utility Window Options"
on page 29, other options for Install from/to are discussed.
The second section is labeled What to Install. In this section, you choose
which of many different files to install. Depending on which button(s) are
pressed, there are three basic different installation that can be performed:
• A New Installation of the software.

• An Upgrade installation on a system where an older version is already
installed.
• Do not install the application software. Install one or more optional
support software packages such as Manuals, IRIS Product
Examples, IRIS WebView, or IRIS 3DView. See "Install Utility
Window Options" on page 29.
Note that when doing either a New or Upgrade installation, you can also
install at the same time one or more of the optional support software
packages.
2.6.1 Read From Option

The install utility allows for the files used in the installation to come from
one of three different locations. The default location is the DIR this means
that the installation program automatically populates the Read From
option with the path where the install command was run (this implicitly
works for CDROMs). However, by using the Read From button, you can
choose to access the files also from either the files already installed on
your system (Local option).
When selecting the DIR option, you can type a directory in manually.
When selecting the Local option, the files are taken from the local
installation of IRIS or RDA already in this computer and copied to
another destination. In this case in the box to the right of the Read From
button, you must fill in the location of the root directory of the IRIS
software on your local system. By default this is the translation of the
IRIS_ROOT environment variable, but you can override this if you wish.
When selection the Dir option, this implies that the files are taken from a
temporary directory on the local computer and copied to another
destination. In this case in the box to the right of the Read From button
30 ___________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
which is automatically populated with the directory where ./install was

executed from.
2.6.2 Install To Option (Including Network

Installs)
The Install To fields must be entered in the install window. These fields
choose where the IRIS software are installed. By default, these fields are
be filled-in, in such a way that the IRIS software is installed to the local
system in the default /usr/sigmet directory.
However, with the Install To fields, you can choose to install the software
to any other computer on your network, or to any directory on your
computer.
To install to a remote computer (Network Install), you must run the

install utility as operator rather than from root:
$ cd /usr/sigmet/install
$ ./install
In the install utility window, enter the nodename of the remote computer
that you are installing to in the Install To field. And if you wish to install
to a directory that is different from /usr/sigmet, enter this directory into
the Dir box immediately to the right of the Install To box.
These network installations are very convenient, as if you update a single

system on your network from a CDROM by choosing all of the default
options in the Install from/to section of the install utility, you can then
install from the Local directory of this first machine (Local option) to
every other machine on your network by putting their hostnames, one at
time, into the Install To field. This is a big time saving operation.
After the software has been installed on the remote machine, you must
complete the procedure by setting the ownerships, modes, and application
defaults on the remote machine itself. This can be done by way of a
remote login (as root), as in:
# rlogin Remote_Machine –l root
# cd /usr/sigmet/install
# ./instiris –setown –v
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 31
2.6.3 Manuals Option

To install the Online Manuals, prior to starting the install, press the
Manuals button in the What to Install section of the install utility.
This installs both the online manuals and the viewer program. It uses
approximately 38 MB of disk space. Generally the online manuals are
more up to date than the printed versions.
2.6.4 Product Example File Option

When using a IRIS/RDA release CDROM, it is possible to install
example Product and Raw Product files. To do so, press the Product
Examples button prior to clicking Start. Also, you must fill in the
Product and the Raw fields next to the Product Example button. These
fields are automatically filled in with default installation directories for
IRIS Products and IRIS Raw Products. If you use different directories for
these products, edit these fields prior to starting the install.
This places a number of IRIS type product files in the above directories.
These files can either be viewed directory, or may be re–ingested to make
other products.
2.6.5 IRIS WebView Option

IRIS WebView can be installed on an IRIS analysis machine used for
serving pictures over the internet.
2.6.6 IRIS 3DView Option

IRIS 3DView can be installed either on an IRIS analysis machine, or a
machine without IRIS at all. Refer to the IRIS Product & Display Manual
for more details.
2.6.7 Verbose Option

Normally, install does its work silently, and prints only minimal progress
messages as it runs. To see more details, press the Verbose button prior to
clicking Start.
32 ___________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
2.6.8 Keep Old Files Option

This option should only be used when upgrading or installing a computer
system that has both RDA and IRIS software installed. When using this
option, make sure that to install IRIS first and then install the RDA
software with this button pressed. It prevents install from erasing the IRIS
files just installed. The Product Examples button never erases old data.
2.7 Troubleshooting
2.7.1 File Ownership and Protection

Sometimes there are problems after an installation with access to some of
the files. Typically, this is evidenced by an error message saying that the
user does not have privilege to do an operation. This can happen when
starting a program or when calibration files are accessed. If you should
have this problem, run the instiris script, as shown below:
# instiris –setown
This procedure goes through the /usr/sigmet directory tree, changing the
owner of all files to operator and setting the protection, as follows:
• Directories—rwxrwxr–x
• All files, except executable files—rwrw–r--
• Executable files—rwsrwsr–x
Always use instiris –setown to fix the protection of your files. Do not
try to change the protection of these files yourself.
2.7.2 Authorizing Remote X–Windows on

Your Node
To allow IRIS systems running on other nodes to send output to your
screen, enter the command:
$ xhost +<host>
Where <host> is your remote hostname, or IP address. Once you have

this working to your satisfaction, edit your /etc/profile.d/sigmet.sh file and
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 33
put the appropriate command at the end of the file. This causes it
authorize the windows as soon an anyone logs in. You can also put such a
command in your home directory .bash_profile file if you want just one
user to authorize.
2.8 Basics of Login, Logout, and Shutdown
2.8.1 Power-up Procedure

When you power-up the computer, the system goes through an automatic
startup of the operating system at the end of which the software starts and
performs power–up self tests. See both the RVP8 & RCP8 User's
Manuals.
If you are not doing any diagnostic or software maintenance work on the
system, there is no need to log-in after power-up; simply turn the unit on
and your application software takes over.
2.8.2 Local and Remote Login

There are two ways to login to a SIGMET system:
• Local login—the local keyboard, mouse, and monitor can be used, or

via a KVM.
• Remote login—if telnet is enabled you can use this for remote access.
Check with your network administrator.
For the remainder of this discussion it is assumed that local login is used.
2.8.3 Default Operator and Root Login

Passwords
There are two default users defined in the standard software installation:
• Root (with password: xxxxxxxx; 8 lower case x)—this is for operating

system maintenance functions.
• Operator (with password: xxxxxx; 6 lower case x)—this is for
SIGMET application software maintenance functions.
34 ___________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
These are all described in detail in the IRIS and RDA Utilities Manual.
Your system administrator can change either of these passwords by using

standard Linux password support.
2.8.4 Login Procedure
2.8.4.1 Local Login as Operator After Power-up

1. Connect keyboard, mouse, and monitor and then cycle power on the
system to force a reboot. This causes Linux to recognize these devices
on power-up.
2. At the power-up login prompt, type operator and press Enter.
3. When prompted, provide the appropriate password (factory default is
xxxxxx, 6 lower case x).
An X-Window screen appears.
4. Right-click the mouse and select New Window to get a terminal
window.
The top of the terminal window shows, for example:
operator on rvp8–1 : /home/operator
that is, your user name, the node name of the system, and the current
directory path.
NOTE If you would like to have a terminal with a bigger font, you can type
sigterm.
2.8.4.2 Switching from Operator to Root Login Using

"su"
The easiest way to switch to a root login for system administration work is
to type the super user command su and then give the root password. The
prompt changes from $ to # indicating that you are root.
2.8.4.3 Exiting "su" Root Login to Return to Operator

In an X–terminal where you have become the "super user (su)", type exit
to return to operator. The prompt changes from # to $.
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 35
2.8.4.4 Local Root Login after Power-up

To login as root after a power–up or after exiting X–Windows, type root
and press Enter at the login prompt, then give the appropriate password
(factory default is xxxxxxxx; 8 lower case x).
You are in a full screen terminal. This is not as convenient as X–Windows

since only one terminal can be displayed on the screen.
NOTE If you need a second full screen terminal type Alt+F2. You can return to
your original terminal by typing Alt+F1. The other function keys can
provide additional terminals.
2.8.5 Logout Procedure
2.8.5.1 Logout from X-Windows

• Method 1: Right-click the mouse and select Exit.
• Method 2: Simultaneously press Ctrl+Alt+Backspace on the
keyboard.
You are logged out and the screen shows the initial login prompt on the
full screen terminal.
2.8.5.2 Root Logout from Full Screen Terminal

If you logged–in as root from the power-up full screen terminal.
2.8.6 Power-off Shutdown Procedure
NOTE If you need to swap PCI cards in the chassis, you must first do a power-
off shutdown.
1. As either operator or root type poweroff. The system goes through a

shutdown sequence. When it is done "Power down" is displayed.
2. Press the power switch located on the right lower front of the chassis.
36 ___________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
2.9 RVP8 and RCP8 (RDA) Software Installation
2.9.1 Install the Upgraded Kernal Module

After you upgrade you may get an error message saying that there is a
kernel module mismatch. This is easily fixed by rebooting. As an
alternative you can restart the kernel module with the following
commands:
# service rdasys stop
# service rdasys start
2.9.2 Installation Steps to Flash FPGA in

Vaisala Devices
To install FPGA software into each of the Vaisala components, you must
make an inventory of what is in your system and then issue an rdaflash
command to each one:
1. Login as operator (with password xxxxxx (6 x)

You enter X–Windows.
2. Right-click the mouse and start a terminal window.
3. For each Vaisala component type the appropriate command:
Vaisala Component Unit ID If RVP8, type:

Standard RVP8/Rx Card -0 rdaflash -program rvp8rx–0
Standard I/O-62 Card -0 rdaflash -program io62–0
Standard Connector Panel -0 rdaflash -program io62cp–0
Standard RVP8/IFD -0 rdaflash -program rvp8ifd–0
Optional RVP8/Tx Card -0 rdaflash -program rvp8tx–0
Optional 2nd RVP8/Rx -1 rdaflash -program rvp8rx–1
If RVP8, type:
Standard I/O-62 Card -0 rdaflash -program io62–0
Standard Connector Panel -0 rdaflash -program io62cp–0
4. Perform a system shutdown by typing poweroff
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 37
5. When "Power down" is displayed, turn power off with power switch
on lower right of front panel.
This completes the FPGA software installation.
2.9.3 Reboot Power-up Check and RDA

Diagnostics
After you have completed the installation steps above, reboot the unit.
You can observe the progress of the reboot on the monitor. The front
panel LED display shows the time of the reboot and display diagnostic
messages. The complete reboot takes about 1 minute.
After the reboot is complete:
1. Login as operator.
2. Right-click to start a terminal window.
3. Stop the rvp8 (or rcp8) process by typing:
$ killall rvp8 (or rcp8)
4. Run the following diagnostics and observe the results:

(for RVP8 and RCP8 systems)
$ rdadiags io62–0 tests I/O–62
$ rdadiags io62cp-0 tests connector panel.
Requires test cable
(for RVP8 systems only)
$ rdadiags rvp8rx-0
5. Run the diagnostics for any optional RVP8 cards such as:
$ rdadiags rvp8tx–0 tests RVP8/Tx
$ rdadiags rvp8rx–1 tests 2nd RVP8/Rx
6. Restart the RVP8 or RCP8 process by typing (for the RVP8 example):
$ rvp8 & or rcp8 &
7. Verify that the restart messages show no faults.
38 ___________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
2.10 RVP9 (RDA) Software Installation

If you have installed or upgraded the RDA software, you must update the
firmware running on RVP901 to be compatible with what was installed
using sigconfig.
This procedure assumes that the second Ethernet port has been configured
using the instructions in "Configuring the System and Network" on page
98.
1. Reboot the computer and log in as radarop.

2. If IRIS / RDA services are running, turn them off.
a. Use ps_iris to check what is running.
# ps_iris
b. If there are Services are running, stop them.
• For Centos6, use service:
# service iris stop
# service rvp900 stop
# service rcp8 stop
# service dspexport stop
# service antennad stop
• For Centos7, use systemctl:
# systemctl stop iris
# systemctl stop rvp900
# systemctl stop rcp8
# systemctl stop dspexport
# systemctl stop antennad
3. Verify all services have stopped.
# ps_iris
o If there are services running, stop them using the systemctl / service
commands or manually kill them. You must be logged in as root to use
the kill command.
# su
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 39
# kill <process ID number>

4. If not powered, power on RVP901 (RVP9IFDR) and wait for it to boot.
When booted D7 shows a flashing red light and a solid green light.
5. If the network cable is not attached, attach RVP901 (RVP9IFDR) to the
second Ethernet connection configured for the 10.0.1.x network.
6. Verify that RVP901 (RVP9IFDR) is accessible over Ethernet.
Run ping letting at least 4 packets transmit and Ctrl-C to exit program.
Verify that there is 0% packet loss.
# ping 10.0.1.254
7. Use the rdaflash utility to update the firmware on RVP901.

This takes several minutes. Do not interrupt programming.
WARNING When programming starts, do not power cycle or reboot RVP90x until
RDAFLASH is successfully complete.
40 ___________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
When the programming is complete, RVP901 reboots. When the boot

process is complete, the red light on D7 is blinks and the green light on
D7 is solid.
8. Reboot the computer and login as radarop
9. Verify that the expected process are running with the ps_iris command.
# ps_iris
2.11 RDA Software Configuration

After the receiving your unit from the factory, or after software re–
installation, there are several configuration steps required to customize
your system for your particular environment and application. The
configuration tools available for this are summarized in the table below.
RDA Description of Configuration

Configuration Tool Device Features
setup/RVP utility RVP8 Configures the local
setup_dsp.conf RVP900 environment required to run
RVP8 the support utilities such
as ascope and dspx. Examples
include radar equation
parameters that are required for
calibration, pulse width
definitions and PRF request
limits.
setup/RCP utility RCP8 Configures the local
setup_ant.conf environment required to run the
RCP8 support utilities that
such as antenna or bitex.
Examples include, max allowed
AZ/EL velocity request, MIN
and MAX elevation angles that
can be requested and LAT/LON
of radar for sun tracking.
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 41
RDA Description of Configuration

Configuration Tool Device Features
RVP8 NV setups RVP8 Defines the details of the
RVP900 NV setups RVP900 sampling and processing
rvp8.conf algorithms as well as the
rvp9.conf operational configuration of the
system. Examples include, IF
filter design and selection, PRF
limits, relative trigger timing,
dual polarization features.
RCP8 NV setups RCP8 Used to configure which status
rcp8.conf and control bits are available
and define the antenna servo
control parameters. Examples
include, physical or virtual
tachometer selection, shutdown
safety criteria and internal
antenna simulator on/off.
softplane.conf RVP8 File that is edited which defines
RVP900 the various I/O signals on the
RCP8 I/O-62 connector panel, pin-by-
pin. For example, whether a line
is an input or output, electrical
spec such as RS422 or TTL,
what local variable name is
associated with each line.
NOTE Important: Both the setup utility and the TTY setups must be configured
to customize your system. This is part of the installation procedure.
All of the configuration results are stored as ASCII text .conf files,
typically in a directory called /usr/sigmet/ (factory default). The file
names are indicated in the table above. Each file has a factory default
configuration file that is stored in the template directory (the default
is/usr/sigmet/config_template/init/). An advantage of this approach is that
for a radar network with identical hardware, configuration maintenance
can be performed by copying pre-tested files over the network.
The following serve as references and are not repeated here:
• setup utility—IRIS Utilities Manual

• RVP8 NV setups—RVP8 User's Manual
42 ___________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
• RVP900 NV setups—RVP900 User's Manual

• RCP8 NV setups—RCP8 User's Manual
An overview of these setups for both the RVP8 and RCP8 is provided in
the next two sections, followed by a description of the softplane.conf file
and its configuration.
2.11.1 RCP8 Setup Configuration

Summary
The table below summarizes the setups required for the RCP8 and its
associated host computer (if any). The three cases are summarized in the
RCP8 User's Manual.
Case 2:
Case 1: Combined Case 3:
Serial Interface RCP8/RCW Socket Interface
RCP8 TTY Setups: Site Host section
Serial port /dev/ttyS0 (e.g.) .../fifo_hostio-x See .../fifo_hostio-x
note See note
Baud rate for host 9600 –Ignored– –Ignored–
computer I/O
RCP8 Setup: RCP
Section
System has an antenna Yes Yes Yes
Interface Type Native Serial Serial
Not displayed for .../fifo_hostio-y See .../fifo_hostio-y
Main channel device interface type Native note See note
name
running at –Ignored– –Ignored–

with parity
–Ignored– –Ignored–
Antenna angle
insertion source Native RCP8 Normal serial Normal serial
AntExport Running on
RCP8 No No Yes
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 43
Case 2:
Case 1: Combined Case 3:
Serial Interface RCP8/RCW Socket Interface
Host RCW Setup
Utility: RCP
(e.g., running
IRIS/Radar)
System has an antenna Yes NA
Interface Type Serial
Main channel device /dev/ttyS0/ (e.g.)
name
running at 9600
with parity No
Antenna angle Normal Serial
insertion source
NOTE The recommended full path for the fifo interface is

/usr/sigmet/config/fifo_hostio-x. The other one (it does not matter
which) is at /usr/sigmet/config/fifo_hostio-y.
For Case 3: AntExport Receiving Workstation
System has an antenna Yes
Interface Type Socket
AntExport hostname/IP-Address <for source node running

AntExport>
AntExport Port Number 30745
44 ___________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
2.11.2 RVP8 Setup Configuration

Summary
The table below summarizes the setups required for the RVP8 and its
connection to the associated host radar control workstation (RCW). Refer
to the RVP8 User's Manual.
Table 2 RVP8 Local Setups: TTY Setups and Setup Utility
RVP8 TTY Setups
"Mc" Live angle Antenna angles 2: Tags
input Antenna from RVP8 Az/El
angles from RVP8 TTL inputs
Az/El S/D inputs 3: S/D
Antenna angles
from other source
(e.g., serial input) 1: None
"Mt N" Range Mask These are all forced by the corresponding settings in the RVP8
spacing Setup Utility: RVP Section (See Below)
"Mt N" Maximum
number of
Pulses/Sec
"Mt N" Maximum
instantaneous PRF
RVP8 Setup Utility: RVP Section
System has a signal Yes

processor
Interface Type Native
Range Mask spacing Default is 125 m Configuring these
Minimum PRF As required fields also sets the
corresponding fields
Maximum PRF As required for max in the RVP8 TTY
duty cycle Setups (See above)
RVP8 Setup Utility: RCP Section
Response to Mc Live
angle input (above) TTL binary angles or "None"
S/D
System has an Yes Yes
antenna
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 45
Table 2 RVP8 Local Setups: TTY Setups and Setup Utility

Interface Type Not applicable when Serial
Main channel device Antenna angle Default: /dev/ttyS0
name insertion source is set
to RVP8
running at Default: 9600
with parity None
Antenna angle Native RVP8 Normal serial
insertion source
DspExport Running Yes Yes
on RVP8
Table 3 Setup Utility on RCW (Radar Control Workstation)

running IRIS
IRIS Host RCW Setup Utility: RVP Section
System has a signal Yes
processor
Interface Type Socket
DspExport <hostname or IP address of RVP8>
hostname/IP–Address
DspExport Port Default: 30740
Number
IRIS Host RCW Setup Utility: Ingest Section
Response to Mc Live TTL binary angles or "None"
angle input (above) S/D
Manner of angle Binary TAGS Serial Stream
acquisition
2.11.3 Configuring the softplane.conf File
2.11.3.1 What is the softplane.conf File?

The softplane.conf file is used to define pin–by–pin assignment of I/O
functions to various connectors on the I/O-62 connector panel. It is a plain
text ASCII file that is self-documented. Since the RVP8 and RCP8 have
virtually no jumpers, or wirewrap, all I/O configuration on the I/O-62
connector panel is done by software approach according to this file.
46 ___________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
2.11.3.2 Where is softplane.conf?

The file resides in the IRIS_CONFIG directory. Typically this is
/usr/sigmet/config (this is the default directory that is factory installed).
The factory configurations are also available in the
/usr/sigmet/template/init directory so that you can always return to the
factory defaults if you need to.
2.11.3.3 When do I Need to Change softplane.conf?

The softplane.conf file that is shipped with your system is configured for
a standard connector panel with I/O as described in the RCP8 User's
Manual. As long as you use the standard I/O pin assignments, then you do
not need to change softplane.conf.
If you need to redefine some of the I/O pins on the connector panel, or add
additional Vaisala cards such as a second I/O-62 then you must change
softplane.conf.
2.11.3.3.1 Editing he Softplane.conf File
You need to use a text editor to modify the softplane.conf file. There are
several editors included in the system:
• vi —the generic UNIX editor that is available on every UNIX system.

It is really arcane to use, but many people know how to use it out of
necessity or they are simply used to it now.
• gedit—this is more user friendly with keyboard commands and mouse
support when you are in X–Windows so it a little easier to learn than
vi.
To start an editing session you would do the following as operator:
$ cd /usr/sigmet/config
$ gedit softplane.conf
or
$ vi softplane.conf
2.11.3.3.2 Softplane.conf File: RVP8 Example
An example from the beginning and some excerpts from the

softplane.conf file are shown below (note that the command "cat" causes
the file to be listed on a terminal):
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 47
cat /usr/sigmet/config/softplane.conf
Softplane Configuration File
The following general purpose control and status signals

can be routed to/from any available hardware pin. The '~'
prefix character may be used for signal inversion.
Control Outputs Status Inputs

cPedAZ[15:0] sPedAZ[15:0]
cPedEL[15:0] sPedEL[15:0]
cEarthAZ[15:0] sServoPwr
cEarthEL[15:0] sLocal
cServoPwr sStandby
cCabinetRelay sLowerEL
cTransmitPwr sUpperEL
cPWidth[3:0] sTransmitPwr
cTrigBlank sTransmitLocal
cRadiateOn sPWidth[3:0]
cRadiateOff sTrigBlank
cReset sRadiate
cIrisMode[2:0] sAirflowFlt
cAux[63:0 sWavegpFlt
true sInterlockFlt
false sMagCurrentFlt
sReset
sIrisMode[2:0]
sAux[319:0]
splConfig.sVersion = "7.32"
# ------------------- IO62 Slot #0 -------------------
#
splConfig.Io62[0].lInUse = 1
# The remote backpanel type should be one of the following:
# Direct : Direct I/O with IO62 connector itself
# IO62CP : Standard IO62–CP connector panel
# RVP88D : RVP8 portion of WSR88D panel
# RCP88D : RCP8 portion of WSR88D panel
#
splConfig.Io62[1].sExtPanel = "IO62CP"
# TTL/CMOS on J1
#
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J1.pin01 = "sPedAZ[0]"
48 ___________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
...
# Relays and relay drivers on J6
#
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J6_IntRelay1 = ""
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J6_ExtRelay1 = ""
# BNC testpoint monitors
#
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J13_BNC = ""
# BNC trigger drivers direct from IO62 PCI card.
# Special signals 'trigger[8:1]' may also be used here.
#
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J14_BNC = "trigger[1]"
# RS232 TTY transmitters from IO62
#
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.TTY0_Tx = ""
# ------------------- IO62 Slot #1 -------------------
#
# ------------------- IO62 Slot #2 -------------------
#
....
# <End of softplane definitions>
2.11.3.3.3 Softplane.conf File: RVP900 Common Panel

Example
An example showing RVP900 IFDR related excerpts from the

softplane.conf file are shown below:
#
#
# Softplane Configuration File
#
# The following general purpose control and status signals:
#
...
# –––––––––––––––––––– RVP9IFD #0 ––––––––––––––––––––
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 49
#
# If you change the in–use flag, run ’softplane –resave’ to
rev the choices.
#
splConfig.Rvp9[0].lInUse = 1
# The remote backpanel type must be one of the following:
# Common : Direct connections using the ’Common I/O’
model
# TDWR : MIT/LL TDWR custom breakout panel and protocols
# If you change this, run ’softplane –resave’ to rev the
choices.
#
splConfig.Rvp9[0].sNetPanel = ”Common”
# In addition to all of the standard logical signals, the
# following realtime ’live’ signals may be assigned to any
# of the RVP9 interface pins under the Common I/O model.
#
# Control Outputs Status Inputs
# --------------- -------------
# tgBlanked tgBlankReq
# trigger[10:1] tgExtern
# txPolar[2:1]
# txPhase[7:0]
# DAFCser
spl#
splConfig.Rvp9[0].Opt.Comm.ttl[0].pin = ””
splConfig.Rvp9[0].Opt.Comm.diff[0].pin = ””
50 ___________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
splConfig.Rvp9[0].Opt.Comm.trig[0].pin = ”trigger[1]”
splConfig.Rvp9[0].Opt.Comm.trig[1].pin = ”trigger[2]”
# Voltage samples from the six low–speed A/D converters are
# requested here. These produce additional I/O overhead, so
# put a ’1’ here only if the samples are actually being
used.
#
splConfig.Rvp9[0].Opt.Comm.lInUseADC = 0
2.11.3.3.4 Softplane.conf File: RVP900 TDWR Panel Example
An example showing RVP900 IFDR related excerpts from the

softplane.conf file are shown below:
#
#
# Softplane Configuration File
#
# The following general purpose control and status signals:
#
...
# –––––––––––––––––––– RVP9IFD #0 ––––––––––––––––––––
#
# If you change the in–use flag, run ’softplane –resave’ to
rev the choices.
#
splConfig.Rvp9[0].lInUse = 1
# The remote backpanel type must be one of the following:
# Common : Direct connections using the ’Common I/O’
model
# TDWR : MIT/LL TDWR custom breakout panel and protocols
# If you change this, run ’softplane –resave’ to rev the
choices.
#
splConfig.Rvp9[0].sNetPanel = ”TDWR”
softplane.conf file: RCP8 example
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 51
An example from the beginning and some excerpts from the

softplane.conf file are shown below (note that the command "cat" causes
the file to be listed on a terminal):
Softplane
Configuration File
The following general purpose control and status signals

can be routed to/from any available hardware pin. The '~'
prefix character may be used for signal inversion.
Control Outputs Status Inputs

cPedAZ[15:0] sPedAZ[15:0]
cPedEL[15:0] sPedEL[15:0]
cEarthAZ[15:0] sServoPwr
cEarthEL[15:0] sLocal
cServoPwr sStandby
cCabinetRelay sLowerEL
cTransmitPwr sUpperEL
cPWidth[3:0] sTransmitPwr
cTrigBlank sTransmitLocal
cRadiateOn sPWidth[3:0]
cRadiateOff sTrigBlank
cReset sRadiate
cIrisMode[2:0] sAirflowFlt
cAux[80:0] sWavegpFlt
true sInterlockFlt
false sMagCurrentFlt
sReset
sIrisMode[2:0]
sAux[319:0]splConfig.sVersion = "8.00"
# ------------------- IO62 Slot #0 -------------------
#
# The remote backpanel type should be one of the following:
# Direct : Direct I/O with IO62 connector itself
# IO62CP : Standard IO62-CP connector panel
# RCP88D : RCP8 portion of WSR88D panel
# RVP88D : RVP8 portion of WSR88D panel
#
splConfig.Io62[0].sExtPanel = "IO62CP"# TTL/CMOS on J1
#
52 ___________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J1.pin17 = ""
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J1.pin20 = ""# TTL/CMOS on J2
#
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J2.pin01 = "cEarthAZ[0]"
. . .
#
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J4.pin01 = "sPedEL[0]"
. . .
#
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J5.pin01 = "cEarthEL[0]"
. . .
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 53
#
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J7.pin01 = "sAux[0]"
#
# Eight IO62 line pairs on J3
#
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J3_01_14.lRS422 = 0
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J3_01_14.iTerm = 0
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J3_01_14.pinPos = "cPWidth[0]"
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J3_01_14.pinNeg = "cPWidth[1]"
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J3_02_15.pinPos = "cRadiateOn"
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J3_02_15.pinNeg = "cRadiateOff"
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J3_03_16.pinPos = "cServoPwr"
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J3_03_16.pinNeg = "cTransmitPwr"
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J3_04_17.pinPos = "cReset"
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J3_04_17.pinNeg = ""
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J3_05_18.pinPos = "sPWidth[0]"
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J3_05_18.pinNeg = "sPWidth[1]"
54 ___________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J3_06_19.pinPos = "sRadiate"
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J3_07_20.pinPos = "sServoPwr"
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J3_07_20.pinNeg = "sTransmitPwr"
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J3_08_21.pinPos = "sReset"
# Two RS–422 Tx/Rx chips on J3
#
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J3_09_22 = ""
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J3_10_23 = ""
# Seven IO62 line pairs on J9
#
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J9_01_14.pinPos = "sWavegpFlt"
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J9_01_14.pinNeg = "sAirflowFlt"
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J9_02_15.pinPos = "sInterlockFlt"
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J9_02_15.pinNeg = "sMagCurrentFlt"
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J9_03_16.pinPos = "sLocal"
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J9_03_16.pinNeg = "sStandby"
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J9_04_17.pinPos = "sLowerEL"
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J9_04_17.pinNeg = "sUpperEL"
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J9_05_18.pinPos = ""
# Relays and relay drivers on J6
#
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J6_IntRelay1 = "cPWidth[0]"
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J6_IntRelay2 = "cPWidth[1]"
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 55
#
# BNC trigger drivers direct from IO62 PCI card.
# Special signals 'trigger[8:1]' may also be used here.
#
# RS232 TTY transmitters/Receivers from IO62
#
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.TTY0_Rx = ""
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.TTY1_Rx = ""
# ------------------- IO62 Slot #1 -------------------
#
# ------------------- IO62 Slot #2 -------------------
#
# ------------------ IO62 Slot #3 -------------------
#
2.11.3.3.5 Softplane. conf Organization and Syntax
The softplane.conf file is used to define every I/O pin on every connector,
on the PCI cards themselves and on the connector panel. There are two
primary definitions that are made for each pin:
• Physical Interface— the electrical properties (RS422 output, analog

input, TTL output, etc.).
• Logical Interface-—the internal variable name that is associated with
each pin.
The syntax of the file is:
• "#" at the beginning of a line indicates a comment. These are used for
internal documentation and if you make changes you should comment
them, for example:
56 ___________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
# TTL I/O on J7
#
# Modification by REP on 2 Apr 03
# Added new interlock input on connector panel J7 pin07
...
• The top part of the file provides a list of internal variables names that
are used to define the logical interface to the softplane. These are
divided into status inputs (also called indicators) and control outputs
(also called requests). For example, sPedAZ0 corresponds to the LSB
of a digital azimuth angle relative to the antenna pedestal. The tables
on the next page provide a summary of the available status and control
variable names.
NOTE Important: This table is subject to change
• Each definition line in the file starts with the keyword text:
# splConfig...
• The first un-commented line of the file indicates the version of the
IRIS support software that was last used to machine–generate the file.
This is an information only field for traceability purposes and is thus
not edited. In the example we have this shown as:
# splConfig.sVersion = "7.32"
On the TTL connectors (J1, J2, J4, J5, J7), each connector must be
exclusively used for INPUT (s vars) or OUTPUT (c vars). You can not
mix these on an individual connector.
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 57
Table 4 Summary of softplane.conf Status and Control Bits

Control Output Meaning/Interpretation
cPedAZ[15:0] 16 bits of antenna azimuth angle relative to
the pedestal (fixed base system)
cPedEL[15:0] 16 bits of antenna elevation angle relative to
cEarthAZ[15:0] 16 bits of antenna azimuth angle relative to
the earth (moving platform)
cEarthEL[15:0] 16 bits of antenna elevation angle relative to
the earth (moving platform)
cServoPwr To control servo power on
cCabinetRelay To control a relay signal
cTransmitPwr Request transmit power on
cPWidth[3:0] Request one of four pulse widths
cTrigBlank Trigger blanking signal
cRadiateOn Request radiate on
cRadiateOff Request for radiate off
cReset Request a reset of external equipment
cIrisMode[2:0] Request the application software (e.g., IRIS)
to switch to 1 of 8 operating modes.
cAux[63:0] Arbitrarily assigned output requests
true Internal logic variable
false Internal logic variable
Status Input Meaning/Interpretation

sPedAZ[15:0] 16 bits of antenna azimuth angle relative to the
pedestal (fixed base system)
sPedEL[15:0] 16 bits of antenna elevation angle relative to
sServoPwr Servo power on indicator
sLocal Antenna local mode indicator, usually tied to
an external local/remote switch.
sStandby Radar ready to radiate indicator
sLowerEL Lower limit switch indicator
sUpperEL Upper limit switch indicator
58 ___________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
Status Input Meaning/Interpretation

sTransmitPwr Transmitter cabinet power on indicator
sTransmitLocal Transmitter local mode indicator, usually tied
to an external local/remote switch.
sPWidth[3:0] Indicator of the current pulse width
sTrigBlank Indicator that trigger blanking is requested,
usually from an external source.
sRadiate Radiate on indicator
sAirflowFlt Cooling airflow fault indicator
sWavegpFlt Wave guide pressure fault indicator
sInterlockFlt Master interlock fault indicator
sMagCurrentFlt Transmitter overload fault indicator
sReset Request for reset coming from external source
sIrisMode[2:0] Information on which operating mode is active
in the application software
sAux[319:0] Arbitrary status indicators
• Next, each piece of hardware is identified as being either in use or not

in use.
splConfig.Io62[0].InUse = 1 if in use
splConfig.Io62[0].InUse = 0 if unused or not installed
Currently, the I/O-62 is the only I/O device supported by the softplane.
• The method of connecting to the I/O-62 is specified next, for example:
splConfig.Io62[0].sExtPanel = "DIRECT"
Currently, the options are:
Type of Connection softplane Descriptor

Direct connect to I/O-62 via 62 pin connector DIRECT
I/O-62 Connector Panel (used for RVP8 and IO62CP
RCP8)
WSR88D connector panel, RVP8 portion RVP88D
WSR88D connector panel, RCP8 portion RCP88D
• The assignments for each connector and each pin are then made. For
convenience, these are usually grouped together by connector. For
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 59
example let's say that, Pin 1 of connector J1 on the I/O-62 connector

panel is assigned to be the LSB of the input azimuth angle, i.e.,
# TTL/CMOS on J1
#
...
• The notation "" indicates that no assignment is made.

#
In the example above the "pin name" is J13_BNC.

• Putting a ~ in front of a logic variable inverts the variable.
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J1.pin03 = "~sPedAZ[2]"
Check in the /usr/sigmet/config_template/init directory for other examples

of softplane configurations.
2.12 Testing, Backup, and Calibration

After software installation and before calibration, check system
performance and check for installation errors. If DSP calibrations are off,
radar data may be unavailable.
2.12.1 Ascope Test (RVP8 Installations

ONLY)
Run the ascope utility by typing ascope.
This serves as an overall test of the signal processor. See IRIS and RDA
Utilities Manual for details.
If the displayed PRF does not match what is requested, the processor type
may be set incorrectly. Be careful with high PRFs because the pulse width
control may not be working yet.
60 ___________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
2.12.2 Antenna Test (RCP Installations

ONLY)
Run the Antenna utility by typing antenna.
You should be able to control the position and speed of the antenna as
described in the Utilities Manual.
2.12.3 IRIS Test (IRIS systems ONLY)

Run IRIS and schedule a simple task that moves the antenna, runs the
signal processor, and generates a PPI product.
Check for messages in the message menu. Normal startup should produce
no messages.
2.12.4 Print Special Files

Because the system is customized during installation, Vaisala
recommends you save your the work in case it needs to be repeated. To do
so, print the Setup listing file generated by the all command.
2.12.5 Make a Full Backup

Backup your system on a regular basis. This is the only way to restore
your disk if data are lost.
For HP systems follow the system backup procedures recommended by

the manufacturers.
In addition, you can use the sigbru utility for auxiliary backup.
Linux users can use the backup procedure recommended by Red Hat or
can use the sigbru utility for complete backup and restore. For
information on sigbru, see Appendix E, sigbru Utility, on page 135.
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 61
2.12.6 DSP Calibration (RVP Installations

ONLY)
Below is a list of the calibrations for the signal processor in the suggested
order. Next to each is the name of the utility program that can help
perform the calibration. How to perform each calibration is described in
the IRIS/RDA Utilities Manual.
• Calibration of Reflectivity. (zauto)

• Calibration of the dual-pol LDR Offset. (suncal)
• Calibration of the dual-pol ZDR Offset. (zdrcal)
62 ___________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
Chapter 3 ________________________________________________________ UNIX Survival Skills
CHAPTER 3
UNIX SURVIVAL SKILLS
This chapter describes how to configure your UNIX system for running
IRIS.
3.1 Running IRIS Utilities from a Remote Node

IRIS systems running on one node can run utilities from another node if
the systems are set up properly. This is useful, for example, if you are
doing diagnostics and need to run an IRIS utility on a remote system. You
can log onto the remote system across the network and display the product
output on your local workstation, as follows:
1. Enter the following command on your workstation to allow other

nodes to display windows on it:
$ xhost +
This command must be entered by someone logged on directly to the

system (not by someone who has done a remote login), and the
command cannot be run from a login file. If this is impractical, create a
file called /etc/X0.hosts on the system. In the file, list the names of each
of the nodes on the network that should be given access to the display
of the system. For example, in a network consisting of three nodes
"host", "prod", an "ws1", etc/X0.hosts would contain the following
three entries:
host
prod
ws1
When the etc/X0.hosts file is present on a workstation, all nodes in the

list are authorized to display windows on that workstation at any time.
There is a bug in HPUX 10.20 which causes it to miss it's own node
name from this file.
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 63
Under CDE, you can also configure this with a file in the
/etc/td/config/Xsession.d directory. Place commands like "xhost +host"
in a file called 090xhost in this directory, set protection to 555, owner
and group to bin. For just one user, place the command in the file
~/.dt/config/sessions/sessionetc.
2. From the local workstation, log on to the remote system and set the
display to the local workstation. For example, to log onto the host
system from prod, type the following commands from the prod
system:
$ rlogin host
$ DISPLAY=prod:0.0
$ export $DISPLAY
3. Run the IRIS utility from the remote system. All output from the utility
is displayed on the local workstation
4. When you are done, exit from the utility, then log off of the remote
system.
3.2 Managing an IRIS System

This section describes some commands provided by the UNIX operating
system that you may find helpful in managing the IRIS system after it is
installed. IRIS provides some commands for system management
purposes, as well. These commands, described in Chapter 4, IRIS
Diagnostic Utilities on page 71, are the same across all platforms.
3.2.1 Checking the IRIS Environment

If you have questions about the environment variables that are defined for
your session, use the env and grep commands, as follows:
$ env | grep IRIS | sort
IRIS_ANTSIM=/dev/tty01
IRIS_APP_DEFAULTS=/usr/sigmet/bin/app-defaults/
IRIS_BIN=/usr/sigmet/bin/
IRIS_BIN_ACROBAT=/usr/sigmet/acrobat/bin/
IRIS_BITMAPS=/usr/sigmet/dt/icons/
IRIS_CONFIG=/usr/sigmet/config/
64 ___________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
IRIS_DICTIONARY=/usr/sigmet/config/dict/
IRIS_INGEST=/usr/iris_data/ingest/
IRIS_INIT=/usr/sigmet/config/init/
IRIS_KEYS=/usr/sigmet/bin/keys/
IRIS_LOG=/usr/iris_data/log/
IRIS_MANUALS_INST=
/usr/sigjoe/manuals/IrisInstall.ilcab/instapdf/install/
IRIS_MANUALS_IRIS=
/usr/sigjoe/manuals/IrisUsers.ilcab/irisupdf/irisug/
IRIS_MANUALS_NOTE=
/usr/sigjoe/manuals/relnotes.ilcab/relnopdf/relnotes/
IRIS_MANUALS_PROG=
/usr/sigjoe/manuals/IrisProgram.ilcab/irisppdf/program/
IRIS_MANUALS_RCP02=
/usr/sigjoe/manuals/rcp02_ug.ilcab/rcp02pdf/rcp02/
IRIS_MANUALS_RVP6=
/usr/sigjoe/manuals/rvp6_ug.ilcab/rvp6updf/rvp6user/
IRIS_MANUALS_RVP7=
/usr/sigjoe/manuals/rvp7_ug.ilcab/rvp7updf/rvp7user/
IRIS_MANUALS_RXNET7=
/usr/sigjoe/manuals/rxnet7.ilcab/rxnetpdf/rxnet7/
IRIS_MANUALS_UTIL=
/usr/sigjoe/manuals/IrisUtils.ilcab/irisupdf/irisutl/
IRIS_MENU=/usr/sigmet/config/menu/
IRIS_NETRCV=TCPIP 30725
IRIS_NLS=/usr/sigmet/bin/nls/C/
IRIS_OBSERVERS=observer
IRIS_OPERATORS=joe alan doug operator rich
IRIS_OVERLAY=/usr/sigmet/config/overlay/
IRIS_PIPES=/usr/sigmet/config/pipes/
IRIS_PRODUCT=/usr/iris_data/product/
IRIS_PRODUCT_RAW=/usr/iris_data/product_raw/
IRIS_ROOT=/usr/sigmet
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 65
IRIS_SCRIPT=/usr/sigjoe/script/
IRIS_SOUNDS=/usr/sigjoe/dt/sounds/
IRIS_TAPE_INV=/usr/iris_data/tape_inv/
IRIS_TEMP=/usr/iris_data/temp/
Together, these commands return all the environment variables containing

the string "IRIS." If you have some question whether your definitions are
correct, compare the results of this command to the definitions in the file
/config/profile.
3.2.2 Reporting the Free Blocks on a Disk

IRIS is always gathering data, producing many ingest and product files.
When there is not enough space for the new data coming in, the Watchdog
process makes room for it, deleting the oldest files first. You need to make
sure there is enough space allocated on the disk partition to hold at least
three volume scans for the periodic configuration that IRIS is running.
The df command returns the number of free 512-byte blocks and free
inodes available on each mounted disk, including disks mounted over the
network. This command can tell you whether enough space is available
for your data. For more information on these commands, type man df.
3.2.3 File Ownership and Protection

Sometimes there are problems after an installation with access to some of
the SIGMET files. Typically, this is evidenced by an error message saying
that the user does not have privilege to do an operation. This can happen
when starting a program or when calibration files are accessed. If you
should have this problem, log in as root and run the install_iris script
as shown below:
# install_iris –setown
This procedure goes through the /usr/sigmet directory tree, changing the
owner of all files to operator and setting the protection, as follows:
• Directories: rwxrwxr–x
• All files, except executable files: rw–rw–r––
• Executable files: rwsrwsr–x
66 ___________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
Always use install_iris –setown to fix the protection of your IRIS

files. Do not try to change the protection of these files with the chown
command.
3.3 Command Summary

Here is the location of the system log file:
HP-UXs: /var/adm/syslog/syslog.log
Linux: /var/log/messages
Table 1 UNIX Commands

Command HP-UX Linux
Display status of ipcs ipcs
interprocess
communication.
Remove a message ipcrm ipcrm
queue, semaphore set,
or shared memory ID.
Scan the I/O system ioscan –
and report the
hardware that is
found.
Display information swapinfo –t top
about system swap
space.
Report the number of df df
free disk blocks.
Display on-line help man man,...
for UNIX commands.
Backup/restore files tar tar
from tape.
Configure network ifconfig ifconfig
interface parameters.
Show network status. netstat netstat
List all clients with showmount showmount
remotely mounted
disks.
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 67
Table 1 UNIX Commands (Continued)

Command HP-UX Linux
List all exported exportfs exportfs
directories, or update exportfs –a exportfs –a
the list.
Mount an NFS mount mount
directory
List all mounted mount –p mount –p
directories.
Display NFS nfsstat –
statistics.
Verify network ping ping
connections.
3.4 Linux Issues
3.4.1 Backup Procedure

SIGMET supplies a backup/restore utility called "sigbru" for Linux
systems. This is described in Appendix E, sigbru Utility, on page 135.
3.4.2 Time & Date

Here is a basic summary of how some of the time related programs work:
• date—Just sets and displays the currently running date. The hardware
clocke is not changed.
• hwclock—Just sets and displays the current hardware clock. The
current system time is not changed.
• redhat–config–time—Interactive GUI to set both the time and
timezone. Sets both the current date and the hardware clock. IRIS can
always be configured to record using UTC. Never record using a
timezone which switches to summer time.
• timeconfig—This program sets the time zone. Appears to be just a link
to the text version of the redhat–config–time timezone submenu.
• /etc/localtime—This file is a symbolic link to a file containing the time
zone information. The time zone definition files are usually kept in
68 ___________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
/usr/share/zoneinfo. Do not be surprised if this is a copy, not a link to

one of those files. If the TZ environment variable is defined, it
overrides the system default. This file is configured by timeconfig.
• tzselect —This program helps you select the name of the time zone
you want. It does not change the computer's setting.
• rdate—Gets the date from a remote system. Can optionally set it also.
SIGMET recommends that you use ntpdate for this purpose.
3.4.3 LINUX for Experienced Users of

Other OS
In this chapter, you can learn to avoid some of the usual traps when you
start to use Linux after another OS.
In Linux files, the byte order is swapped compared to HP Unix (but

similar to VMS). That means you can't transfer binary files from Linux to
Unix, and also you have to set the byte order in RVP7 if you change your
radar computer from Linux to Unix. In the newest version, setup files are
ASCII so you can copy them.
3.4.3.1 Unix to Linux

Linux is a unix, more or less. But now you are working with a PC so you
have to mount and unmount disks (such as CD-ROM and floppy) more
often than in the world of bigger machines. Remember to umount
/mnt/cdrom before hitting the button in the drive.
3.4.3.2 DOS to Linux

It's rather different. Get a good book to learn the basics or follow the
instructions in this manual very carefully. Remember that for Linux it
matters if words are UPPERCASE or lowercase, and it doesn't really
matter if filenames end with extension or not.
3.4.4 Red Hat Configuration Utilities

The following list provides a brief description about graphical user
interface (GUI) configuration utilities that must be run from within a
windowed Linux environment as root:
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 69
• redhat–config–date—A GUI for modifying system date and time

• redhat–config–httpd—Apache configuration tool
• redhat–config–keyboard—A GUI for modifying the keyboard
• redhat–config–language—A GUI for modifying the system language
• redhat–config–mouse—A GUI for configuring mice
• redhat–config–network—The Network Administration Tool for Red
Hat Linux
• redhat–config–nfs—NFS server configuration tool
• redhat–config–packages—Package manager for RedHat
• redhat–config–printer—A printer configuration backend/frontend
combination
• redhat–config–printer–gui—A GUI frontend for printconf
• redhat–config–proc—A configuration tool for operating system
tunable parameters
• redhat–config–rootpassword—A GUI for modifying the root
password
• redhat–config–securitylevel—A GUI for modifying the system
security level
• redhat–config–services—An initscript and xinetd utility
• redhat–config–soundcard—A GUI for detecting and configuring
sound cards
• redhat–config–users—A GUI for administering users and groups
• redhat–config–xfree86—A GUI for configuring XFree86
70 ___________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
Chapter 4 ______________________________________________________IRIS Diagnostic Utilities
CHAPTER 4
IRIS DIAGNOSTIC UTILITIES
IRIS supplies a number of commands that can help with system

management and troubleshooting.
4.1 sigmet_env Command

This program tests many things which could cause problems with an IRIS
installation. If you suspect problems, please run this (logged in as the
normal IRIS user), and check the results. The following are checked:
• Checks that all the IRIS operators and observers are in the /etc/users
file.
• Checks that all IRIS environment variables which point to directories
are defined and the directory exists, and the directory can be read and
written as required.
• Checks for some obvious bad file names in the saved menu directory.
• Checks that IRIS executable files which require the "set–UID–on–
execute" bit set are setup with the correct UID.
• Checks the RDA (RVP8/RCP8) environment as well.
Here is an example, with a bad file name of ".TSC".
$ sigmet_env
Checking IRIS_OPERATORS list...
Checking IRIS_OBSERVERS list...
Checking installation directories...
Checking configuration directories...
Checking data directories...
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 71
Checking file names in IRIS_MENU...
Bad menu filename: '/usr/sigmet/config/menu/.TSC'
Checking root file ownerships...
Errors Detected --
Please Check
Printout
4.2 ps_iris Command

The ps_iris command lists all the currently active IRIS, antenna, and
utility processes, including information about their owner UID, PID, time
start time, and total CPU time.
Use this command to determine what IRIS processes are running on the
system and when they were started. You can use the PID as an argument
to the kill command if you need to stop a process.
$ ps_iris
IRIS Activity on 'humid.sigmet.com' at: Wed Dec 4 16:38:50 EST

1996 Detached Processes:
UID PID PPID C STIME TTY TIME COMMAND

operator 26705 1 0 15:34:56 ttyp6 0:00 ingfio
IRIS_IN
GFIO
operator 26709 1 0 15:34:57 ttyp6 0:00 server
IRIS_SE
RVER
operator 26713 1 0 15:34:59 ttyp6 0:00 output
IRIS_OU
TPUT13
operator 26718 26706 0 15:36:27 ttyp6 0:00 network
IRIS_NE
TWORK
operator 26714 26711 0 15:34:59 ttyp6 0:00 window
IRIS_WI
NDOW1
operator 26710 1 0 15:34:58 ttyp6 0:00 watchdo
g
IRIS_WA
TCHDOG
72 ___________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
operator 26708 1 0 15:34:57 ttyp6 0:00 reinges

t
IRIS_RE
INGEST
operator 26706 1 0 15:34:56 ttyp6 0:00 network
IRIS_NE
TWORK
IRIS_OU
TPUT02
IRIS_OU
TPUT01
operator 26704 1 0 15:34:55 ttyp6 0:00 ingest
IRIS_IN
GEST
Antenna Processes:

operato 26422 1 0 14:35:1 ttyp6 0:00 ant_xmt
r 1 IRIS_AN
T_XMT
operato 26418 1 0 14:35:1 ttyp6 0:00 ant_rcv
r 0 IRIS_AN
T_RCV
Stand–alone Utilities:

alan 26717 28786 15 15:35:50 ttyqb 0:02 iris
alan 26894 26717 15 15:41:14 ttyqb 0:02 iris_cln
t_recv 7
1097655
4.3 restart_iris Command

The restart_iris command runs through all the IRIS host processes
and checks to see if they are still running. If any have stopped (usually
due to a fatal error), it restarts them. Because of the automatic restarting
feature, this utility is useful mainly for restarting processes after manually
killing them for debugging purposes.
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 73
It takes the following command line options:
• –colors—Reload color setup information

• –restart—Restart all IRIS processes (default, if no other args)
• –resurrect—Only restart from fatal internal errors
• –rescan—Rescan file system for new PRODUCT files
• –silent—Do not print informational messages
Note that the IRIS automatic restarting feature runs "restart_iris –

resurrect –silent".Use of the –rescan option is for diagnostic
purposes only. Once you have a working configuration, please run qiris
and siris to make sure everything is OK.
$ restart_iris
Restarting all IRIS processes...
IRIS_INGEST OK.
IRIS_INGFIO OK.
IRIS_RTD_XMT OK.
IRIS_NETWORK 0K.
IRIS_NORDRAD OK.
IRIS_PRODUCT OK.
IRIS_REINGEST OK.
IRIS_SERVER OK.
IRIS_WATCHDOG OK.
IRIS_OUTPUT01 Restarted.
IRIS_OUTPUT02 OK.
IRIS_OUTPUT03 OK.
IRIS_OUTPUT04 OK.
IRIS_ARCHIVE1 OK.
IRIS_ARCHIVE2 OK.
IRIS_OUTPUT07 OK.
IRIS_OUTPUT08 OK.
4.4 show_iris Command

The show_iris command gives information about the IRIS process—
when it was started, the present state of semaphores and event flags, plus
the current inventory of in-use products.
74 ___________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
The show_iris command also provides some usefule command line

options for in–use bits. Type show_iris –help to learn more.
$ show_iris
IRIS Activity on 'hot' at: 09:52:52 17 SEP 1999
IRIS V7.11 was started at 16:19:38 16 SEP 1999 by 'joe'.
Manual startup from TTY:'/dev/tty' ; Restarts:1
Features License: 00004001-000101-WAHRMA-01-Y9ANHF
Products License: 000007FF-000101-WAHRMA-03-WFW4KR
Present states of Semaphores...
Process Control: Process Modes:

FREE (ID: 5833) FREE (ID: 5826)
Task Schedule: Product Schedule:
FREE (ID: 5834) FREE (ID: 5831)
Ingest Directory: Product Directory:
FREE (ID: 5831) FREE (ID: 5849)
Device Table: FREE Mode Switch Table:
(ID: 5852) FREE (ID: 5834)
Archive Directory: Error Log: FREE
FREE (ID: 5834) (ID: 5834)
Present states of Event Flags...
RTDISP: CLEAR INGEST: CLEAR

INGFIO: CLEAR INGFIO Mapping:
SET
INGFIO Waiting: WATCHDOG: CLEAR
SET
PRODUCT: CLEAR REINGEST: CLEAR
NETWORK: CLEAR NORDRAD: CLEAR
Global Mapped:
SET
Event Flags SET for Output Processes: 7 8
Event Flags SET for Network Child Processes: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Checking INGEST inventory for in-use files:
Total files checked: 92, total in use: 0.
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 75
Checking PRODUCT inventory for in-use files:
Total files checked: 260, total in use: 0.
======= Product Inventory Contents =======

Prod Type Count Size(Mb) Kept Count Kept Size
PPI 0 0.00 0 0.00
RHI 0 0.00 0 0.00
CAPPI 159 92.06 21 60.92
Cross Section 0 0.00 0 0.00
Echo Tops 0 0.00 0 0.00
Tracking 0 0.00 0 0.00
Hourly 0 0.00 0 0.00
Rainfall
N Hours 0 0.00 0 0.00
Rainfall
Vol. Vel. Proc. 0 0.00 0 0.00
Vert.Int. 0 0.00 0 0.00
Liquid
Wind Shear 0 0.00 0 0.00
Warning 1 0.01 1 0.01
Real Time PPI 0 0.00 0 0.00
Real Time RHI 0 0.00 0 0.00
Raw Data 73 52.35 73 52.35
Max with panels 0 0.00 0 0.00
User Map 0 0.00 0 0.00
User Section 0 0.00 0 0.00
User Other 0 0.00 0 0.00
Status 25 0.06 0 0.00
Shear Line 0 0.00 0 0.00
Horizontal 0 0.00 0 0.00
Wind
Beam Pattern 0 0.00 0 0.00
Text 0 0.00 0 0.00
Forecast 0 0.00 0 0.00
Multi-Doppler 2 15.36 2 15.36
Image 0 0.00 0 0.00
Composite 0 0.00 0 0.00
LLWAS 0 0.00 0 0.00
260 159.84 Mb 97 128.65 Mb
76 ___________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
4.5 structmap Command

The structmap command displays the format of IRIS structures. This is
useful for programmers writing applications that access IRIS data. You
must install IRIS with the –headers option to make structmap available
on your system.
structmap can take several options, producing different results. To

display the list of options, enter the command without options or
parameters:
$ structmap
Command Line Options:
<struct name> : Display internal

contents of IRIS
structure(s)
–include <dir> : Override default
'include'
directory name
–nopack : Force no packing
of structure
elements
–scan : Produce list of
all defined
structures
–scanlocal : Like 'scan', but
do local directory
only
–noflags : Suppress error
flags in output
–recursive : Descend into
substructures
–data : Show numeric data
read from
std.input
–dimension N : Use with '-data'
for N-dimensional
printout
E.G., "structmap 'structmap –scan'" displays everything
When you invoke structmap with the name of a structure, it displays the
name of the include file where the structure is defined and a description of
each element of the structure—its offset from the beginning of the
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 77
structure, its size, the number of times it occurs, its data type, and name.
For example, structmap returns the following information about the
tape_header_record structure:
$ structmap tape_header_record
tape_header_record /usr/sigmet/iris/include/output.h
0 12 1 struct
structure_header
hdr
12 16 16 char stape_id[]
28 16 16 char sitename[]
44 12 1 struct ymds_time
init_time
56 2 1 SINT2 idrive
58 2 2 char ipad58x2[]
60 8 8 char sversion[]
68 252 252 char ipad_end[]
320
structmap shows that the structure is defined in /iris/include/output.h and

contains the following elements:
• hdr is a structure of type structure_header, taking up the first 12

bytes.
• stape_id and sitename are arrays of 16 characters each, at offsets 12
and 28.
• init_time is a ymds_time structure, taking up 12 bytes starting at
offset 44.
• idrive is a long integer at offset 56.
• ipad58x2, sversion, and ipad_end are arrays of 2, 8 and 252
characters,at offsets 58, 60, and 68, respectively.
The total size of the structure is 320 bytes.
When you invoke structmap with the –scan option, it lists the names of
all the structure defined by IRIS.
$ structmap -scan
ant_manual_setup
78 ___________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
bitex_field_def
bitex_top_def
cappi_psi_struct
You can also use the –scan option to recursively call structmap and
display the format of all the structures in the system. The following
command takes this output and redirects it to a file:
$ structmap 'structmap –scan' > allstructs.out
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 79
80 ___________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
Appendix A ______________________________________________________ Installing CentOS 7.x
APPENDIX A
INSTALLING CENTOS 7.X
A.1 Overview
This appendix provides instructions on installing and configuring
CentOS7 Operating System for the Vaisala WR (IRIS & RDA)
application software. Read this appendix before you begin.
Vaisala provides a customized ISO image for CentOS 7.1 on the Vaisala
FTP website at ftp.vaisala.com/outgoing/releases/CentOS/7/CentOS-7-
x86_64-vaisala-1503-01. If you are using ISO image from
https://www.centos.org/download, we recommend that you obtain the
"everything" ISO image.
Vaisala supports two installation methods from the Vaisala spin version
of the ISO image "CentOS-7-x86_64-vaisala-1503-01.
• Automatic - unattended installation

• Manual - interactive installation
For the manual and automatic installation methods you can use the local
DVD or USB device as your installation media. We recommend that you
use the Automatic process unless you have special system configuration
needs or if your custom configuration fails the Automatic installation
process.
Installing Linux requires a Linux software installation tree and a boot

device. You must transfer the CentOS7 distributions ISO images to the
media that you are going to use in the installation. You need the following
to create installation media:
• PC running Windows 7, or CentOS/Fedora (recommend the latest

version)
• DVD writer
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 81
• USB port
• USB Flash Drive 64GB. Preferably a USB 3.0 drive because data
transfer is 10 times faster than USB 2.0
• DVD disc media
A.2 Creating Installation Media

You can run the installation process from either DVD or USB installation.
This section explains how to create and initialize the installation media.
A.2.1 Creating DVD Installation Media

On Windows 7 (recommended):
1. Insert DVD media into the DVD drive.

2. Right click the ISO file.
3. Select Open with->Windows Disc Image Burner to burn the ISO
image on the DVD.
On the Linux (CentOS,Fedora):
Use wodim or cdrecord program to burn the ISO image file on the DVD.
1. "$ wodim -devices (To scan burning device on your system)

2. "$ wodim -v dev=/dev/xxx speed=4 -eject path/toCentOS.iso".
A.2.2 Creating USB Installation Media

On Windows 7:
1. Use a standalone program such as "rufus" (available at

http://rufus.akeo.ie/). Follow the on-screen instructions.
2. Launch "rufus" by double-clicking the program icon.
3. Insert a USB drive in the USB port.
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4. Select the drop-down list to the right of the Create a bootable disk
using, and select ISO Image.
5. Select the Disc icon and then select the iso image.
6. Select Write in DD Image mode if a warning for the hybrid ISO
image is displayed.
7. Select Close.
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 83
On Linux (CentOS/Fedora):
Warning: This operation destroys data on the device you operate on.
1. $ lsblk (to list block device on your system and take note of the
output)
2. Insert a USB drive in the USB port.
3. $ lsblk (compare the output to previous step, additional block device
from this output is your USB device)
4. $ dd if=path/toCentOS.iso of=/dev/xxx (where /dev/xxx is the path to
the USB drive ; for example, /dev/sdc (do not use partition number for
USB device).
A.3 Automated Installation (Unattended

Installation with KICKSTART)
A.3.1 Booting the System

You must configure the system to boot from the media device.
The instructions in this section are for the Vaisala-provided server. If you
are using a different system, consult your systems manual for instructions.
1. Power-up the system by pressing the dark red button on the right hand
side of the front of the server.
2. If you are using USB port for the first time, enable it by inserting the
USB drive it into the USB port.
3. Press the delete key to enter the bios setup window.
4. Use the arrow keys to highlight the Boot option at the top of the
window and press ENTER.
5. In the Boot window, use the arrow keys to choose the 1st boot device
and highlight the installation media and press ENTER.
6. Have your installation media ready to insert into the computer.
7. Press F10 to save the configuration and ENTER to accept the process.
The boot process restarts.
84 ___________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
8. While the system is rebooting either insert the USB stick into the USB
port or the DVD disc into the DVD drive.
The customized Kickstart is configured to install to the first hard drive
on the system -- this is the recommended system configuration.
9. In the installation menu, use the arrow keys to select the media you
have configured earlier (either the USB or cdrom/dvd Kickstart
option).
10. Press ENTER The installation starts automatically.
Figure 1 Install Centos with USB

11. When the installation is complete, select Reboot to reboot the system.
Depending on your system bios boot sequence setting, you may have
to remove the installation media right after you see the rebooting
message displayed to the window in order to boot using the hard drive
instead of the installation media.
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 85
A.4 Initial Setup

When the system reboots for the first time, the initial settings window
allows you to setup the local date and time, configure the systems network
and host name, set the root password and create a user account.
Figure 2 Initial Setup
86 ___________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
A.4.1 Setting Localization Date & Time
Figure 3 Date & Time

1. In the Localization section on the installation summary page, select
DATE & TIME to set your local date and time preferences.
• In the banner above the map select the Region and City that
represents your time zone from the drop down menus.
• If you have an NTP server in your network:
• Leave the Network Time setting in its default ON position.
• Select the gears to the right of the Network Time switch to
configure the server.
• If you do not have an NTP server, the date and time is set manually:
• Switch the Network Time switch OFF by switching on the slider
next to the word ON. OFF should be displayed next to Network
Time.
• In the lower left hand corner enter the current time and select
either 24 hour format or AM/PM format.
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 87
• In the lower right hand corner enter the current date.

2. Review your settings to verify they are correct.
3. Select Done in the upper left hand corner to save the configuration and
return to the installation summary page.
A.4.2 Configuring the System and

Network
1. In the installation summary page, select NETWORK AND HOST
NAME to bring up the Network and Host Name window.
2. Enter the host name in the text box in the lower left window.
If you plan to run RDA software on this computer and connect to the
RVP901 (IFDR), two Ethernet ports are required and should appear in
the panel on the left hand side of the Network and Host Name window.
The two ports probably have the same name one ending in 0 and one
88 ___________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
ending in 1, for example enp1sof0 and enp1sof1. The interface ending

in 0 (eth0) is typically connected to the internet and the interface
ending in 1 (eth1) is a dedicated local network directly connected to the
RVP901 (IFDR).
If you do not plan to connect the computer to the RVP901 (IFDR) then
only eth0 needs to be configured using th procedure.is If the computer
is connecting to the RVP901 (IFDR), follow this procedure once for
eth0 and once for eth1.
• Select the network device you wish to configure listed in the panel
on the left hand side. The selected device is highlighted as shown
below.
• To enable the network interface ON, select the blank button next to
the OFF in the upper right hand corner. The button should slide to
the right and ON is displayed and highlighted.
• Select Configure button on the bottom right hand corner to display
the Editing window.
4. In the editing window, select the General Tab to set the connectivity
options.
• Select Automatically connect to this network when it is available

• Select All users may connect to this network
5. If you are configuring the RVP9IFDR port:
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 89
a. In the Editing window select the Ethernet tab.

b. In the MTU field, type 8192.
6. In the editing window select the IPv4 Settings tab.
a. In the Method drop down menu, select Manual.

b. Select Add.
c. Enter the IP address, netmask, and gateway in the text entry boxes
under the headers.
• If you are configuring your eth0 interface connected to the
internet or your corporate network. The settings in this window
90 ___________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
are specific to your network configuration, if you are unsure

what to enter in these boxes contact your IT support staff.
• If you are configuring your eth1 interface for direct connection to
the RVP9IFDR use the following settings.
Table 1 Configuring for Direct Connection to RVP9IFDR
Setting Value
Address 10.0.1.X, where X is the last octet of your eth0
address. X cannot equal 254 as this is reserved for the
RVP901 (IFDR).
Netmask 24
Gateway 10.0.1.1
d. If configuring your eth0 interface enter your DNS server address in

the DNS server field. If configuring your eth1 interface leave this
blank.
e. If configuring your eth0 interface enter your Domain Name in the
Search domains field. If configuring your eth1 interface leave this
blank.
f. Check the Require IPv4 addressing for this connection box near
the bottom of the page,.
g. Select Save in the lower right corner to finish network
configuration.
Select Done in the upper left hand corner of the Network and Host
Name window to return to the installation summary page.
A.4.3 Setting the Root Password

The default password is "xxxxxxxx".
1. Select ROOT PASSWORD. The Root Password window opens.

2. Enter your root password.
Check the password strength meter. While Vaisala recommends a
strong password, the software does not stop you from entering a week
one.
3. In the confirm text box, re-enter your root password.
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 91
4. In the upper left hand corner, select Done to return to the main
configuration page. If your password is weak, you are prompted to
select Done a second time.
In the Installation Summary page / Initial Settings page, the text under
the Root Password header says Root password is set.
A.4.4 Creating Users

Note: Do not use the user name "radarop", or "observer" when creating
user accounts. These user names are reserved for use in the IRIS/RDA
software installation.
1. Select USER CREATION to open the User creation window.

2. In the user name text box, enter user account name or if you wish to
have the user account name generated from the Full name, enter the
user's full name in the Full name text box.
3. In the password text box, enter your user account's password.
4. In the confirm text box, re-enter your user account's password.
5. Select Done to save the account and return to the main configuration
page. If your password is weak, you are prompted to select Done a
second time.
In the Installation Summary page / Initial Settings page, the text
under the User Account header says User 'username' will be created
where username matches the name entered in the User name text box.
A.4.5 Finishing the Configuration

After setting your localization, network and user settings, in the lower left
hand corner of the Initial Settings Window, select FINISH
CONFIGURATION.
This takes you to the login window where you can login with the user
account just created.
A.4.6 Logging In With Your User Account

After rebooting, the login window shows the user account you created. To
login:
92 ___________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
1. Select your user account and enter your password in the text box.
2. Select Sign in to log on.
The first time you enter each new user account, you are asked to
answer some initialization settings, these should be set properly and no
setting changes should be required.
3. In the Welcome window, select your language and select Next in the
lower right hand corner.
4. In the Input Sources window, verify your source and select Next.
5. In the On-line Accounts window, select Next.
6. In the Thank you window, select Start using CentOs Linux.
7. Read the GNOME Help window and press the X in the upper right
hand corner to close the window.
The installation and initialization process for CentOs 7 is complete.
A.5 Manual Installation (Interactive)
A.5.1 Booting the System

You must configure the system to boot from the media device that you
have created.
The instructions in this section are for the Vaisala-provided server, if you
are using a different system, consult your systems manual for instructions.
1. Power-up the system by pressing the dark red button on the right hand
side of the front of the server.
2. If you are using USB port for the first time, enable it by inserting the
USB drive it into the USB port.
3. Press the delete key to enter the bios setup window.
4. Use the arrow keys to highlight the Boot option at the top of the
window and press ENTER.
5. In the Boot window, use the arrow keys to select Boot Device Priority
and press ENTER.
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 93
6. In the Boot Device Priority window, use the arrow keys to choose the
1st boot device and select the media that you are installing from. Press
ENTER.
7. Have your installation media ready to insert into the computer.
8. Press F10 to save the configuration. The boot process restarts.
9. While the system is rebooting either insert the USB stick into the USB
port or the DVD disc into the DVD drive.
When the system has booted from the installation media, the
installation welcome page is displayed.
10. Select Install CentOS 7 using the up arrow, and press ENTER. The
Welcome to CentOs 7 window is displayed.
11.Select a language from the left hand panel and keyboard layout from
the right hand panel.
94 ___________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
12. Select Continue.
The installation summary page is displayed with three sections: a

localization section to allow you to configure the local time and date, the
software section to select the installation source and configure what is to
be installed and the system section to setup your network interface and
hostname.
Figure 4 Installation Summary Page
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 95
A.5.2 Setting Localization Date & Time
Figure 5 Date & Time

1. In the Localization section on the installation summary page, select
DATE & TIME to set your local date and time preferences.
• In the banner above the map select the Region and City that
represents your time zone from the drop down menus.
• If you have an NTP server in your network:
• Leave the Network Time setting in its default ON position.
• Select the gears to the right of the Network Time switch to
configure the server.
• If you do not have an NTP server, the date and time is set manually:
96 ___________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
• Switch the Network Time switch OFF by switching on the slider

next to the word ON. OFF should be displayed next to Network
Time.
• In the lower left hand corner enter the current time and select
either 24 hour format or AM/PM format.
• In the lower right hand corner enter the current date.
2. Review your settings to verify they are correct.
3. Select Done button in the upper left hand corner to save the
configuration and return to the installation summary page.
A.5.3 Selecting the Software

1. In the Software section of the installation summary page, leave the
INSTALLATION SOURCE in its default state set to Local media.
2. Select SOFTWARE SELECTION on the right side of the window.
The Software Selection window appears.
3. In the left panel labeled Base Environment, select Development and

Creative Workstation.
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 97
4. In the right panel labeled Add-Ons for Selected Environment, select

the listed additional options from the right pane by checking the check
box. Use the scroll bar to the right of the panel to view all of the
options.
• Additional Development
• Compatibility Libraries
• Development Tools
• Emacs
• FTP Server
• Graphics Creation Tools
• Legacy X Window System Compatibility
• Network File System Client
• Office Suite and Productivity
• Platform Development
• Legacy UNIX Compatibility
5. Select Done in the top left corner to finish software selection and
return to the installation summary page.
A.5.4 Configuring the System and

Network
1. In the installation summary page, select NETWORK AND HOST
NAME to bring up the Network and Host Name window.
98 ___________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
If you plan to run RDA software on this computer and connect to the
RVP901 (IFDR), two Ethernet ports are required and should appear in
the panel on the left hand side of the Network and Host Name window.
The two ports probably have the same name one ending in 0 and one
ending in 1, for example enp1sof0 and enp1sof1. The interface ending
in 0 (eth0) is typically connected to the internet and the interface
ending in 1 (eth1) is a dedicated local network directly connected to the
RVP901 (IFDR).
If you do not plan to connect the computer to the RVP901 (IFDR) then
only eth0 needs to be configured using th procedure.is If the computer
is connecting to the RVP901 (IFDR), follow this procedure once for
eth0 and once for eth1.
• Select the network device you wish to configure listed in the panel
on the left hand side. The selected device is highlighted as shown
below.
• To enable the network interface ON, select the blank button next to
the OFF in the upper right hand corner. The button should slide to
the right and ON is displayed and highlighted.
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 99
• Select Configure button on the bottom right hand corner to display

the Editing window.
4. In the editing window, select the General Tab to set the connectivity
options.
• Select Automatically connect to this network when it is available

• Select All users may connect to this network
5. If you are configuring the RVP9IFDR port:
a. In the Editing window select the Ethernet tab.

b. In the MTU field, type 8192.
6. In the editing window select the IPv4 Settings tab:
100 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
a. In the Method drop down menu, select Manual.

b. Select Add.
c. Enter the IP address, netmask, and gateway in the text entry boxes
under the headers.
• If you are configuring your eth0 interface connected to the
internet or your corporate network. The settings in this window
are specific to your network configuration, if you are unsure
what to enter in these boxes contact your IT support staff.
• If you are configuring your eth1 interface for direct connection to
the RVP9IFDR use the following settings.
Table 2 Configuring for Direct Connection to RVP9IFDR

Setting Value
Address 10.0.1.X, where X is the last octet of your eth0
address. X cannot equal 254 as this is reserved for the
RVP901 (IFDR).
Netmask 24
Gateway 10.0.1.1
d. If configuring your eth0 interface enter your DNS server address in

the DNS server field. If configuring your eth1 interface leave this
blank.
e. If configuring your eth0 interface enter your Domain Name in the
Search domains field. If configuring your eth1 interface leave this
blank.
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 101

f. Check the Require IPv4 addressing for this connection box near
the bottom of the page,.
g. Select Save in the lower right corner to finish network
configuration.
7. Select Done in the upper left hand corner of the Network and Host
Name window to return to the installation summary page.
A.5.5 System / Destination Installation

The Destination Installation header in the System section allows you to
partition your disk during installation.
A.5.6 Partitioning the Destination Disk

1. On the installation summary page, select Destination Installation.
2. Select destination disk to install CentOS to. There might be more than
one disk list here if your system has more than one drive.
3. Select I will configure partitioning >Done" to continue.
102 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
See Vaisala Recommended Partition Settings for recommended

settings.
If your drive is already partitioned and you want to change to the

recommended settings, follow the instructions in section Delete Existing
Partitions section and then continue to the instructions in section Create
New Partitions.
If your drive has never been partitioned, see section Create New
Partitions.
If you wish to reuse your existing settings, see section Re-Using Existing
Partitions.
A.5.7 Vaisala-recommended Partition

Settings
Table 3 Partition Settings

Partition File System Type Minimum Partition Size
/boot Ext4 250MB
Swap swap The size of your system if
memory is < 8GB
/ Ext4 40GB
/usr/iris_data Ext4 Remaining space
Table 4 Partition Settings Using LVM

Partition File System Type Minimum Partition Size
/boot Ext4 250MB
Swap swap The size of your system if
memory is < 8GB
LVM physical volume Remaining space, as one
LVM volume group
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 103

Table 5 LVM Physical Partitioning

Partition Size and Type
/ 40GB, Ext4
/usr/iris_data remaining space, Ext4
A.5.8 Deleting Existing Partitions

If you do not want to use the existing partitions, you must delete them to
provide disk space for your installation.
1. Select the arrow to the left of the drive name you want to modify to
expand the partitioning scheme.
2. Select a partition to delete.
3. Select a minus sign (-) icon to delete the partition.
4. On the pop-up window, check Delete all other filesystems…. and
select Delete it.
A.5.9 Creating New Partitions

Vaisala recommends the LVM partition scheme:
1. Select Click here to create them automatically
104 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
2. If the /home partition exists, delete /home partition by selecting the

minus (-) icon
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 105

3. Add a partition by selecting the plus (+) icon.

4. Enter /usr/iris_data in the mount point text box and size of the
partition (example: 20GB), and select Add mount point
5. One at a time, select each partition and modify the value in the Desired
Capacity box with values shown in section Vaisala-recommend
Partition Settings.
6. Select Done > Accept changes to finish partitioning
7. Select Begin installation to start installation.
106 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
8. While installation is in progress, follow the instructions in User

Settings.
A.5.10 Re-using Existing Partitions

If your disk has an operating system installed, the partitioning scheme list
is displayed.
1. Select the arrow head to the left of the drive name you want to re-use to
expand the partitioning scheme.
2. In the partition window, for each partition shown in the left pane of the
partition window, select the partition and enter the name shown in the
Mount Point field.
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 107

3. Check the reformat box in the File System selection section so that a
check appears in it.
4. Select Update Setting. For the swap partition, you do not need to enter
the mount point name but you must check the reformat box and update
the settings.
5. For each partition, update the settings and select Done.
6. Select Accept Changes to return to the installation summary page.
A.5.11 Starting Installation

Before starting the installation, have your root password and user account
information on hand.
In the lower right corner of the installation summary page, select Begin
installation. While installation is in progress, complete the steps in
section, Initial Setup.
108 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
A.5.12 Performing the Initial Setup

After you select Begin installation in the installation summary page, the
user settings configuration page appears.
Configure the setting while the installation process is in progress and

completed before the end of the installation.
A.5.13 Setting the Root Password

1. Select ROOT PASSWORD. The Root Password window opens.
2. Enter your root password.
Check the password strength meter. While Vaisala recommends a
strong password, the software does not stop you from entering a week
one.
3. In the confirm text box, re-enter your root password.
4. In the upper left hand corner, select Done to return to the main
configuration page. If your password is weak, you are prompted to
select Done a second time.
In the Installation Summary page / Initial Settings page, the text under
the Root Password header says Root password is set.
A.5.14 Creating Users

Note: Do not use the user name "radarop", or "observer" when creating
user accounts as these user names are reserved for use in the IRIS/RDA
software installation.
1. Select USER CREATION to open the User creation window.

2. In the user name text box, enter user account name or if you wish to
have the user account name generated from the Full name, enter the
user's full name in the Full name text box.
3. In the password text box, enter your user account's password.
4. In the confirm text box, re-enter your user account's password.
5. Select Done to save the account and return to the main configuration
page. If your password is weak, you are prompted to select Done a
second time.
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 109

In the Installation Summary page / Initial Settings page, the text

under the User Account header says User 'username' will be created
where user name matches the name entered in the User name text box.
A.5.15 Rebooting the System

When the installation is complete, select Reboot to reboot the system.
Depending on your system bios boot sequence setting, you may need to
remove the installation media right after you see the system shutdown
complete window flash by in order to boot using the hard drive.
After rebooting, the system displays a login window allowing you to login
with the user account created in the previous steps.
A.5.16 Logging In With Your User

Account
After rebooting, the login window shows the user account you created. To
login:
1. Select your user account and enter your password in the text box.
2. Select Sign in to log on.
The first time you enter each new user account, you are asked to
answer some initialization settings, these should be set properly and no
setting changes should be required.
3. In the Welcome window, select your language and select Next in the
lower right hand corner.
4. In the Input Sources window, verify your source and select Next.
5. In the On-line Accounts window, select Next.
6. In the Thank you window, select Start using CentOs Linux.
7. Read the GNOME Help window and press the X in the upper right
hand corner to close the window.
The installation and initialization process for CentOs 7 is complete.
110 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
Appendix B ________________________________________________________ Installing CentOS6
APPENDIX B
INSTALLING CENTOS6
B.1 Overview
This appendix provides instructions on installing and configuring
CentOS6 for Vaisala WR (IRIS & RDA) application software. Vaisala
recommends reading through this manual before installing Linux OS and
the Vaisala application software for the first time.
For more information see CentOS Linux Installation Guide, on the

Documentation disk of your CentOS Desktop DVDs.
NOTE During this process you must take notes so that you can properly reuse
this information during the post installation modifications.
B.2 Installation Overview

Vaisala supports two installation methods:
• Automatic
• Manual
The automatic installation method uses bootable scripts located on

special Install CDs available from Vaisala. The install CDROM is specific
to a particular OS version, see our ftp site
(ftp.sigmet.vaisala.com:/outgoing/releases) for the current list. If you
wish to install a different version, use the manual method, or contact us.
After installing the OS, you can separately install IRIS from the
IRIS/RDA install media. While some manual steps are still required after
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________111
this automatic procedure, the time necessary to complete an IRIS/RDA

installation on a new computer system is drastically reduced.
The manual installation method is documented here as an alternative in

the event that there is a problem with the automatic installation, or if you
wish to install a different version of the OS. It is written for an CentOS6
installation. There are differences with other versions, so some operator
flexibility is required.
B.2.1 Using this Manual

This section uses the following format:
• Screen "Title", which indicates what you see on the installation wizard
screen.
• Action: What to do
NOTE Use the Tab key to move between different fields/options on the screen
and the space bar to select check boxes.
B.2.2 Types of Installation Media

Installing Linux requires a Linux installation tree (Linux files) and a boot
device. The Linux installation tree can come either from the local DVD–
ROM labeled “32 bit Installation”, or a file accessible over the network
(via NFS or FTP). Vaisala recommends a DVD–ROM based installation.
For more information, see CentOS Linux Installation Guide.
B.2.3 Installation Preparation

Verify that you can boot from a DVD by powering off your computer
system, inserting the Vaisala Install CD-ROM or the CentOS DVD (32–
bit version) into the appropriate drive and then powering on your
computer.
If a Linux screen is displayed on your screen continue to "Manual

Installation" on page 113 for the automatic installation procedure or
"Manual Installation" on page 113 for the manual procedure.
112 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
If a Linux screen was not displayed on your computer then continue

with this section. When the computer is booting, you are prompted to
“Press DEL to enter SETUP” (or some other key to enter setup). Press the
specified key to enter setup.
Here is what to check: In the BIOS Features Setup, set the boot sequence
to be “CD, C”. Finally, save your changes by pressing the F10 key.
The system reboots.
B.3 Manual Installation

Manual installation is typically used to install Linux and IRIS onto
workstations that are not provided by Vaisala, that is, not RVP8 or RCP8
hardware. Note that the automatic procedure should always be used for
RVP8 and RCP8 systems. The manual procedure described here can still
take advantage of our automated post OS installation script (sigconfig) to
perform system configuration functions.
B.3.1 Install CentOS6

If you have not already done so, place the CentOS DVD (labeled in small
letters “32 bit Installation”) into the appropriate drive and reboot your
computer.
B.3.2 Welcome to CentOS6!

Purpose: Splash Screen
Action: Select Install or upgrade an existing system.
B.3.3 Disc Found

Purpose: Allow you to test the installation disk.
Action: Select OK if you want to test the install disk. This takes a long
time, but we have found many bad discs over the years. Or select Skip if
you are sure the disc is OK.
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________113
B.3.4 CentOS6
Purpose: Splash Screen
Action: Click Next.
B.3.5 Installation Language

Purpose: Select the installation language.
Action: Select your favorite language, then click Next.
B.3.6 Keyboard Selection

Purpose: Choose the keyboard type that you have purchased.
Action: For most systems choose U.S. English, then click Next.
B.3.7 Type of Device for Installation

Action: Select Basic Storage Devices.
B.3.8 Hostname
Action: Type in your host name, for example wes–install.vaisala.com,
then click Config Network.
B.3.9 Please Name This Computer

Purpose: Set basic network configuration. You can do this later, but if
you know the information, do it now. Consult with your network manager
to get the information. An example is shown here:
1. From the Network Connections menu, in the Wired tab, select the
device System eth0, and click Edit. The Editing System eth0
window. appears. In this window do the following:
a. Select the Connect automatically button.
b. Select the IPv4 Settings tab. On this menu:
114 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
i. Set Method to Manual.

ii. Click Add.
iii.Type in your IP address, for example 192.168.45.208 and click
Enter. It uses default the Netmask, (change if desired).
iv. Type in the Gateway IP address.
v. Optionally, type in the DNS server and domain name and click
Apply.
6. Click Close on the parent Network Connections menu.
7. Click Next to leave the Please name this computer page.
B.3.10 Time Zone

1. Select the nearest city in your time zone. If you want your computer to
use UTC for the system clock (good for shipboard systems, for
example), then scroll down the list to find the “Etc/UTC” choice..
2. Select System clock uses UTC.
3. Select: Next.
B.3.11 Set Root Password

Enter the password for root (twice) and then click Next. The default
Vaisala root password is “xxxxxxxx” (8 x).
B.3.12 What Type of Installation Would

You Like?
Action: Select option 5 Create Custom Layout and click Next.
If you are going to record time series, we recommend that you create a
separate partition for that purpose.
B.3.13 Please Select A Device

Action: Select your hard drive device from the list. Click Create four
times, and make four partitions similar to this table:
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________115
sda1 16384MB / ext4

sda2 8192MB swap
sda3 16384MB /usr ext4
sda4 Fit max size /usr/iris_data ext4
It makes an extended partition for you, this is OK. Now click Next.
B.0.1 Boot Loader Operating System List

Action: Click Next to take the defaults.
B.0.2 Default Installation of CentOS

Action: Check Software Development Workstation. Leave default
repositories. Select Customize now and click Next.
B.0.3 Package Group Selection

Purpose: Select the packages to install () or not to install (). In some
cases you will need to look at the “Optional packages” to select or de-
select specific packages. Text in bold indicates changes from the defaults.
Base System
 Backup client
 Base
 Compatibility Libraries
 Console Internet Tools
 Debugging Tools
 Dial-up Networking Support
 Directory Client
 FCoE Storage Client
 Hardware Monitoring Utilities
 Infiniband Support
116 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
 Java Platform
 Large System Performance
 Legacy UNIX Compatibility

Optional Packages: Accept defaults, turn on rsh, rsh-server, telnet,
and telnet–server
 Mainframe Access
 Network File System Client
 Networking Tools
 Performance Tools
 Perl Support
 Printing Client
 Scientific Support
Optional Packages: Accept defaults, turn on lapack
 Security Tools
 Smart Card Support
 Storage Availability Tools
 iSCSI Storage Client
Servers
 Backup Server
 CIFS File Server
 Directory Server
 E-mail Server
 FTP Server
 NFS File Server
 Network Infrastructure Server
 Network Storage Server
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________117
 Print Server
 Server Platform
 System Administration Tools

Optional Packages: Accept defaults, turn on tree
Web Services
 PHP Support
 TurboGears Application Framework
 Web Server
Optional Packages: Accept defaults, turn on mod_auth_pgsql
 Web Servlet Engine
Databases
 MySQL Database Client
 MySQL Database Server
 PostgreSQL Database Client

Optional Packages: Accept defaults, turn on postgresql–jdbc
 PostgreSQL Database Server
System Management
 Messaging Client Support
 Messaging Server Support
 SNMP Support
 System Management
 Web-based Enterprise Management
Virtualization
 Virtualization Client
 Virtualization Platform
Desktops
118 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
 Desktop
 Desktop Debugging and Performance
 Desktop Platform
Optional Packages: Accept defaults, turn on qt–postgresql
 Fonts
 General Purpose Desktop
 Graphical Administration Tools
 Input Methods
 KDE Desktop
 Legacy X Window System Compatibility

Optional Packages: Accept defaults, turn on openmotif–2.3
 Remote Desktop Clients
 X Window System
Applications
 Emacs
Optional Packages: Accept defaults, turn on emacs_nox
 Internet Browser
 Graphics Creation Tools

Optional Packages: Accept defaults, turn on ImageMagick
 TeX Support
 Technical Writing
Development
 Additional Development
Optional Packages: Accept defaults, turn on libXpm–devel,
libtiff_devel, openmotif–devel–2.3, tcl_devel, tk–devel
 Desktop Platform Development
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________119
 Development Tools
Optional Packages: Accept defaults, turn on ant, cmake, imake,
rpmdevtools
 Eclipse
Optional Packages: Accept defaults, turn on eclipse–mylyn–cdt
 Server Platform Development
Languages
Add languages that you want, the install language is implicit.
B.3.14 About to Install

Action: Click Next.
The install process will take about 20 to 40 minutes depending on the

speed of your computer.
B.3.15 Congratulations
Action: Click Reboot. Make sure the CentOS6 disk is removed from the
drive.
B.3.16 Welcome
Purpose: After the first reboot you will need to enter some customization
information. You only need to do this once.
Action: Click Forward.
B.3.17 License Agreement

Action: Select Yes I agree and then click Forward.
B.3.18 Set Up Software Updates

Purpose: To register with CentOS. You can bypass this and you can do it
later if needed.
120 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
Action: Click Forward.
B.0.4 Create User

Purpose: Create a user for the system.
Action: We will be creating the normal radar operator account later. We

suggest you create an account for “service” here, make the password
“xxxxxx” if you have no other preference, then click Forward.
B.3.19 Date and Time

Action: Set the date and time. Use your local time (depending on the
timezone set earlier). Alternatively set your NTP servers here.
B.3.20 Kdump
Action: Leave Disabled and then click Forward.
B.0.5 Disable Firewall

After the install procedure has completed, you need to manually disable
the firewall. You need to be logged in as root to do this. Run the following
command:
# system–config–firewall
Click Disable, then Apply, then exit the program. If you are running the
gnome desktop, you can launch system–config–firewall from the menu
bar by selecting System/Administration/Firewall.
At this point, you must run the “sigconfig” post-install configuration

script. Either follow the instructions in "Sigconfig Instructions for
CentOS6 and 7" on page 127, or do it manually as described in "Post-
Install Steps" on page 122
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 121

B.4 Post-Install Steps
B.4.1 Configuring Your Time Zone

If you used the automatic installation procedure or need to your time/date
settings for another reason, as root, run:
# system–config–date
If you wish the system clock to display UTC, then in the “Time Zone” tab,
look in the “Non-geographic timezones” to find “UTC”.
B.4.2 Basic Network Configuration

If you did not use the automatic installation procedure or need to change
your network settings for another reason, as root, run:
# system–config–network
After you have made your desired changes:
# reboot
You can manually inspect and edit the various network configuration
files. The ones required for IRIS are as follows:
File name Function Test

/etc/sysconfig/network Set official local host name # hostname
and basic networking. Should show hostname
exactly as as in the file.
/etc/sysconfig/network- Define the local IP address # ifconfig eth0
scripts/ifcfg-eth0 and the other basic network Displays network
information configuration and status
summary for device eth0.
/etc/hosts Defines IP addresses, # ping <hostname or
hostnames and aliases for all alias>
of the various IRIS or other Shows that the hostname or
network nodes. alias corresponds to the
proper IP address.
122 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
File name Function Test

/etc/hosts.equiv A list of other hosts and the # rsh hostname date
corresponding users who are Also required for rcp and
allowed remote access rlogin.
without password.
/etc/resolv.conf Specifies a network domain If after login, X-windows
name server (DNS) as an takes a long time to start,
alternative to a fixed then there may be a problem
/etc/hosts table. Many IRIS with the DNS. In this case
systems do not use this move resolv.conf to
feature. /etc/resolv.conf.back.
The various files should look something like the examples below. Note
that your specific node names and IP addresses, etc., will be different so
check with your network manager to get these assigned.
/etc/sysconfig/network (should look something like:)
NETWORKING=yes
HOSTNAME=typhoon.sigmet.com
GATEWAY=192.168.76.10
/etc/sysconfig/network–scripts/ifcfg–eth0 (should look something like):
DEVICE=eth0
BOOTPROTO=static
BROADCAST=192.168.76.255
IPADDR=192.168.76.27
NETMASK=255.255.255.0
NETWORK=192.168.76.0
ONBOOT=yes
TYPE=Ethernet
/etc/hosts (should look something like):
127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost

192.168.76.27 typhoon.sigmet.com typhoon
192.168.76.28 otherhost.sigmet.com otherhost
/etc/hosts.equiv (should look something like):
cloud.sigmet.com operator
typhoon.sigmet.com operator
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 123

others.sigmet.com operator
Vaisala recommends the use of a static /etc/hosts file. In this case, to avoid
possible confusion with the DNS server, you should move the resolv.conf
file as follows:
mv /etc/resolv.conf /etc/resolv.conf.org
If you plan to use DNS, then the resolv.conf should look something like
(depending on your network):
/etc/resolv.conf (should look something like the following):
search sigmet.com
nameserver 192.168.76.10
After you have completed the networking, it is recommended that you

reboot the system to test the changes. If you change the host name for
example, you will need to reboot for this to take effect. For most other
changes however you can test by simply stopping and starting the network
service as follows:
Restart the network by typing;

service network stop
service network start
B.4.3 Routing
By default, a Linux system will not route network data. To enable routing,
type the following command:
# echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward
Once you get this working, you need to make a change so this will run
every time you boot. Do this by editing the /etc/sysctl.conf and add a line
like:
net.ipv4.ip_forward = 1
Or, you can put the echo command into your /etc/rc.d/rc.local file.
124 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
B.4.4 Configuring NTP

To configure your machine to time sync with another machine, edit the
/etc/ntp.conf file to contain a single line similar to the following:
server 198.102.75.10
Substitute in the correct IP address of the machine to sync to. To make a

computer the time server, use the special address as follows:
server 127.127.1.1
Ntp will set the time after approximately 15 minutes after building a time
syncing model. This means that after booting, the time may change in
about 15 minutes. This can cause problems with automatic startup of
IRIS. To fix this problem, create a file /etc/ntp/step–tickers and put in just
the server IP address, without the word “server”. Ntp will then set the date
at boot time, if possible. Do not put in the step–tickers file on the time
server.
If ntpd was not added, type the following:
# chkconfig ––add ntpd

# chkconfig ntpd on
This will take effect after the next reboot. To start without rebooting, type:
# service ntpd start
It will take 15 minutes before it will sync the times. If the times are more
than 10 minutes apart, ntp will assume there is an error and never change
the time. To check on the status of ntp, type:
# ntpq –p
The first character before the server host will be “*” when it thinks it is
time synced.
Another convenient check to compare the time of your workstation with

that of another (such as the ntp server is):
# date ; rdate –p nodename
Note the semicolon between the two commands allows both the local
“date” command to be run simultaneously with the remote date (rdate)
command on the other workstation. This allows the times to be easily
compared.
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 125

You can also manually set the time from another computer with the
following command. This will not work if ntpd is running on your
machine.
# ntpdate host
126 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
Appendix C _______________________________________ Sigconfig Instructions for CentOS6 and 7
APPENDIX C
SIGCONFIG INSTRUCTIONS FOR
CENTOS6 AND 7
C.1 Automatic Sigconfig Instructions

The sigconfig script installs the IRIS / RDA software and the supporting
RPMs. From 8.13.6 release onwards, sigconfig simplifies the installation
of extra RPMs by supporting yum group install. The following yum
groups include the RPMs required by the IRIS / RDA software
installation:
• Common Extras
Includes RPMs that are needed by IRIS and RDA.
• RDA extras
Includes RPMs needed by the RDA installation when using the
rvp900, rcp8 or rda command line options.
• IRIS Extras
Includes RPMs needed by IRIS installation process.
In releases prior to 8.13.6, you can enable yum repo by mounting the
IRIS/RDA software media with the media volume label. The volume
label is irisrda_x.x.x where x.x.x is the software release version (for
example, 8.13.6).
In 8.13.6 release and newer, you can mount the IRIS/RDA software media
with any mount point name, and the sigconfig script handles the yum repo
to the correct location. By default when you insert the IRIS/RDA software
to a DVD drive, or USB flash drive, it mounts to
/run/media/username/irisrda_x.x.x, where username is the login user, and
x.x.x is the software release version. For example, for the root user it
would mount at /run/media/root/irisrda_8.13.6 for version 8.13.6.
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 127

During the software installation, sigconfig backs up the yum repo files to
the directory, /etc/yum.repo.d/repo.bck, and creates a repo file for
IRIS/RDA extras RPMS in /etc/yum.repo.d/.
After sigconfig finishes the software installation, it restores the original

repo files to /etc/yum.repo.d, and deletes the IRIS/RDA Extras rpms repo
file.
C.1.1 Overview to Running Sigconfig

The following sections provide detailed instructions for each step in using
the sigconfig script to install the IRIS / RDA software.
CAUTION The sigconfig scripts overwrites the existing configuration. Do not run
the script on systems with IRIS/RDA software already installed. Only
run the script when installing IRIS/RDA software for the first time.
1. Install the operating system following the instructions provided in the

user manual.
2. Locate the IRIS / RDA installation media or create the media if no
media is already available.
3. Login as root.
4. Install the IRIS / RDA installation media and verify it mounts.
5. Run the sigconfig script at the mount point with the command line
arguments for your application.
6. Reboot the computer
7. Verify expected services have started by logging in as radarop and
running the ps_iris command.
128 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
C.1.2 Creating the IRIS RDA Installation

Media
You can run the RDA IRIS installation process from a DVD drive or a
USB stick.
C.1.2.1 Burning IRIS RDA ISO Image to DVD on

Windows 7
1. Copy the IRIS/RDA ISO image to your Desktop.
2. Right-click the file, and select Open with >Windows Disc Image
Burner.
The Windows Disc Image Burner window opens.
3. Insert the DVD disk into the DVD burner drive.
4. Select Burn.
C.1.2.2 Copying IRIS RDA ISO Image to USB Flash

Drive on Linux
1. Copy the IRIS/RDA iso image to your Linux workstation.
2. Login as root or switch to root user with the "su" command.
3. Run the "lsblk" command and take note of the output.
4. Insert USB flash drive into the USP port.
5. Re-run the "lsblk" command, and make sure you see an additional
device list on the output, that is, the USB device that you just plugged-
in earlier.
6. Transfer the IRIS/RDA iso image to USB flash drive with command,
where X is the device number such as /dev/sdc:
# dd if=irisrda_image.iso of=/dev/sdx bs=512
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 129

C.1.3 Logging in as ROOT

1. In the login screen displaying your user accounts, select Not Listed?
below the user account login box.
2. Enter root as the user name and your root password.
The system displays a welcome message after the first time you log in and
a blank screen after other logins.
C.1.4 Opening a Terminal Window
Figure 1 Terminal Window

1. Left-click the Applications menu in the upper left hand corner.
2. Move your cursor to highlight the terminal and select it.
A terminal window with a prompt opens.
130 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
C.1.5 Installing Media and Verifying

Mount Point
IRIS / RDA installation media can be either a USB device or a DVD disc.
1. Either install the USB drive in the USB port or install the DVD disc in
the DVD drive by pressing the eject button on the front to open the
drive and gently pushing it shut to install the media.
2. If you are using a DVD drive, a small black window indicates that the
DVD disc has been recognized. Press the X circle in the upper right
corner of the window to close the window.
3. Verify that the installation media is recognized with the lsblk

command:
# lsblk
4. Check that you device is listed with the mount point:
CentOS 6
/media/irisrda_X.XX.X where X.XX.X is the version of software you
are installing.
CentOS /
/run/media/root/irisrda_X.XX.X where X.XX.X is the version of
software you are installing.
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 131

If you do not see this mount point listed you must manually mount the
device.
C.1.5.1 Mounting IRIS RDA Media Manually

If the IRIS/RDA software does not mount automatically, mount it
manually.
1. Create a mount point (directory).

• If you are using a DVD disc, create a mount point at /media/dvd:
# mkdir -p /media/dvd
# mount /dev/cdrom /media/dvd (For dvd)
• If you are using a USB drive, create a mount point at /media/usb
where X can be a, b or c.
# mkdir /media/usb (Use this mount point if using USB stick)
# mount /dev/sdX /media/usb (For USB stick, x is the drive
number).
If you do not know what the USB drive number is on your system,
use the lsblk command to list the block devices on your system. It is
usually the last one on the list.
2. Verify the mount point is present with the lsblk command.
132 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
C.1.6 Running SIGCONFIG
NOTE The following sections explain how to run sigconfig with CentOs7. If
you are installing CentOs6 use the -6 argument instead of the -7 argument
shown in the examples.
1. Change to the directory where IRIS/RDA media is mounted.

For example if you automatically mounted your disc the mount point
would be /run/media/root/irisrda_X.XX.X. In this example it is version
6.13.6q
# cd /run/media/root/irisrda_6.13.6q
You should see sigconfig on the top directory.
2. Use the ls command to list the files and verify sigconfig is present.
# ls
3. Use the sigconfig command with the desired options to run the
sigconfig script and install the IRIS / RDA software:
# ./sigconfig arg1 arg2 arg3 argn.
4. For a help menu of command line arguments, type sigconfig with no
arguments:
# ./sigconfig
C.1.6.1 Example: Install IRIS on CentOS 7 (auto start

after system reboot)
# ./sigconfig -iris -7
Optionally, specify the install directory from the command line option
using -instdir argument followed by the directory path.
C.1.6.2 Example: Install RVP900 on CentOS 7 (auto

start on system reboot)
# ./sigconfig -rvp900 -7
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 133

C.1.6.3 Example: Install dual system (IRIS, RVP900,

RCP8) on CentOS 7 (auto start on system reboot)
# ./sigconfig -rvp900 -rcp8 -iris -7
C.1.6.4 Example: Install RVP, and RCP on CentOS 7

(no auto start on system reboot)
# ./sigconfig -rda -7
Since there is no auto start for the services for this install option, start the
service manually.
On CentOS 7, to start the service for rvp900, or rcp8, use the systemctl
command
# systemctl start rvp900
On CentoOs6, to start the service, use the service command. For example
to start rvp900, the service command is:
# service rvp900 start
Stop rvp900
# systemctl stop rvp900
Start rcp8
# systemctl start rcp8
Stop rcp8
# systemctl stop rcp8
C.1.6.5 Checking Service Status

To check the service status, run:
# systemctl status rvp900
# systemctl status rcp8
134 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
C.1.7 Completing the Installation

When the installation has completed successfully, you are prompted to
remove the installation media and "reboot".
1. Change directory to the root home directory and eject the media.
# cd ~
#eject
2. Physically remove the media from either the USB port or the DVD
drive
3. Following the instruction in "Rebooting the Computer" on page 135.
C.1.8 Rebooting the Computer

1. Select the root button in the top right corner of the window.
2. Select Power Off.
3. Select Restart.
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 135

C.1.9 Logging in as RADAROP

The IRIS / RDA software installation creates two additional default user
accounts: radarop and operator.
1. Log in as radarop to verify the expected services have started.

2. Select the radarop login icon and enter the default password in the
password.
Password: xxxxxx
3. Select Next in the series of welcome and initialization windows that
appear the first time you log in
4. In the thank you window, select Start using CentOS Linux
5. In the GNOME Help window, select X in the right hand corner to
continue.
C.1.10 Updating RVP9 (RDA) Firmware

In systems with RVP901 (RVP9IFDR), after installing IRIS / RDA
software, you must upgrade the RVP901 firmware with the installed RDA
software:
1. Follow instructions in "RVP8 and RCP8 (RDA) Software Installation"

on page 37.
2. Verify that the expected services are running. See "Verifying Services
Are Running" on page 136.
C.2 Verifying Services Are Running

1. Login as radarop.
2. In the terminal window user prompt use, ps_iris to list the services
currently running:
# ps_iris
If you are using CentoOs6, use the service command instead of the
systemctl command. For example to start rvp900, the service command
is:
# service rvp900 start
136 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
The COMMAND column lists the running services. If you installed

with the -rvp900 option, you should see the rvp9 service running and
its two related rvp9proc commands.
If you installed with the -rcp8 option, you should see the rcp8 service.
You may also see the antenna (ant_*) and receive (rtd_*) process
started.
NOTE IRIS does not start until you have received and installed the IRIS
license.
C.3 Manual Sigconfig Instructions

If the Automatic sigconfig procedure fails, you must install the RDA/
IRIS software manually.
Before beginning the manual installation:
1. Login as root. See "Logging in as ROOT" on page 130.

2. Open a terminal window. See "Opening a Terminal Window" on page
130.
3. Check that you have the necessary RPMS installation media.
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 137

There are several RPMS not installed by the standard CentOs

installation processes needed for the RDA/ IRIS software to operate
properly. These RPMS are provided by Vaisala on the RDA / IRIS
release DVD. If you do not have media and need to create it, see
"Creating the IRIS RDA Installation Media" on page 129.
4. Install and mount IRIS / RDA Installation Disk.
If the disk does not mount automatically, see "Installing Media and
Verifying Mount Point" on page 131
C.3.1 Installing Additional rpms

1. Change to the RPM directory to verify that it is accessible
In the rest of this section, this directory is referred to as
$RPM_MOUNT_POINT.
X.XX.X is a placeholder for the version of IRIS/RDA software you are
installing, example 8.13.6.
• On CentOs6
# cd /run/media/root/irisrda_X.XX.X/CENTOS6/extras/RPMS/
• On CentOs7
# cd /run/media/root/irisrda_X.XX.X/CENTOS7/extras/RPMS/
2. Backup your current yum repository.
# cd /etc/yum.repos.d
# install -m 644 -d repo.bck
# mv *.repo repo.bck
3. Check if the yum process is already running using the ls command.
If the yum.pid file exists, kill the process and delete the yum.pid file.
# ls /var/run/yum.pid
# pkill yumBackend.py
# rm -fr /var/run/yum.pid
4. Create an iris_rda.repo file
a. Using emacs, vi or your favorite Linux text editor, create a new file
named iris_rda.repo
b. Enter the following text in the file,
138 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
[IrisRdaExtras]
name="Extra RPMs for IRIS/RDA"
baseurl=file://$RPM_MOUNT_POINT
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0
Be aware of white spaces in the formatting of the text. For the
example above the baseurl line is:
baseurl=file:///run/media/root/irisrda_X.XX.X/CENTOS6/extras/RPMS/
c. Save the file.

d. Clean yum repositories.
# yum clean all
e. Verify that the new yum repository is present by checking that the
text entered in the iris_rda.repo is displayed in the repo name.
# yum repolist
If you get warnings or errors, check for typos in the file.
f. Install the new RPMS

# yum -y groupinstall "Common Extras"
• If you are installing RDA Software:
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 139

# yum -y groupinstall "Rda Extras"

• If you are installing IRIS Software
# yum -y groupinstall "Iris Extras"
g. Verify RPMS are installed.
# yum grouplist
Extras that are installed appear in the installed header area.
Uninstalled Extras appear under the available header.
h. Cleanup the yum directory

# rm -f /etc/yum.repos.d/*.repo*
# cp /etc/yum.repos.d/repo.bck/*.repo /etc/yum.repos.d/
i. Save the yum settings to the cache /etc/ld.so.cashe file for future use
# /sbin/ldconfig
140 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
C.3.2 Configuring User Accounts

Type the following commands to create accounts for the operator and
observer users that are needed for IRIS, the RVP8 or RCP8.
1. Add radarop and observer user accounts.

# /usr/sbin/useradd –G users –m –u 1002 radarop
# /usr/sbin/useradd –G users –m –u 1001 observer
# echo ’xxxxxx’ | passwd ––stdin radarop
# echo ’xxxxxx’ | passwd ––stdin observer
2. By default, the Linux OS forces the use of "strong passwords". If you

want to use simpler passwords, edit the file /etc/pam.d/passwd so that
it consists of only a single line:
password required /lib/security/pam_unix.so
3. Save the file and exit.

Users can now change their password to be weak or strong.
4. Modify the /etc/sudoers file with user account information.
You can use visudo or a text editor after changing file privileges.
Vaisala recommends visudo as it checks the syntax.
a. Define the services for sudo by adding the following line to the end
of the file:
• OnCentOs7
Cmnd_Alias SERVICES = /sbin/service, /sbin/chkconfig,
/usr/bin/systemctl
• On CentOs6
Cmnd_Alias SERVICES = /sbin/service, /sbin/chkconfig
b. Add radarop account to sudo by adding the following line after
services to radarop:
radarop=(ALL) NOPASSWD: SERVICES
c. Find the line that contains Defaults requiretty line and comment it
out by adding a # to the first character in the line.
d. If you use visudo and there is a syntax error when you save and quit,
at the What Now? prompt, enter e to re-edit the file.
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 141

C.3.3 Creating IRIS Root and Data

Directories
NOTE Vaisala recommends using /usr/sigmet as the default root. If you choose
another anchor point, note that the following sections use
/usr/sigmet.
1. To create this directory, login as root and type:

# mkdir /usr/sigmet
# chown operator:users /usr/sigmet
# chmod 6775 /usr/sigmet
Vaisala software requires a number of directories to hold the data that it

generates. These directories may be anywhere within the file system.
They have no connection with each other or with the /usr/sigmet
installation point. The directories are listed below.
ascope Ascope data files

input Generic pipe input
ingest Acquired radar data in polar form
log Error, status, and history messages
product Normal product files from the product generator
product_raw Raw product files from the product generator
suncal Suncal results files are stored here
tape_inv Tape inventories for quick retrieval
temp Temporary storage used for network output
zdrcal Zdrcal results files
2. Create the directories at the operating system prompt. Make sure the
owner and group are set to match operator’s default. For example:
a. If /usr/iris_data does not already exist, create the directory.
In CentoOs 7, directory should have been created as part of the
automatic installation process.
# mkdir /usr/iris_data
142 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
b. Change to the new directory and add the sub-directories

# cd /usr/iris_data
# mkdir ascope input ingest log product product_raw
# mkdir suncal tape_inv temp zdrcal
# chown –R operator:users ./
# chmod –R 6775 ./
C.3.4 Installing IRIS / RDA Software

Install the IRIS or RDA code from Vaisala media. See "New Software
Installation" on page 13, or type the commands in this section.
1. Install the IRIS / RDA Software DVD. It should auto mount.

2. Change directory to installation directory.
In the following commands, <8.13.6> is an example of the software
installation version. If you are installing another version, replace 8.13.6
with your installation version.
Centos6:
# cd /run/media/root/irisrda_8.13.6/CENTOS6/
Centos7:
# cd /run/media/root/irisrda_8.13.6/CENTOS7/
3. Install IRIS and RDA software:

• If installing IRIS only:
# cd iris
# ./instiris –files –root /usr/sigmet –new –manuals
• If installing RDA only:

# cd rda
# ./instiris –files –root /usr/sigmet –new –manuals -rda
• If installing both IRIS and RDA:

# cd iris
# ./instiris –files –root /usr/sigmet –new –manuals -rda
# cd /rda
# ./instiris -files -root /usr/sigmet -new -manuals -

nodelete -rda
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 143

C.3.5 Configuring Home Environments

Vaisala requires a number of “environment” files to be included in the /etc
tree so they can be executed when users log in.
The files are read each time you login. Automatic startup programs only
pick up changes after you reboot.
1. Change to the sigmet desktop directory:

cd /usr/sigmet/config_template/LINUX/desktop
2. Copy files to the home directory for each user:
# install -o radarop -g users mwmrc /home/radarop/.mwmrc

# install -o radarop -g users bash_profile /home/radarop/.bash_profile
# install -o radarop -g users Xdefaults /home/radarop/.Xdefaults
# install -o observer -g users mwmrc /home/observer/.mwmrc
# install -o observer -g users bash_profile /home/observer/.bash_profile
# install -o observer -g users Xdefaults /home/observer/.Xdefaults
• If installing IRIS only
# install -o radarop -g users xinitrc /home/operator/.xinitrc

# install -o operator -g users xinitrc /home/operator/.xinitrc
• If installing RDA or RDA & IRIS
# install -o radarop -g users xinitrc_mwm /home/operator/.xinitrc

# install -o operator -g users xinitrc_mwm /home/operator/.xinitrc
3. Logout of the computer and login as operator.
144 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
C.3.6 Authenticating RPC (CentOs 6)

In CentOS6, the rpc calls used to communicate over the network between
programs get the error message “Cannot register service: RPC:
Authentication error;”.
Fix this with the following command:
# echo “RPCBIND_ARGS=-i” > /etc/sysconfig/rpcbind

# service rcpbind restart
C.3.7 Raising Maximum Shared Memory

1. In a text editor, edit the /etc/sysctl.conf file by adding the following
lines at the end:
# Increase Shared Memory
sys.kernel.shmmax = 4294967295
C.3.8 Configuring RDA

For RDA systems only:
1. Save your Shared Runtime Library Path:

# ldconfig -v
2. In a text editor, edit /etc/ld.so.conf file to include the following lines at

the end:
net.core.rmem_default = 1000000
net.core.rmem_max = 4000000
This is needed for tsarchive and RVP900. Without these lines in the
file, you get the following error message when RVP900 starts:
could not set UDP receive buffer size to 1500000
3. Edit the /usr/share/hwdata/pci.ids file.

Look for the line“Altera Corporation”. Add the following lines so it
appears as follows. Note that the indentations must be a tab, not spaces.
7805 SIGMET RVP8/Rx IF Receiver
7806 SIGMET RVP8/Tx IF Transmitter
7807 SIGMET RVP/RCP 62–pin I/O Board
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 145

4. On RVP900, it is assumed that the second Ethernet port has been

configured.
If the second Ethernet port has not been configured, see "Configuring
the System and Network" on page 88.
C.3.9 Configuring Sound (CentOs 6)

Edit the /etc/modprobe.d/dist-oss.conf file to uncomment the lines starting
with the install by removing the # from the beginning of the line.
C.3.10 Configuring for Automatic Startup

RVP900/RVP8/RCP8/IRIS application software can be configured to start
automatically following a boot of the system.
In the Automatic Software Installation, this happens by default.
In the Manual Software Installation, this is an optional configuration.

Depending on your configuration, type the following commands:
CentOS6
RVP900:
# chkconfig ––add rdasys

# chkconfig --add antennad
# chkconfig ––add rvp900
If not installing IRIS:
# chkconfig --add dspexport
RVP8:

# chkconfig ––add rvp8
# chkconfig --add dspexport
146 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
RCP8:

# chkconfig ––add rcp8
IRIS:

# chkconfig ––add iris
CentOS7
RVP900:
# systemctl enable antenna.service

# systemctl enable rvp900.service
# systemctl enable dspexport.service
RVP8:

# systemctl enable rvp8.service

# systemctl enable dspexport.service
RCP8:

# systemctl enable rcp8.service
IRIS:

# systemctl enable iris.service
On CentOs7, turn off the automatic offline software update functionality:
# systemctl stop packagekit-offline-update.service

# systemctl mask packagekit-offline-update.service
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 147

On CentOs7, use the following commands to turn off the automatic

offline software update functionality:
# systemctl stop libvirtd.service
# systemctl mask libvirtd.service
On CentOs 7, the network manager may try to start before the Ethernet
hardware is ready, causing a delay in initializing the hardware and
bringing up link. As a result processes that depend on the Ethernet
hardware may fail to start such as the rvp900 process. To prevent this
from happening use the following command to allow the Network
Manager to wait for hardware to be available:
# systemctl enable NetworkManager-wait-online.service
C.3.11 Rebooting the Computer

After installation and configuration are complete, reboot the computer for
all changes to take effect.
See "Rebooting the Computer" on page 135 or use the poweroff command
and restart the computer manually.
C.4 Operator List Defined in the Startup File

The file /etc/sigmet/profile.conf defines some of the base configuration,
including the lists of users who can operate IRIS fully, and who can
observe its operation but not make any changes.
1. Edit the file and change these as needed. Note that every IRIS user
must share group access to files owned by operator by being a member
of the users group.
operators='radarop operator john george mary root'
observers='observer'
2. Check your environment by typing:

$ env | grep IRIS
148 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
C.5 Configuring Services
C.5.1 Configuring Services for CentoOs6

To operate of old versions of IRIS, you must enable services such as those
in /etc/xinetd.d: rlogin, rsh, telnet.
1. Type the commands:

# chkconfig rsh on
# chkconfig rlogin on
# chkconfig telnet on
2. Configure other optional services as necessary:

• gssftp (sometimes called vs-ftpd)
3. Update the xinetd default configuration for receiving remote shell
commands to at least 100.
Edit the /etc/xinetd.d/rsh file and add a line similar to the others in the
"service shell" section, before the final "}":
per_source = 100
The default configuration for xinetd in Linux allows the receipt of a

limited number of remote shell commands per minute. This limit is
easily exceeded with a burst of network transfers between Vaisala
systems. This can cause a network send request to be "aborted", and
the network link to fail.
4. Enable your changes by rebooting the computer or by sending send the
hup signal to inetd with the following command:
kill -s hup /var/run/xinetd.pid
C.5.2 Configuring NTP Services

If you have configured the time sync server during the CentOS 7
installation, follow the instructions in "Configuring Time Sync With
chronyd" on page 151.
If you have not yet configured the time sync server, you may follow the
instructions in either "Configuring Time Sync With NTP" on page 150 or
"Configuring Time Sync With chronyd" on page 151.
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 149

C.5.2.1 Configuring Time Sync With NTP

To configure your machine to time sync with another machine:
1. In the /etc/ntp.conf file, update the lines that start with the word server
by removing the default server lines and adding your own. For
example:
# configure the servers for synchronization using ip
address or name
server 198.102.75.10 iburst
server 0.centos.pool.ntp.org iburst
# If you want to share your time with other machines on
the local network.
# Add the network range you want to allow to receive
requests
restrict 10.0.0.0 mask 255.255.255.0 nomodify notrap
# if there are no out side server then use this address
to use your local machine no matter how accurate.
server 127.127.1.1
2. NTP sets the time approximately 15 minutes after building a time

syncing model.
This means that after booting, the time may change in about 15
minutes, which can cause problems with IRIS automatic startup.
To fix this problem, create a file /etc/ntp/step-tickers and put in the
server IP address, without the word "server".
Ntp sets the date at boot time, if possible. Do not put the step-tickers
file on the time server.
3. To have NTP start automatically on restart, type the following:
CentOS6
# chkconfig --add ntpd
# chkconfig ntpd on
This takes effect after the next reboot. To start without rebooting, type:
# service ntpd start
150 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
CentOS7
#systemctl enable ntpd.service
#systemctl start ntpd
The system takes 15 minutes to sync the time. If the times are more
than 10 minutes apart, NTP assumes there is an error and does not
change the time.
4. To check on the status of ntp, type:
# ntpq -p
The first character before the server host is "*" when it is time synced.
5. To compare the time of your workstation with that of another (such as
the NTP server), type:
# date ; rdate -p nodename
The semicolon between the two commands allows both the local "date"
command to run simultaneously with the remote date (rdate) command
on the other workstation, making it easy to compare the times.
6. To manually set the time from another computer, type the following
command.
# ntpdate host
This does not work if ntpd is running on your machine.
C.5.2.2 Configuring Time Sync With chronyd

To configure your machine to time sync with another machine:
1. In the /etc/crony.conf file, update the lines that start with the word
server by removing the default server lines and adding your own. For
example:
# configure the servers for synchronization using ip
address or name
server 198.102.75.10 iburst
server 0.centos.pool.ntp.org iburst
2. If chrony is already running and you would like changes to take effect
use the following command:
#systemctl restart chronyd.service
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 151

3. If you would like NTP to start automatically on restart, type:

#systemctl enable chronyd.service
#systemctl start chronyd.service
The system takes 15 minutes to sync the time. If the times are more
than 10 minutes apart, NTP assumes there is an error and does not
change the time.
4. To check on the status of chrony, type:
# chronyc sources -v
The first character before the server host is "*" when it is time synced.
152 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
Appendix D ___________________________________________________Linux System File Listings
APPENDIX D
LINUX SYSTEM FILE LISTINGS
D.1 /etc/sigmet/profile.conf
install_root=/usr/sigmet
data_root=/usr/iris_data/current
network_port="TCP 30725"
operator=operator
operators="operator tester"
observers=observer
D.2 /etc/profile.d/sigmet.sh
# COPYRIGHT (c) 2007 BY
# Vaisala INC., WESTFORD MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A.
PROFILE_CONF=/etc/sigmet/profile.conf
export IRIS_ROOT='grep -v "#" ${PROFILE_CONF} | \
grep -E "^[ ]*install_root[= ]" | \
sed -e "s/^[ ]*install_root[= ]*//"'
export IRIS_DATA='grep -v "#" ${PROFILE_CONF} | \
grep -E "^[ ]*data_root[= ]" | \
sed -e "s/^[ ]*data_root[= ]*//"'
export IRIS_OPERATOR='grep -v "#" ${PROFILE_CONF} | \
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 153

grep -E "^[ ]*operator[= ]" | \
sed -e "s/^[ ]*operator[= ]*//"'
export IRIS_NETRCV='grep -v "#" ${PROFILE_CONF} | \
grep -E "^[ ]*network_port[= ]" | \
sed -e "s/^[ ]*network_port[= ]*//"'
if [ -z "${IRIS_NETRCV}" ]; then
export IRIS_NETRCV="TCPIP 30725"
fi
if [ -z "${IRIS_ROOT}" ]; then
export IRIS_ROOT=/usr/sigmet
fi
if [ -z "${IRIS_DATA}" ]; then
export IRIS_DATA=/usr/iris_data
fi
if [ -z "${IRIS_OPERATOR}" ]; then
export IRIS_OPERATOR=operator
fi
export IRIS_OPERATORS="${IRIS_OPERATOR} \
'grep -v "#" ${PROFILE_CONF} | \
grep -E "^[ ]*operators[= ]" | \
sed -e "s/^[ ]*operators[= ]*//" \
-e "s/$IRIS_OPERATOR//" \
-e "s/\\"//g"'"
export IRIS_OBSERVERS="'grep -v "#" ${PROFILE_CONF} | \
grep -E "^[ ]*observers[= ]" | \
sed -e "s/^[ ]*observers[= ]*//" \
-e "s/\\"//g"'"
# The following variables reference the

source/release/configuration
154 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
# tree. These should all be rooted at the location where

IRIS has
# been installed.
export IRIS_APP_DEFAULTS="${IRIS_ROOT}/bin/app-defaults/"
export IRIS_BIN="${IRIS_ROOT}/bin/"
export IRIS_BIN_ACROBAT="/usr/bin/"
export IRIS_BITMAPS="${IRIS_ROOT}/dt/icons/"
export IRIS_CONFIG="${IRIS_ROOT}/config/"
export IRIS_IMAGES="${IRIS_ROOT}/config/images/"
export IRIS_INIT="${IRIS_ROOT}/config/init/"
export IRIS_KEYS="${IRIS_ROOT}/bin/keys/"
export IRIS_LISTINGS="${IRIS_ROOT}/config/listings/"
export IRIS_MANUALS_INST=
"${IRIS_ROOT}/manuals/IrisInstall.ilcab/instapdf/install/"
export IRIS_MANUALS_IRIS=
"${IRIS_ROOT}/manuals/IrisUsers.ilcab/irisupdf/irisug/"
export IRIS_MANUALS_IRISRAD=
"${IRIS_ROOT}/manuals/IrisRadar.ilcab/irisrpdf/irisrad/"
export IRIS_MANUALS_NOTE=
"${IRIS_ROOT}/manuals/relnotes.ilcab/relnopdf/relnotes/"
export IRIS_MANUALS_PROG=
"${IRIS_ROOT}/manuals/IrisProgram.ilcab/irisppdf/program/"
export IRIS_MANUALS_RCP02=
"${IRIS_ROOT}/manuals/rcp02_ug.ilcab/rcp02pdf/rcp02/"
export IRIS_MANUALS_RVP8=
"${IRIS_ROOT}/manuals/install_ug.ilcab/rvp8updf/rvp8user/"
export IRIS_MANUALS_RCP8=
"${IRIS_ROOT}/manuals/rcp8_ug.ilcab/rcp8updf/rcp8/"
export IRIS_MANUALS_RVP7=
"${IRIS_ROOT}/manuals/rvp7_ug.ilcab/rvp7updf/rvp7user/"
export IRIS_MANUALS_UTIL=
"${IRIS_ROOT}/manuals/IrisUtils.ilcab/irisupdf/irisutl/"
export IRIS_MANUALS_EXTRA="${IRIS_ROOT}/config/extraspdf/"
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 155

export IRIS_MENU="${IRIS_ROOT}/config/menu/"
export IRIS_NLS="${IRIS_ROOT}/bin/nls/C/"
export IRIS_OVERLAY="${IRIS_ROOT}/config/overlay/"
export IRIS_PIPES="${IRIS_ROOT}/config/pipes/"
export IRIS_SOUNDS="${IRIS_ROOT}/dt/sounds/"
# The following variables define where IRIS data are

placed. These
# must be separate directories, but need have no relation

among each
# other.
export IRIS_INGEST="${IRIS_DATA}/ingest/"
export IRIS_LOG="${IRIS_DATA}/log/"
export IRIS_PRODUCT="${IRIS_DATA}/product/"
export IRIS_PRODUCT_RAW="${IRIS_DATA}/product_raw/"
export IRIS_TAPE_INV="${IRIS_DATA}/tape_inv/"
export IRIS_TEMP="${IRIS_DATA}/temp/"
# Modify existing PATH variable to include IRIS_BIN, and

other useful
# directories. First add the platform-independent paths.
if [ -r ${IRIS_BIN}/hardware ] ; then
PATH="${IRIS_BIN}hardware:$PATH"
fi
if [ -r ${IRIS_BIN}/rda ] ; then
PATH="${IRIS_BIN}rda:$PATH"
fi
export PATH=".:/usr/local/bin:${IRIS_BIN}:$PATH"
LD_LIBRARY_PATH="${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}:${IRIS_BIN}/dynamic"
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="${LD_LIBRARY_PATH#:}"
156 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
# Default umask kills group write, leaves all else

unchanged.
umask 002
# Allow local windows to display. If you want remote

displays,
# add them here also. The [ -z ] prevents from executing on
# non-graphical login. The /dev/null prevents text on

terminals.
[ -z "$DISPLAY" ] || xhost +localhost > /dev/null
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 157

158 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
Appendix E _______________________________________________________ Printer Configuration
APPENDIX E
PRINTER CONFIGURATION
IRIS lets you print menus, displays, and on-line documentation, as

follows:
• Print the contents of a menu or a window by choosing File->Print

from the IRIS menu or utility menu bar.
• Print products from the Product Output Menu by choosing Device->
from the menu bar and selecting a printer from the pull-down list of
devices.
• Print online documentation by choosing File->Print from the
Acroread window.
This appendix gives you some hints on configuring printers to work with
IRIS menus and utilities and the online document viewer.
E.1 Configuring Printer Queues for IRIS use

The IRIS software always generates printer output in Postscript format,
thus the most important matter in printing is to make sure that you have a
postscript compatible printer.
The next note on printers is that IRIS always prints using UNIX type print
queues. This implies that the computer that you are running IRIS on has at
least one print queue setup on it. To setup a print queue, you should use
the system administration tool on your computer. In HP-UX systems, this
is the sam utility. In Linux PC systems, this is the printtool. After making
any changes in printtool, you must click "Restart LPD" prior to using the
printer you just configured.
Print queues can be for one of three types of printer configurations. The
first is a local printer. In this case the printer is connected directly to the
computer with via a parallel port connection. Printing information goes
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 159

directory from the computer to the printer via the parallel port connection.
The second queue configuration is for a network printer. In this case the
printer is attached directly to the computer network. With a network
printer, the printing information goes from the computer directly to the
printer via the network. The third queue configuration is a remote
printer. In this case the printer is connected up to another UNIX based
computer either with a local or a network connection as described above.
In this case, when a print job is executed, the printing information is first
transferred over the network from the local computer to the remote
computer. The remote computer then transfers the information to printer
using the queue configuration configured (either local or network) on that
remote computer.
E.1.1 Configuring a Local Printer Queue

Configuration for a local printer is the easiest — but perhaps not always
practical. The reason why it is not always practical is that generally each
computer does not have its own printer, but instead shares printers with
other computers. None the less, sometimes you may have a local printer
with a direct parallel port connection. In this case, merely configure the
printer to be a local printer of type postscript using the system
administration tool described above. During the configuration, you must
specify a name for the queue and the parallel port to be used. At this point,
when IRIS is restarted, it recognizes this printer and can print images to it.
Note that once a printer is configured locally on one computer, other

computers can still use that printer by using a remote printer queue
pointing back to this first computer. See the section on configuring remote
printers for more information.
E.1.2 Configuring a Network Printer

Queue
Network printers come in two different architectures. The first is referred
to as "internal" and the second as "external". An internal architecture
network printer has a network port (10/100 Base T) directly on the printer.
An external architecture network printer is a printer with a parallel cable,
and that parallel cable connects back to a hardware box called a "print
server". The print server has the parallel port that connects to the printer
and a network port (10/100 Base T) that connects to the network. The HP
Jet Direct is a well known example of a print server product.
160 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
To configure your network printer (either internal or external), SIGMET

recommends that you follow the instructions from the manufacturer. But
generally these instructions have you either enter the printer configuration
into the printer control panel, or to configure the printer through a
network scheme such as BOOTP or TFTP. The main goal of this
configuration step is so your printer can learn its Internet (IP) address.
Again, refer to notes from your manufacturer to accomplish this step.
Once this setup step is complete, you can use the ping command to test if
the printer is recognized on the network.
Once the above is accomplished and your printer is recognized on the

network, you must configure a print queue on your computer(s) to access
it.
As is implied by a network printer, it is a shared device meaning more that

one computer is capable of accessing it (via a queue). Configuration of a
queue of a network printer depends on the type of platform you are
configuring.
HP-UX: For HP-UX, you must install the optional Operating System
software known as "Jet Admin" from HP. If the network printer you are
installing is an HP, it is likely that this software was provided with the
printer. If not, then the Jet Admin software can be downloaded from
www.hp.com in the drivers section. This software can be installed with
the HP-UX sam utility. Once the Jet Admin software is installed, you can
use the sam utility to make a new printer queue of type "Network".
During this process, you must specify the hostname or IP address of the
printer and perhaps some other information depending on the installation
circumstances.
Linux PC: For a Linux PC, it is not necessary to install any additional
operating system software. To make a queue on a Linux system for a
network printer, use the print manager that comes with the Linux
printtool. Enter in a queue name. Specify the printer as a Jet Direct
printer. Specify the hostname or IP address of the printer. Specify
postscript as the filter type. Remember in printtool to save the
information, then click "Restart LPD" prior to attempting to print.
Because Linux systems need no special operating system files to do

network based printing, Linux requires the network printer to handle LPD
type printing. Most network printers do handle this type printing, but if
you are not sure, then check with your printer or print server
manufacturer. HP Jet Direct printer and Lexmark network printers have
been tested and do support LPD type printing.
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 161

It should be noted that once a printer is configured as a network printer on

one computer, other computers can still use that printer by using a remote
printer queue pointing back to this first computer. See the section on
configuring remote printers for more information on this.
For Red Hat Enterprise Linux, standard DeskJet/Inkjet Printers can also
be used. It is recommended that drivers be downloaded from:
http://hpinkjet.sourceforge.net
E.1.3 Configuring a Remote Printer

Queue
Configuration of a remote printer queue relies on a local or network
printer queue already being configured on another computer, and that
other computer serve as a relay point for print jobs from your computer.
To setup a remote print queue use the system administration utility on
your system. On HP this is sam, and on Linux this is the printtool. In the
setup, you must specify a local queue name. Choose a name of your
choice, but often this is the same as the remote queue name. Enter in the
hostname or IP address of the remote computer that serve as the relay
point. Enter in the remote queue name which refers to the queue names as
it is known on that remote computer.
E.2 Displaying Print Queues

On UNIX systems, you can display a list of printer queues by issuing the
sig_lpstat -listall command. This command displays the queues
that are available on the system. To get more detailed information about
the status of the queues, the lpstat -a command can be used.
E.3 Configuring Printer Options

After you have worked with a menu, you may want to save the results to a
postscript file or print the results for an archive of your IRIS system.
Printed copies of IRIS configurations, product configurations, or
schedules can be stored in a notebook to document how the system is
used.
Printers are set up on a per-user basis. That way, users can send their
results to the printers that are most convenient to them.
162 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
E.3.1 Printer Setup Menu

From any IRIS menu, choose File->Print->Setup to activate the Printer
Setup menu.
0919-007
Figure 1 Printer Setup Menu
E.3.1.1 Printer Queue

Enter the printer queue directly in the Printer Queue test field or click the
push button to choose from the pull–down menu. The pull menu can
contain up to 4 queue names that are configured on your system. Queues
must be created at Operating System level before they can displayed in
the Setup Menu.
E.3.1.2 Output Format

The output format can be Postscript, GIF, of JPEG. If you have a
postscript capable printer, then the postscript option provides control over
more output options. The GIF and JPEG options are just graphic files and
are best use with no postscript printers such as InkJets. The options for the
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 163

output when using GIF or JPEG cannot be set in the IRIS Print Setup tool,
but rather must be configured using the operating system printer
configuration tools.
E.3.1.3 Paper Orientation

• Portrait – Click on the toggle button to print the screen image
vertically (↕) on the page.
• Landscape – Click on the toggle button to print the screen image
horizontally (↔) on the page.
E.3.1.4 Image Color

• Full Color – Click on the toggle button for a full-color printout of your
screen image. This option should be chosen for all full-color printers.
• Greyscale – Click on the toggle button for a grayscale printout of your
screen image. This option should be chosen for all black-and-white
printers. Note: You may choose this option if you are using a color
printer and desire a grayscale printout of your screen image.
E.3.1.5 Paper Size

The Paper Size option is designed to print the screen image on the size of
the paper that is loaded in your printer—sizes 8.5 x 11, 8.5 x 14, and 11 x
17 are US standards (inches) and sizes A3 and A4 are International
standards (metric).
E.3.1.6 Image Position

• Center – Click on the toggle button to print the screen image in the
center of the page.
• Origin – Click on the toggle button to print the screen image in the
upper left-hand corner of the page.
E.3.1.7 Image Size

• Center – Click on the toggle button to print the screen image in the
center of the page.
• Origin – Click on the toggle button to print the screen image in the
upper left-hand corner of the page.
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E.3.1.8 Printing Options

• OK – Click on the button to save the current settings.
• OK/Print – Click on the button to save the current settings and print a
hardcopy of the the screen image (i.e. QLW, Setup, etc). If the
OK/Print button is desensitized, a printer queue was not selected.
• Cancel – Click on the button to cancel any changes and ext the printer
setup menu.
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 165

166 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
Appendix F ______________________________________________________________sigbru Utility
APPENDIX F
SIGBRU UTILITY
"sigbru" is Vaisala’s manual/automatic backup and restore utility. This

utility provides system administrators with an easy-to-use tool for
creating and restoring backups from supported archive media. The
supported media are:
• DAT Tape- HP SureStore DAT's are the most common and have
proven to be very reliable.
• HDD- hard disk drive.
• DVD- DVD+RW is supported for writing backups. Use only media
from well-known manufacturers such as SONY, Fuji or Memorex.
Note that sigbru is only one component of an effective backup strategy.

Proper system documentation and advance preparation are essential in
assuring that when (not if) your hard disk fails, you can easily resume
operation. This chapter also includes recommended procedures for a
comprehensive backup strategy.
sigbru is a graphical user interface which works in conjunction with

Sigmet's sigbrush script file to allow easy archiving without having to
know any of the sigbrush command line options. sigbrush interfaces with
gnu's tar version 1.13.11 to give the tar utility even greater flexibility and
control. The output is a "tar" file that is stored either on tape or disk. The
tar file can optionally be gzip compressed.
One of the important features of sigbru is that it allows backups of a

system to be made and placed on a tape or disk drive on another computer.
The advantage of this is that the archive can be centrally located and the
administrator can then backup systems to this one drive (typically a tape
where he/she is sitting). Note that this requires a high-speed network
connection, i.e., at least a T1 connection is recommended (1 megabit per
second).
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 167

NOTE DVD backup and restore is supported only on a local DVD drive.
A very powerful feature of sigbru is the automatic archiving feature. This

allows a directory on disk to be monitored so that when a specified quota
of disk space is reached, sigbru automatically archives the contents to the
archive medium. One application is for use to archive non-IRIS products
that are created by format conversion through an output pipe (the normal
IRIS menu archive approach does not work for these).
F.1 System Configuration for sigbru
F.1.1 Authorization to login as root on a

remote system
You can run sigbru either as root or operator. However, as operator you
have reduced privileges such as not being allowed to restore at all, or not
being able to do a full system backup which requires root access to
various directories.
If you want to run sigbru on a remote computer using an xterm (or

sigterm), the operating system protection may block your login as root.
You would notice that even if you provide the proper root password, you
are not allowed to login.
You can circumvent this problem by going to the remote system and then
moving the security file to another name, i.e., on the computer that you
wish to access:
# cd /etc
# mv securetty securetty.orig
Test that you can now do a remote login as root from a another system.
You only need to do this once.
168 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
F.1.2 Authorization to use a remote tape

drive or remote disk drive
NOTE sigbru does not support backup and restore on a remote DVD. Only a
local DVD can be used. sigbru does support use of both a remote tape
drive and a remote hard disk.
If the computer that you are backing-up does not have a tape drive, you
can back-up to a remote computer that does have a drive. You need to set-
up special authorization file for this (/etc/pam.d/rsh). First, on the remote
computer (with the tape drive) backup the old file and then use your
favorite editor or "vi" to edit the file:
# cd /etc/pam.d
# cp rsh rsh.bak
# vi rsh
The file looks something like below. The exact lines vary by installation:
#%PAM-1.0
auth required /lib/security/pam_rhosts_auth
.so
auth required /lib/security/pam_nologin.so
account required /lib/security/pam_pwdb.so
session required /lib/security/pam_pwdb.so
Under the first line (which is commented with #) add the line:
auth sufficient /lib/security/pam_rootok.so
The edited file looks something like:
#%PAM-1.0
auth sufficient /lib/security/pam_rootok.so
auth required /lib/security/pam_rhosts_auth
.so
auth required /lib/security/pam_nologin.so
account required /lib/security/pam_pwdb.so
session required /lib/security/pam_pwdb.so
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 169

Save the modified file.
F.1.3 Archive Device and Media

Configuration for sigbru
Sigbru supports three different archive devices:
• DAT Tape
• HDD Hard disk drive
• DVD+RW
The configuration of both the drive and the media for each of these is
described below:
F.1.3.1 DAT for sigbru

The most common type of DAT used on IRIS systems is the HP
SureStore. This comes in several versions (for example, version DAT 72).
Make sure that you purchase tapes that are compatible with your hardware
version.
In sigbru, the typical device names for DAT tapes are selected right in the
menu. If this is not the correct selection for your system, you may type-in
the correct device name. Check with your system manager if you are
uncertain. Note that IRIS systems with tapes also input the device name in
the setup/output/archive device menu so you can check there as well.
The privileges for the device should be set as follows (in the typical Linux
case of the DAT device name /dev/nst0)
chmod 666 /dev/nst0
DAT tapes for sigbru do not need to be initialized.
F.1.3.2 HDD for sigbru

You only need create a disk directory on the archive host you are using.
Note that you can make this the local computer. Having and HDD backup
on your local computer makes it very convenient to restore files, but is not
a good idea for a full disk backup since you want to protect against failure
of the disk itself.
170 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
To make the directory and set its privileges, become root and then, for the
example of a directory named /iris_data/backups, type the following:
# mkdir /iris_data/backups
# chmod 666 /iris_data/backups
HDD directories for sigbru do not need to be initialized. Note that you can
have several different backup files in this directory so it is not necessary
to create a new directory every time you run sigbru.
F.1.3.3 DVD for sigbru

Only DVD+RW drives are supported so make sure that you have one of
these (SONY makes a nice one that we use at SIGMET). First you need to
determine the device name that has been assigned to the DVD by the
Linux OS. To do this, as root type:
# cdrecord -scanbus
The operating system responds with many lines that look like:
...
scsibus3:
3,0,0 300) ’SAMSUNG ’ ’CD–ROM SC–148C ’ ’B100’ Removable

CD–ROM
3,1,0 301) ’SONY ’ ’DVD RW DRU–500A ’ ’2.0c’ Removable CD–

ROM
3,2,0 302) *
...
Here we see the SONY DVD we are looking for. It's device name is
/dev/scd1 which is taken from the middle of the three leading numbers,
i.e., the "1" from 3,1,0.
Next set the protections as follows (continuing to use /dev/scd1 as the

example):
# chmod 666 /dev/scd1
Now create symbolic link
# ln -s /dev/scd1 /dev/dvd
Then create a mount point for the DVD
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 171

# mkdir /mnt/dvd
Finally, initialize the DVD (essentially formatting the DVD):
# init_sigbru_dvd
F.2 Starting sigbru
NOTE Important: sigbru is run on the machine that you want to backup / restore.
NOTE Important: You must be root to do full sigbru backup and restore
operations.
F.2.1 Command Line Options for Starting

sigbru
sigbru has several command line options summarized below:
-help Print this list.

-auto Start Sigbru with
auto archive
options.
-enabled Enable auto
archive function.
-include <dir> Directory included
in archive.
-exclude <dir> Directory excluded
from archive.
-compress Enable gzip
compression.
-delete Delete files after
archive.
172 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
-archivehost Hostname where

<hostname> archive device is
located.
-quota <XXX.X> Number of GB per
each archive event
-device <device> Name of archive
device.
-display Display name.
The meaning of each of these options is described in the subsequent

descriptions of the sigbru menu fields.
F.2.2 Running from a Local Terminal

Window (IRIS is installed)
On a local terminal window simply open a terminal as root on the system
that you want to backup and then type:
# sigbru
If the system cannot find sigbru because the UNIX search path is not
defined, then you can start sigbru by typing:
# cd /usr/sigmet/bin
# ./sigbru
If this does not find sigbru, then perhaps IRIS is not properly installed
and you should use the cdrom method described below.
F.2.3 Running from a Remote

Workstation (IRIS Installed on Target
System)
From a remote machine, you can use the sigterm <hostname> command
to open a terminal over the network. Then become super user and follow
the "Local Terminal" procedure described above.
Alternatively you can rlogin or telnet to the machine that you want to
backup, become root and then type:
# export DISPLAY=hostname:0.0
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 173

Here you substitute the hostname of the computer where you are sitting.
You may also have to type the command "xhost +" on a terminal on your
local display to allow the remote machine to display the sigbru menu on
your screen.
F.2.4 If IRIS is Not Installed- Start sigbru

from the CDROM
If you have not installed IRIS, then sigbru is not be installed. This might
happen if you are doing a restore operation, that is, you need to restore
IRIS and sigbru. In this case you can start sigbru directly from the
SIGMET IRIS Release CDROM.
Insert the IRIS Release CDROM on the system where you want to run
sigbru. Depending on your system you may need to mount the CDROM.
See the instructions in the IRIS Installation Manual.
You can check that the CDROM is properly mounted by issuing the "df"
command. This also tells you what the mount point is (assumed here to be
"/cdrom" for the linux example. Be careful to use upper or lower case as
indicated by df). Once the CDROM is mounted type the following to
select the correct version of sigbru for you workstation:
# cd /mnt/cdrom/linux/sigbru
Then start sigbru by typing:
# ./sigbru
Now that sigbru is running, refer to the next section which describes the
various features of the sigbru menu.
F.2.5 Copying the sigbru Files from a

Local or Remote CDROM
You can copy the sigbru files to your system from either a local or remote
CDROM. First create a directory on your local computer to hold the
sigbru files. SIGMET recommends the following location:
# mkdir /root/sigbru
The CDROM must be mounted and the mount point (assumed here to be
"/mnt/cdrom") must be properly specified. You can check both by issuing
174 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
the "df" command. Now copy the files that you need from the CDROM
with the IRIS Installation disk, to this directory:
• For a CDROM drive on your local system:

# cp /mnt/cdrom/linux/sigbru/* /root/sigbru
• For a CDROM drive on a remote system,

# rcp nodename:/mnt/cdrom/linux/sigbru/* /root/sigbru
To start sigbru type:
# cd /root/sigbru
# ./sigbru
F.2.6 Copying the sigbru Files From

Another IRIS System
You can copy the sigbru files to your system from another system on the
network. The example here uses "rcp" (remote copy), but you could use
ftp or NFS (via "cp") as well to do this. First create a directory to hold the
sigbru files. SIGMET recommends the following location:
# mkdir /root/sigbru
Now copy the files that you need from the remote system that has IRIS
(nodename) to your local system (careful with the rename of the first file
from sigbru to sigbru.rf):
# rcp nodename:/usr/sigmet/bin/app-defaults/sigbru
/root/sigbru/sigbru.rf
# rcp nodename:/usr/sigmet/bin/sigbru /root/sigbru
# rcp nodename:/usr/sigmet/bin/sigbrush /root/sigbru
# rcp nodename:/usr/sigmet/bin/gnufind /root/sigbru
# rcp nodename:/usr/sigmet/bin/gnutar /root/sigbru
# rcp nodename:/usr/sigmet/dt/icons/hour32.bm /root/sigbru
# rcp nodename:/usr/sigmet/dt/icons/hour32m.bm /root/sigbru
To start sigbru type:
# cd /root/sigbru
# ./sigbru
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 175

F.3 The sigbru Menu
0919-008
Figure 1 sigbru Menu
The sigbru user interface, shown in Figure 5 on page 208, allows you to
define what files are moved to/from the archive media. Remember, sigbru
is run on the system where you want to backup/restore and you must be
root to run sigbru. A tape drive or HDD can be located on another system,
however a DVD must be on the same system.
176 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
NOTE To get the automatic archiving features of sigbru, use "sigbru -auto"
Figure 2 on page 177 shows the appearance of the top part of the sigbru
menu for the case of restore operation.
0919-009
Figure 2 sigbru Menu (Top of Dialog Box)
The various menu fields are described below:
F.3.1 Title Bar

This identifies the network node name on which sigbru is being run. In
the example, the node name is "cyclone". This is the hostname of the
system that is be backed-up or restored.
F.3.2 File
The only option is "Exit". This is how sigbru is normally exited.
F.3.3 Options
This is used to manually start or view the status log window. The status
log contains useful messages about the backup and reports any errors or
problems.
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 177

F.3.4 Backup/Restore <host name>

Use this to select whether you are doing a backup or restore. The
hostname of the computer is indicated as a reminder of what system is
being used. The choice of Backup/Restore changes some of the other
menu options. In the description of the various fields, both the backup and
restore functions are indicated.
F.3.5 Archive Host (Backup and Restore)

Specify the network hostname where the archive tape or disk file is
located. The tape or disk drive can be on another machine on the network.
Note that the slower your network, the longer it takes to make the remote
backup to another machine. SIGMET recommends a 1 MBit/sec line (T1)
as a minimum.
Note that in the case of a DVD, the archive host is fixed to be your local
workstation.
F.3.6 Device or HDD (Hard Disk Drive)

Path (Backup Case)
First use the button to select the kind of media (DVD, HDD or Tape). For
the case of "Tape" you are prompted to specify the type of UNIX that you
are running HP-UX, IRIX, Linux). sigbru then automatically fills-in a
device file name which would be typical for your system and in most
cases work fine as is. However, depending on the specific configuration of
your system, you may have to type in a different device file name. Check
with your system administrator.
The example shown at the beginning of this section is the Linux device
file name for a tape drive (the n specifies a non-rewind on close). If you
select HDD or DVD, then you would type-in the filename that you want
to use for the archive.
178 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
NOTE Note on Tape Drive Device Name: SIGMET recommends using the
device name corresponding to "no rewind on opening". For Linux
systems, for example /dev/nst0. Use of a non-rewind tape device driver
permits multiple archive or backup files to be placed on the same tape
for both archive and restore functions.
If you store your archive in a DVD or HDD file, then you should use the
following naming convention:
• *.gz for compressed files

• *.tar for uncompressed files
where the you would substitute a file name of your choosing for the *. For
example, if you want to store a compressed backup in a directory called
/tmp and you want to name it "back01" then you would type-in:
/tmp/back01.gz
For more information on backup devices and media please see "Archive
Device and Media Configuration for sigbru" on page 170.
F.3.7 Device or HDD (Hard Disk Drive)

Path (Restore Case)
In the case of doing a restore from an HDD or DVD, the button next to
filename is activated. Click this to select among the archive tar files files
in the specified directory. Then click the "Inventory" button to get a full
listing of what is stored in the backup file.
F.3.8 gzip Compress (Backup only)

Click the button in for compression. Compression uses less space on the
disk or tape archive, or, if you are using a remote networked tape or disk,
compression allows for faster network transmission. The disadvantage of
compression is that it does slow the archive process. For this reason,
compression is recommended only for the following two applications:
When the backup would not otherwise fit on the tape or disk archive. In
this case, your only choice is to use compression.
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 179

When you are using a remote tape or disk and network speed is the
limiting factor. In this case it does not matter that the compression slows
the archive process since the network transmission step is the limiting
factor.
F.3.9 Make Inventory (Restore only)

Select Update to get an inventory of the files on the tape. In the case of
multiple archive files on the same tape, the tape positioning features of the
restore menu can be used to select the archive file.
When you perform an inventory, the Status display shows all of the files
that are in the archive record. At the top of the list, is the date and time at
which the archive record was written. This is generally useful, but
especially useful for tapes on which there are multiple archive records.
F.3.10 Restore Path (Restore Only)

This specifies the starting path for the restore. In most cases this should
always be set to "/" (the default). However, if you want to place files in a
temporary directory (for example) so that you do not overwrite existing
files, then you can type-in the directory name. For example, if you wanted
to restore all files in the /usr/sigmet directory to /tmp/usr/sigmet, then you
would enter /tmp in the Restore Path.
F.3.11 Path and Contents (Backup and

Restore)
This field shows the current UNIX file path. Note that "/" is at the top of
the UNIX file tree. Click the up arrow to go up a level. The files and sub-
directories (indicated by trailing "/") in the path are shown in the left hand
column labeled "Contents". You can double click on a sub-directory to go
down a level. This is reflected in the "Path".
F.3.12 Include and Exclude from Backup

(Backup Only)
You can select files to include in your backup by highlighting one or more
files or directories in the "Contents" list and then clicking the right arrow
180 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
to put them in the "Include" list. You can highlight multiple files by click-
dragging the mouse over consecutive files, or by holding the "Shift" key
and clicking. If you select a directory to include, all files in that directory
and in any subdirectories are included in the backup. The directory
structure is preserved.
If you change your mind, you can highlight files and directories in the
"Include" column and then click the left arrow to remove them from the
list.
Similarly you can select files or directories to exclude from the backup,
e.g., nfs directories exported from other machines.
F.3.13 Include in Restore (Restore Only)

In the Restore mode, first select the tape or disk file that has the backup
archive and then click in "Contents" to highlight the files or directories
that you want to restore. Use the right arrow to move them in to the
"Include in Restore" list.
F.3.14 Tape Archive Position Features

(Restore Only)
In some cases a single tape may contain multiple archive records from
sigbru backups or archives written sequentially. This can result from
either manual or automatic archive operations that were performed with a
"non-rewind" tape device.
In restore mode, there is a tape positioning section to allow the user to

control the archive record at which the tape is positioned. This is shown in
Figure 3 on page 181:
0919-010
Figure 3 Tape Archive Position (Restore Mode)
Rewind This is the first button you should click to select an archive file.
The Go To and Now At fields show "1" when the rewind is complete.
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 181

<- (back) and -> (forward) arrow buttons decrement/increment the 1 the
Go To archive record request field.
Go To Shows the current archive record request. Type-in a value or use

the arrow keys to change this. You can change this "on-the-fly" even
while a search is being made. If you did not first do a rewind, then the
field shows only the relative position from where you started and the Now
At field shows —.
Now At Shows at what archive record the drive is positioned at. When it
matches the Go To field then the search is complete. Before a rewind, it
always shows — since it is uncertain where the tape is positioned after
startup.
When you reach the archive record number that you want, click the Make
Inventory button to see what the archive contains. Check the archive
record date and time at the beginning of the Status display after you do the
Make Inventory.
NOTE Note on tape drive Device Name: SIGMET recommends always using
the device name corresponding to "no rewind on opening". This is
required for proper operation of the tape ositioning features (e.g., for
Linux /dev/nst0).
F.4 Making System Backups for Linux

Computers
NOTE The device file permissions for the tape drive must be properly set. As
root type the following:
# chmod 666 /dev/st0 or nst0
While sigbru is useful in backing-up individual files and directories, it is

best used for making full system backups in case you have a disk failure.
Note that these system backups can also be used to restore individual files
and directories. Here, we use the system backup as an example.
What are the Steps in Making a System ping Backup
182 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
There are two steps in backing up your system:
• Make a sigbru backup from "/", i.e., all of the files on your system.
• Document the disk partition information using fdisk and df commands
(described in G.5 Documenting Your Linux Disk Partitions on page
101)
You need both of these to recover from the worst case- a disk crash.
F.4.1 When Should I Backup?

Certainly after you have completed and tested an IRIS upgrade or
installed an IRIS patch you should make a backup. Also, if you have made
configuration changes you may want to backup the system, or at least the
/usr/sigmet/config directory. Routine backups should be made at least
every other month (6 times per year), depending on the changes that are
made on your system. Development systems may require daily backups.
F.4.2 What Should Go into a System

Backup?
The idea behind a system backup is that all of the program files for your
computer should be restored. Therefore the system backup should be
made of the entire UNIX tree starting with "/".
F.4.3 What Should NOT Go into a System

Backup?
Large data files should not be included. These simply take-up space and
don't add anything. Also, NFS (Network File Sharing) directories should
not be backed up since these are on other computers. The "df" command
can be used to display NFS directories. The large data files that are part of
IRIS that should be excluded are:
• /usr/iris_data/ingest
• /usr/iris_data/product
• /usr/iris_data/product_raw
• /usr/iris_data/ascope (if used)
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 183

Note that if you have clutter maps or special product or ingest files that
are tagged with a "keep" bit, then you should archive these using the
standard IRIS archive features. Ingest files must first be converted to
RAW products. Alternatively you use the IRIS menus to delete all of the
ingest and product files except for the ones that you want to save on the
archive.
There are two other directories that should not be included in the backup,
since they might cause your system to hang when they are restored. These
are:
• /proc
• /mnt
On some systems, excluding /mnt automatically excludes a CDROM

mounted at /mnt/cdrom. However, for some systems the CDROM may
have be mounted at a point such as:
/cdrom
Check the df command to see if there is a CDROM on your system and

make sure it is either unmounted or excluded from the backup. The
example menu in "The sigbru Menu" on page 176 shows the exclusion of
these directories.
NOTE Note: Even though you exclude directories, when you do a restore, the
directory entries are restored but, the contents are empty. This means that
you do not have to recreate excluded directories when you do a restore.
However, you must recreate any subdirectories beneath them.
The step-by-step backup procedure:
1. Archive any special IRIS data files or delete the other data files
Here you can convert ingest clutter maps to RAW products and then
save them on tape or disk using the standard IRIS archive features.
Also any other special products such as a RAIN1 clutter map or "kept"
products can be archived as well. In this case you would exclude the
four IRIS data directories from the archive.
184 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
The alternative is to use the IRIS menus to delete all of the ingest and
product files that you do not need and then not exclude these
directories, i.e., the special files would be included on the archive.
2. Stop IRIS before making the backup
Do a qiris and a qant on the machine to be backed-up. Check that no
IRIS processes are running by doing a ps_iris and "kill <process ID>
any remaining processes. Note that you might have do a "kill -9
<process ID>"
3. Ready the Archive
Put in fresh archive media. Make sure it is labelled with at least the text
"Backup" and the hostname and date, and that a tape is not write-
protected or, if you are archiving to a HDD, make sure that the
directory exists and that there is enough space for the archive. You can
estimate the size of the "/" backup by doing a "df -h" command for
Linux or SGI systems or a "df -k" command for HP systems. Exclude
any NFS directories or CDROM's from your size estimate.
4. Run sigbru on the machine that is to be backed-up
• Start sigbru on the machine where the backup is to be made (of
course you can do this over the network as described in G.2 Starting
sigbru on page 88). REMEMBER, YOU MUST BE ROOT TO RUN
SIGBRU.
• Select the Backup <hostname> option.
• Select your archive host and device name- typically a tape drive
either on the local host or on the network. For best speed, use the
local tape drive if one exists.
• Select compression off unless the you are doing a networked backup
or the backup would exceed your backup medium size..
• Click the Up Arrow on "Path" to select "/". Highlight "/" in the
contents and click the right arrow to "Include in Backup".
• Exclude NFS directories:
• Scroll down the contents list and find any "nfs" directories (check
the "df" list). Note that NFS directories may not always be preceded
by the text "nfs". SIGMET does not generally use NFS in its
applications. Highlight them and click the right arrow to "Exclude
from Backup". It is not recommended to exclude anything in
/usr/sigmet.
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 185

• Optional: Exclude the large data directories in /usr/iris_data/, i.e.,

the subdirectories ingest, product, product_raw and ascope. Refer to
discussion in Step 1.
• Exclude /proc, /mnt
• Exclude the CDROM (if necessary):
• Use df to identify any CDROM and its associated mount point (e.g.,
/cdrom). Note that if the CDROM is mounted at /mnt/cdrom. then
excluding /mnt is sufficient.
• Click "Start" to start the backup.
The cursor changes to an hour glass shape and the only button that can
be accessed is Cancel. Note that if you cancel, you do not have a valid
backup and must start over. You can re-use the same tape and it
rewinds automatically when you restart the backup.
The status log pops-up automatically and show the files that are being
saved. At the end of backup, the log says "Backup Complete" and the
cursor changes back to a pointer shape.
5. Write Protect, Label and Store your Backups
When you remove the tape, slide the write protection tab on the tape to
be in the protect position to avoid accidental over-writing. You should
save several previous version (e.g., the last 6 months) of backups. This
provides some assurance that if a backup fails for some reason and you
need to restore, you have more than one. Old tapes can then be re-
labelled and used for new backups.
It is a good idea to store the backups in a location different than the
computer.
F.5 Documenting Your Linux Disk Partitions
NOTE Important: It is critical that you make a hardcopy print-out of your disk
partition information using the fdisk and df commands. Without this,
recovery of your disk in the event of failure is more difficult.
An important part of your backup documentation is to document your disk

partitions. This does not have to be done every time that you do a system
186 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
backup, but it should be done when your system is installed or when you
change the disk partitions. The results must be recorded on hardcopy.
F.5.1 Running df
First run the "df -h" command (as root). This shows the disks that are
mounted and any CDROM or NFS directories. The -h option displays the
disk usage in bytes ( (G for giga and M for mega):
# df -h
[root@cyclone operator]# df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/hda2 3.1G 1.8G 1.1G 61% /
/dev/hda3 577M 490M 57M 89% /usr/iris_data
/dev/hdb1 13G 9.6G 3.3G 75% /usr/images
/dev/hdb2 4.4G 889M 3.5G 20% /mnt/hdb2
haze- 2.4G 1.7G 492M 78% /nfs/haze/usr/sigmet
gw:/usr/si
gmet
In the example above there are two hard disks, /dev/hda and /dev/hdb.
There is also an NFS directory mounted at /nfs/haze/usr/sigmet which
points to the /usr/sigmet directory on a different computer called "haze-
gw". The "used" column tells you how many bytes (G for giga and M for
mega) are actually used. This information is useful in determining if your
backup fits on a tape. For example, if our backup is to be of "/"
(/dev/hda2), then this requires us to store 1.8 GB on tape which is easily
done for most tape backups.
You can store the results of df to a file by using a standard editor such as
vi and pasting the output into the file. Alternatively you can automatically
put the results in a file by typing:
# df -h > /root/filename.lis
The resulting file is stored in the root's home directory. To view the file
type the command:
# cat /root/filename.lis
To print the file, type the command:
# lpr /root/filename.lis
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 187

If there is no printer on your system, the file can be sent to another

computer (using rcp) for printing. As a last resort, record the results by
hand. Store your hardcopy in a safe place.
F.5.2 Running fdisk

The fdisk command displays the partition table information used during
the restore. Sizes are shown in 512-byte blocks. Convert to MBytes by
dividing the block count by 2000. An example is shown below for a
system that has two disks (hda and hdb). The example command is issued
for /dev/hda. Your system probably does not look like the example.
# fdisk -l /dev/hda
[root@cyclone operator]# fdisk -l /dev/hda
Disk /dev/hda: 255 heads, 63 sectors, 524 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System

/dev/hda1 * 1 6 48163+ 6 FAT16
/dev/hda2 7 424 3357585 83 Linux
/dev/hda3 425 500 610470 83 Linux
/dev/hda4 501 524 192780 82 Linux
swap
To store the results in a file named /root/fdisk.lis, use the command
# fdisk -l > /root/fdisk.lis
Use "cat" to view the file and "lpr" to print it as described in the previous
section for the df command.
An example of a df listing is shown below. This is useful in showing you

how much disk space is used to assist in sizing the required backup
medium (that is, will your backup fit on the tape). The -h option displays
disk usage in gigabytes and megabytes which is a more convenient.
You should make a hardcopy of the fdisk and df information The easiest
way to do this is to grab the text into a file and then print the file. If you do
not have a printer you could send it by email to somebody who does or, as
a last resort, copy it by hand.
188 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
F.6 Documenting Your Basic Network

Configuration
NOTE You may need basic networking support to restore your system. For
example, you may need to use a tape drive on another system to restore
files over the network. It is critical that you make a hardcopy of your
basic network configuration information so that you can get your
network back up after a disk failure. Without this, recovery of your disk
is more difficult.
This is done on Linux systems by running the netconf utility. As root type
the command:
# netconf
When the netconf utility screen appears (in either text or X-Window
mode), select "Basic Host Information" for your network adapter (usually
adapter 1). Record ALL of the information by hand (including the button
positions) or use "xv" to make a print-out of the menu. An example is
shown in Figure 4 on page 190. The information for your system is
different. After you have copied the information, exit netconf without
activating any changes.
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 189

0919-011
Figure 4 Basic Host Information Dialog Box
NOTE The kernel module for RxNet7 customers is smc9194.
F.1 Selected File Restore Functions

Disk files can become corrupted accidently by users or by malfunction of
the disk. The worst case is when the entire disk fails and a new disk must
be installed. In all these cases, having a backup archive makes it much
easier to resume operation since the software does not have to be installed
from scratch and then completely reconfigured.
There are two basic restore scenarios:
• Restoration of selected files and/or directories.

• Full disk recovery
190 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
This section discusses the recovery of selected files or directories. It is

assumed that your computer is basically working and that the disk does
not have to be repartitioned and the operating system re-installed. G.8
Linux Disk Restore Functions on page 106 discusses the Linux recovery
procedures in the event that the disk fails and you have to reinstall the
operating system.
In this example, we shall assume that the /usr/sigmet/config directory is to

be restored. Perhaps some of the IRIS configuration files (for example,
TASK Configuration, overlays, etc.) have been inadvertently changed by
an inexperienced operator. Restoring the entire directory can sometimes
be easier than trying to figure out what the operator has done.
1. Locate backup
Identify the backup (tape or disk file) that you want to use. Here is
where proper labelling and storage are important. It is also useful to
keep a log of the backups identifying any system changes that are in
the backup.
If you are using a tape, make sure that the tape is write-protected and
insert the tape into the drive. Note that the drive can be on another
system.
2. Stop all IRIS processes
Since you are restoring the /usr/sigmet/config directory which has IRIS
configuration files, you need to stop ALL IRIS processes. Do a qiris
and qant to do this. Check by doing a ps_iris and manually do a "kill
<process ID>". You may have to be root to kill some processes or do a
"kill -9 <process ID>". Recheck with ps_iris that all processes have
indeed been stopped (nothing reported back).
3. Start sigbru as described in"Starting sigbru" on page 172
Start sigbru from a terminal by typing "sigbru" as root, or start it from
the CDROM is described in "Starting sigbru" on page 172. Note that if
you do a ps_iris now, you will see sigbru, but this is OK. REMEMBER,
YOU MUST BE ROOT TO RUN SIGBRU.
4. Select Restore in the sigbru menu
5. Select Archive Host, Archive Device Name and Make Inventory
During the "Make Inventory" process, the status window shows a
growing list of files that are on the archive. After the inventory is
completed, the top level directory appears in the "Contents". The
message "Retrieving Dirs and Files Complete" is displayed in the
status log.
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 191

6. Select the Retrieve Path (default is / )

Here you almost always want to use "/". One reason not to would be if
you wanted to restore some files and then selectively copy them to
another directory. For example you might want to restore an old
version of /usr/sigmet/config to another directory (e.g.,
/tmp/usr/sigmet/config) so that you could later select some config files
to copy into the /usr/sigmet/config directory.
7. Select the files or directory to restore
In this example (restoring /usr/sigmet/config) you would select
directories until "/usr/sigmet" appears in the Path and then highlight
"config/". Click the right arrow to "Include in Restore".
8. Click "Start".
The cursor changes to an hour glass shape and the status log appears.
You can monitor the progress of the restore in the status log which
shows the files that have been restored. Any errors during the restore
pop-up in a separate error window. When completed the status log
shows "Restore Complete".
The Cancel button can be used to stop the restore before completion.
F.7 Linux Disk Restore Functions
F.7.1 Disk Restore Overview

Eventually it will happen- your hard disk will fail. Repairing the hardware
failure is as easy as putting in a new disk, but now you must format the
disk and reload and configure all of the software. Installing and
configuring the operating system and IRIS can be very time consuming
unless you have prepared in advance with a proper backup strategy.
Here are the things that you need in order to restore the system using
sigbru:
• Your Red Hat distribution CDROM. The version must match the
version that was backed-up by sigbru.
• A hardcopy of the disk partition information that you collected (see
"Documenting Your Linux Disk Partitions" on page 186)
• The IRIS release cdrom (this has sigbru on it).
192 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
• Your sigbru system backup (from "/") of the failed disk.
Here we assume the worst case- that your disk has crashed and you need a
new one. You need a disk that is the same size or larger than the one that
failed.
• Step 1: Use the Red Hat Linux CDROM to get a basic version of the
operating system installed on a "mini-root" partition, i.e., a small disk
partition to hold a temporary version of the operating system.
• Step 2: Create a large "main" partition and restore the files from your
sigbru backup of "/" to the main partition.
• Step 3: Swap the system to boot from the main partition. Keep the
mini-root partition for possible future use.
Step 1 gets your system up and running on the mini-root partition. Step 2
restores to the main partition all of the files on the backup. This recovers
any customization that you performed for IRIS and Linux. Step 3 gets the
system booting off the large partition.
NOTE Important: The mini-root partition may already be installed on your

disk. You can check this by typing "miniroot" (the standard SIGMET
name) at the LILO boot prompt and see if your system boots. If you do
not get a LILO boot prompt or the system does not boot then you must
install the mini-root. If the system boots the miniroot, then skip to Step 2
in "Step 2: Restore the sigbru backup to main partition" on page 196.
F.7.2 Step 1: Basic Linux Installation into

a Mini-Root Partition
F.7.2.1 What You Need

You need to have your Red Hat LINUX CD and the hardcopy listing that
you made of the basic system configuration:
• The file system information from df: see "Running df" on page 187
• The disk partition information from fdisk: see "Running fdisk" on page
188
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 193

• The basic network configuration information from netconf: see

"Documenting Your Basic Network Configuration" on page 189
• Basic knowledge of the use of the vi editor.
For this procedure, you need to be able to use the "vi" editor.
F.7.2.2 Installing Linux

The restore procedure described here assumes that your computer can
boot from CDROM. Turn on the computer and immediately insert the
Linux release CDROM into the drive so that the computer boots off the
CD. At this point, we shall install the basic Linux operation system.
Follow the usual steps, selecting "Text" style installation menus and a
"Custom" installation. The exceptions to the installation procedure for
installing the mini-root partition are:
• For the disk partitioning step, delete all partitions and then create a 200
MB Linux partition with the mount point "/". This is the "mini-root"
partition. Also, create a 128 MB Linux swap partition (or use the size
of the swap partition that is documented in your fdisk hardcopy, see
"Running fdisk" on page 188).
• When you are prompted for what packages to install, select only
"Networked Workstation". This allows you to set up networking on
your system in case you need to use the network for the restore
operation. When prompted for the network node name, use the node
name that is documented in your hardcopy of the basic network
information (see "Documenting Your Basic Network Configuration"
on page 189).
The installation does not take very long since there is not much to install.
When it is done, the computer reboots automatically. Be sure to remove
the CDROM before the reboot so that the system boots from the mini-root
partition.
After reboot from the mini-root partition, the only post-installation step
that you need do is install the "k-shell" which is used by the sigbru restore
utility. Follow the IRIS Installation Manual steps for installing "pdksh..."
using the the RPM post installation step.
If you are on an RxNet7 and plan to use a local tape drive for the restore,
you can do a shutdown (# shutdown -h now) and connect the SCSI tape
drive by daisy-chaining it on the CDROM. Be sure that the tape and
CDROM both have unique SCSI addresses set via switches on the back.
194 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
Also be sure that the last SCSI device on the chain has a terminator or else
the system cannot work reliably (or perhaps at all).
F.7.2.3 Setting-Up Basic Networking (Optional)

Note that if you have a local CDROM and a local tape for the restore, then
you do not need to do this step. If you need to do this, run netconf as root
and provide the basic host information from your hardcopy
documentation (see "Documenting Your Basic Network Configuration"
on page 189). Reboot the system. You must edit two files to allow you to
access the other machines on the network that you might have to use (e.g.,
the one with the tape drive or the copy of sigbru).
/etc/hosts
This file has the list of node names and IP addresses. Be sure to check that
your "alias" is specified- the short version of your node name without the
domain name. After you have done this, test with the "ping" command,
i.e. type:
# ping nodename
where nodename is the name of the computer(s) that you configured in

/etc/hosts.
The next step is to configure the file:
/etc/hosts.equiv
This file is a list of computers who are authorized to use your system.
You can look on other systems on the network to see examples of these.
Remember, you probably only need to have entries for one or two other
systems.
You must also make sure that the corresponding /etc/hosts and
/etc/hosts.equiv files on the remote computer that you access include the
computer that must restore. For example, if you are going to use a tape
drive, cdrom or copy files from a node called "cyclone", make sure that
the /etc/hosts and /etc/hosts.equiv files on cyclone contain entries for the
target local computer that will be restored. Since you are restoring to a
computer that was originally on the network, there is a good chance that
these files are already configured on the other network computers.
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 195

F.7.3 Step 2: Restore the sigbru backup

to main partition
Creating and mounting the main partition
First we need to create the main partition. This only need be done once. In
the mini-root run fdisk as root:
# fdisk /dev/hda
In fdisk issue the "p" command to view the partitions. You should see
three partitions as shown in the example below:
Disk /dev/hda: 66 heads, 63 sectors, 1018 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 4158 * 512 bytes

/dev/hda1 * 1 99 205789+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda2 100 1018 1910601 5 Extended
/dev/hda5 100 163 133024+ 82 Linux
swap
In the example, /dev/hda1 is the "mini" partition. /dev/hda2 is an extended

partition. This is available to add logical partitions, or can be removed and
this space repartitioned. At this point, you should use the features of fdisk
to repartition the disk according to the hardcopy documentation that you
obtained during your backup procedure (see "Running fdisk" on page
188). However, you must not remove or change the mini-root
partition or your system will not be bootable.
NOTE If your main partition had already been created (e.g., you are restoring a
system that was already configured with main and mini-root partitions)
then you can skip the next creation step and start the procedure with the
"mkfs" (make file system) step below.
A simple thing to do that serves most systems is to create a logical

partition within the extended partition. Do this with the "n" command.
Make the partition start after the swap area and use the entire disk, e.g.,
start at 164 and end at 1018. Do not specify a mount point. When you are
196 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
done, use the "w" command to write the partition information. The "p"
command will then show (for example):

/dev/hda1 * 1 99 205789+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda2 100 1018 1910601 5 Extend
ed
/dev/hda5 100 163 133024+ 82 Linux
swap
/dev/hda6 164 1018 1777513+ 83 Linux
The "main" partition is /dev/hda6.
.At this point you must reboot the system by issuing the command:
# reboot
After the reboot you must make the file system on the main partition
(/dev/hdaN would be /dev/hda6 in the example):
# mkfs /dev/hdaN
Finally create the mount point and mount the file system:
# mkdir /mnt/hdaN
# mount /dev/hdaN /mnt/hdaN
F.7.3.1 Restoring the sigbru Backup to the Main

Partition
For this step you will need two things:
• A copy of sigbru programs. These can be found on the IRIS release

CDROM. For Linux systems, these are in /mnt/cdrom/linux/sigbru.
The CDROM can be local or, if you do not have a CDROM on the
local system, you can copy the files from another IRIS computer on the
network.
• Your sigbru system backup tape which are on either a local or remote
tape drive.
There are several restore scenarios corresponding to the different

combinations of the above (i.e., local/networked IRIS release CDROM or
local/networked sigbru backup tape). The easiest and fastest case is that
of restoring from a local CDROM and a local tape drive.
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 197

In the case of using either a networked CDROM or tape drive, you must
set up some minimal networking on the target machine that is being
restored. Networking needs to be installed as part of Step 1 (the Linux
installation).
All of the procedures below assume that the sigbru backup is the full disk
image (from "/" with /proc and /mnt excluded). We restore the backup to
the main partition mounted at /mnt/hdaN where N is the number of the
partition (viewed via df).
If the main partition is not mounted then mount it with (see previous step):
F.7.3.2 Local Tape and Local CDROM

Insert the system backup tape (write-protected) into the local tape drive
and the SIGMET IRIS release CDROM into the local CDROM drive (this
has the sigbru command utility on it). Next perform the following steps
as root:
# cd /mnt/hdaN (hdaN is the number of the main partition

from df)
# /mnt/cdrom/linux/sigbru/sigbrush -extract -device
/dev/st0
Here the mount point of the CDROM is assumed to be /mnt/cdrom.
F.7.3.3 Remote Tape and Local CDROM

Insert the system backup tape (write-protected) into the remote tape drive
and the SIGMET IRIS release CDROM into the local CDROM drive (this
has the sigbru command utility on it). The command is similar except that
the network nodename of the workstation with the tape drive is specified.
# cd /mnt/hdaN (hdaN is the number of the main partition

from df)
# /mnt/cdrom/linux/sigbru/sigbrush -extract -device
/dev/st0 -node nodename
F.7.3.4 Local or Remote Tape and Remote CDROM

Getting thesigbruProgram Over the Network
If you have a remote CDROM, then you must copy the sigbru files over
the network to a directory on your local machine. The example procedure
198 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
assumes that the "rcp" command is working (remote copy). ftp could also
be used. The procedure for doing this as follows.
First create a special sigbru directory (/root/sigbru) on the local machine

to hold the sigbru files. On the local computer that is to be restored type
(as root):
# cd /root
# mkdir sigbru
The next step is to copy the sigbru files to the directory /root/sigbru. The
minimal required files are called sigbrush and gnutar and are stored on the
CDROM under the directory for your platform (e.g., /cdrom/linux/sigbru).
They can also be found in the /usr/sigmet/bin directory of an IRIS system
on the network. You can obtain them from either place.
Getting sigbru from a remote CDROM
Insert the IRIS CDROM into the remote machine and mount it (see the
IRIS Installation Manual). On Linux systems this is usually accomplished
by typing (as root on the remote computer with CDROM):
# mount /dev/cdrom
Next, copy the two files from the remote CDROM to the local computer's
/root/sigbru directory. On the local computer (where you want to store the
files in /root/sigbru) type:
# rcp nodename:/cdrom/linux/sigbru/sigbrush /root/sigbru

# rcp nodename:/cdrom/linux/sigbru/gnutar /root/sigbru
Nodename is the name of the computer with the CDROM. The local
computer now has the sigbru files stored in a directory called
/root/sigbru.
Getting sigbru from a remote computer with IRIS installed
Identify the remote computer with the installed IRIS system. The two
sigbru files that you need to copy are stored in the /usr/sigmet/bin
directory. Copy them to the /root/sigbru directory on the local computer
by typing (on the local computer):
# rcp nodename:/usr/sigmet/bin/sigbrush /root/sigbru

# rcp nodename:/usr/sigmet/bin/gnutar /root/sigbru
Nodename is the name of the remote computer with IRIS installed. The
local computer now has the sigbru files stored in a directory called
/root/sigbru.
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 199

Now follow the steps below to do the restore from tape to the main
partition.
• For a local tape drive type:

# cd /mnt/hdaN
# /root/sigbru/sigbrush -extract -device /dev/st0
• For a remote tape drive type:

# cd /mnt/hdaN
# /root/sigbru/sigbrush -extract -device /dev/st0 -node
nodename
Nodename is the name of the remote network computer with the tape
drive. /dev/hdaN is the device name of the main partition from df.
We are now ready to configure Linux to boot from either the main
partition or the mini-root partition.
F.7.4 Step 3: Configuring to boot from the

main or mini partitions
We have restored the backup to the main partition. Now we must
configure the system to boot from the main partition. We keep the mini-
root partition since we might need it in the future restore operations.
First, if it is not already booted, boot your computer. It boots in the mini-
root partition since we have not activated the main partition. Also, if it is
not mounted, mount the main partition with:
F.7.4.1 Modify /mnt/hdaN/etc/fstab on the Main

Partition
For this step, you need to know what your disk partitions are. These were
just configured, but to refresh your memory you can use fdisk, i.e. type,
# fdisk -l /dev/hda
The disk partition information should look something like:

/dev/hda1 * 1 99 205789+ 83 Linux
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/dev/hda2 100 1018 1910601 5 Extended

/dev/hda5 100 163 133024+ 82 Linux
swap
/dev/hda6 164 1018 1777513+ 83 Linux
In this example, hda1 is the mini-root partition, hda2 is an extended

partition that contains two logical partitions, i.e., the swap space in hda5
and the main partition in hda6. This is the information that we need to edit
fstab in the main partition.
Start the "vi" editor on the fstab file by typing:
# vi /mnt/hda6/etc/fstab
The file should look something like ("/" is incorrectly pointing to the min-
root):
/dev/hda1 / ext2 defaults 1 1

/dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom iso9660 noauto,owner, 0 0
ro
/dev/hda5 swap swap defaults 0 0
/dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy ext2 noauto,owner 0 0
none /proc proc defaults 0 0
none /dev/pts devpts gid=5,mode= 0 0
620
"/" is currently pointing to /dev/hda1. Change this to /dev/hdaN where N

corresponds to your main partition. Also check that the swap partition is
pointing to the correct disk partition. In the example, the swap partition
from fdisk is /dev/hda5 so the fstab entry for swap is OK. However for
this example, the entry for /dev/hda1 pointing to "/" needs to be changed
to /dev/hda6. After you have finished editing, save your results and
proceed to the next step.
F.7.4.2 Modify /etc/lilo.conf File on the Mini-root

Partition and Run lilo
The file /etc/lilo.conf on the mini-root partition is used to configure the
LILO boot loader. We use the mini-root version since we do not yet fully
trust our restore and the mini-root is fully tested.
First, we need to document the lilo.conf file on the main partition. Do this
by typing the command:
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 201

# cat /mnt/hda6/etc/lilo.conf
This shows the lilo.conf that was used on your old disk. Take note of the
lines corresponding to the "image" that has the "label=linux". For
example:
image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.2.12-20
label=linux
initrd=/boot/initrd-2.2.12-20.img
read-only
root=/dev/hda1
vga=773
append="mem=128M"
No changes are made to this file. We use this information to edit

/etc/lilo.conf in the mini-root. As in the previous step, you use the vi
editor to do this.
# vi /etc/lilo.conf
The mini-root lilo.conf file looks something like:
boot=/dev/hda
map=/boot/map
install=/boot/boot.b
prompt
timeout=50
default=linux
label=linux
read-only
root=/dev/hda1
You only need to make one change to these lines, that is:
• Change the "label=linux" to "label=miniroot"
Now after these lines, type-in the lines that you recorded and make the
following changes to them (hdaN refers to the main partition):
• Change "image=/boot..." to "image=/mnt/hdaN/boot..."

• Change (if necessary) "label=linux"
• Change "initrd=/boot..." to "initrd=/mnt/hdaN/boot..."
• Change "root=/dev/hda1" to "root=/dev/hdaN"
All other lines should stay the same since. When you are done, the
/etc/lilo.conf file (mini-root) should look something like:
202 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
boot=/dev/hda
map=/boot/map
prompt
timeout=50
default=linux
label=miniroot
read-only
root=/dev/hda1
image=/mnt/hda6/boot/vmlinuz-2.2.12-20
label=linux
initrd=/mnt/hda6/boot/initrd-2.2.12-20.img
read-only
root=/dev/hda6
vga=773
append="mem=128M"
Carefully check your entries and save the file. Now run lilo by typing:
# lilo -v
Carefully check that lilo runs without errors. Errors are most likely due to
typo's and should be repaired by re-editing the /etc/lilo.conf file. Re-run
lilo until it is error free.
At this point we have two bootable partitions that can be selected at boot
time at the "LILO:" prompt. The main partition can be booted by:
• Typing "linux".
• Simply hitting the ENTER key.
• Waiting for the timeout (50 seconds in the example).
The mini-root partition can be booted by typing "miniroot" at the LILO

prompt. Perform the following tests to verify that you can boot either
partition:
• Issue the "reboot" command and type "miniroot <Enter>" at the LILO
prompt to verify the mini-root boots OK.
• Issue the "reboot" command and type "linux <enter>" at the LILO
prompt to verify that the main partition boots OK.
Proceed to the next step.
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 203

F.7.4.3 Modify the /etc/lilo.conf File on the Main

Partition and Rerun lilo
NOTE Note: If you restored a backup of the main partition for a system that was
already configured for the min-root, then your /mnt/hda6/etc/lilo.conf file
may not require any modification. Check it by going through the
procedure below.
We need to configure the /etc/lilo.conf file on the main partition so that if

lilo is run here, it installs the boot record for both the main and the mini-
root partitions. To do this, first reboot the system in the main partition and
at the LILO prompt type linux, that is:,
LILO boot: linux
After reboot, manually mount the mini-root partition, i.e. (with N

corresponding to the mini-root partition),
If this does not work, you may have to first create the mount point, i.e.,
# mkdir /mnt/hdaN
Now look at the lilo.conf file in the mini-root by typing:
# cat /mnt/hdaN/etc/lilo.conf
This looks something like the previous example. Copy by hand all the
lines corresponding to the mini-root label. For example:
label=miniroot
read-only
root=/dev/hda1
Use vi to edit the /etc/lilo.conf file (main partition). Add the lines that you
copied for the miniroot, with the following changes (here N refers to the
mini-root, 1 in the example):
• Change "image=/boot..." to "image=/mnt/hdaN/boot..."

• Change "initrd=/boot..." to "initrd=/mnt/hdaN/boot..."
204 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
• The miniroot "root" line should already point to the proper partition for
the mini-root.
• Change (if necessary) the linux "root" line to point to the main
partition.
When you are done the /etc/lilo.conf file (main partition) should look
something like:
boot=/dev/hda
map=/boot/map
prompt
timeout=50
default=linux
label=linux
read-only
root=/dev/hda6
vga=773
append="mem=128M"
image=/mnt/hda1/boot/vmlinuz-2.2.12-20
label=miniroot
initrd=/mnt/hda1/boot/initrd-2.2.12-20.img
read-only
root=/dev/hda1
In this example, hda1 is the miniroot partition and hda6 is the main
"linux" partition. Save your results and then run lilo:
# lilo -v
Carefully check that lilo runs without errors. Errors are most likely due to
typo's and should be repaired by re-editing the /etc/lilo.conf file. Re-run
lilo until it is error free.
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 205

Reboot both the "miniroot" and main "linux" partitions to test them, then
proceed to the next (final) step.
F.8 Test IRIS and Backup Your Restored System

At this point you should test IRIS in its full operational mode. All should
be as it was before. Note that if you separately archived ingest clutter
maps (as RAW products), RAIN1 clutter maps or special "kept" data files,
you should restore them now.
After IRIS has been tested, you should then do a backup of your system.
Only the main partition need be backed–up. Follow the procedure in
"Making System Backups for Linux Computers" on page 182 and
subsequent sections to record the df, fdisk and netconf information as part
of your backup. You should of course maintain this backup over the years.
F.9 Disk Crash After Mini-Root is Installed

When your next disk failure occurs (hopefully 10 years from now), if the
disk hardware is OK and the miniroot is still intact, you can restore your
disk more easily- just boot the mini-root and start your restore procedure
at Step 2 ("Step 2: Restore the sigbru backup to main partition" on page
196). Since you faithfully carried-out the backup prescribed in preceding
section, your backup is the main partition that you want to restore.
NOTE If you use an existing miniroot to restore your main partition from a
backup tape, be sure to go through all of the steps of running lilo in both
the mini-root and then the main partition. Failure to do so might cause
your system to become un-bootable, in which case you would have to re-
install the mini-root. Do not skip steps in the procedure, although you
have less work to do since all the files in the main partition should be
configured properly already.
F.10 sigbru -auto: Auto Archive Features

A powerful feature of sigbru is the auto archive feature. This allows
sigbru to monitor a disk directory so that when a specified "quota" of files
is placed there, sigbru automatically:
206 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
• Archives the files to tape (or perhaps disk).

• Optionally deletes the files in the directory that is being monitored.
Note that if the optional delete is enabled, then sigbru continues to

monitor the directory and write sequential archives to the tape. Otherwise,
the auto archive is to disabled, i.e., it is "write-once".
An ideal application of this is as follows:
• Use the product output menu to send files in .gif format to a directory.
• Use sigbru -auto to monitor the directory, and when a selected size is
reached, archive the files to tape.
• sigbru can then delete the disk files so that the disk does not fill-up.
To be on the safe side it is always best for IRIS to send disk files to a
directory that is on a separate disk partition, i.e., not / or /usr, since filling
the disk space in these causes the system to fail. The /usr/iris_data
directory is also not a good choice since filling this causes IRIS to fail.
We recommend that if you do this, you create a separate disk partition for
the directory.
NOTE Only tape drives support multiple automatic archive files. The tape must
use a non-rewind driver (e.g., /dev/nst0 for linux).
WARNING If you inadvertently specify a tape device driver that performs rewind on
opening, then attempt to do multiple automatic archives to tape, then the
you always overwrite the last archive. That is, when you are done only
the most recent archive is on the tape.
To invoke the auto archive features of sigbru, start by typing as root:
# sigbru -auto
At the bottom of the sigbru menu (in "Backup" mode), you see the
following:
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 207

0919-012
Figure 5 sigbru Menu (Bottom of Dialog Box)
F.10.1 Auto Archive Enable/Disable

This defaults to disabled when you start sigbru unless you specify -
enable at startup. This enables the automatic polling of the "Included"
directories that are to be archived.
F.10.2 Archive Source: Quota and

Current, sigbru Polling
Type-in the quota in GB. When Auto Archive is enabled, sigbru polls the
included directories and calculates the total size of all files that are more
than one minute old. This is updated every 5 minutes and the result is
displayed in the field called Current. When the Current size exceeds the
Quota that you specified, sigbru performs an archive operation for all
included files that are more than one minute old.
Note that the max size of a DVD archive quota is 4 GB — the size of a
typical DVD.
F.10.3 Archive Media Use: Total and

Record #
These are display-only text fields are valid only during automatic archive
operation. They are not valid during manual archive operation when the
operator clicks the Start button.
• Total shows the total size of all files that have been written to the
archive medium. The total is uncompressed. If you use compression,
then the actual amount written is less.
• Record # shows the number of archive records that have been written
to the tape, i.e., whenever the Quota is exceeded.
208 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
F.10.4 Delete Files After Archive
WARNING This is a potentially dangerous command, since you might end up

deleting key system files if you are not careful to specify the Included
files correctly.
The Delete Files after Archive feature is designed for automatic

maintenance of a disk directory. See the example at the beginning of
"sigbru -auto: Auto Archive Features" on page 206
This defaults to No when sigbru is started unless -delete is specified at

startup. It can only be set to Yes when auto archiving is enabled. The
option is not available in the manual archive mode, that is, when the user
manually clicks Start.
NOTE When you specify "Enable" sigbru waits for 10 seconds before polling
the directory to give you a chance to set the Delete Files field.
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 209

210 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
____________________________________________________________________________ Index
INDEX
B P
Backup procedure 54 Passwords 31

Postscript Setup menu 188
D image color 190
image position 190
Directory structure, anchor point 11 image size 190
Disk, space requirements 11 paper orientation 190
DSP, calibration procedure 54 paper size 190
printer queue 189
F printing options 190
Power off 33
File, ownership and mode 30 Printer Options, configuring 188
Framebuffer Method 97, 150 Printers
configuring for IRIS 186
H listing with lpstat 188
local print queues 186
hosts.equiv file 16 network print queues 187
remote print queues 188
I Printing Options, Postscript Setup menu 190
Ps_iris command 64
Install utility, options, 26
installation, reboot test, 34 R
in-use bits 67
Rcp configuration 95, 148
L RCP8 setup summary 37
RDA 33
Library, installation option 28 FPGA flash 34
Login Kernel module 33
logout 33 Remote node, installation option 28
operator 31 Restart_iris command 65
poweroff 33 RVP8 setup summary 39
procedure 31
root 32 S
login 32
Serial line setup 17
N Shared memory size 18
Show_iris command 67
Network configuration 91, 144 Show_machine_code command 14
Ntp 94, 147 Sigbru utility
DAT. See Sigbru 194
O devices. See Sigbru 194
DVD. See Sigbru 196
Operating system, minimum version require- HDD. See Sigbru 195
ments 9 Sigconfig script 75, 101, 128, 155
Operator, user account 11 sigmet_env 14
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________211
________________________________________________________________________________
sigmet_env Command 63 U
Software configuration 36
introduction 36 upgrade, download files 21
Softplane, softplane.conf 40 User accounts 11
utilities 36
Ssh, configuration 15 V
Structmap command 69
su 32 version 11
T X
Testing IRIS installation 54 xhost command 30
212 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-D
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 213
214 __________________________________________________________________M211315EN-E
www.vaisala.com
*M211315EN*

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INSTALLATION MANUAL

IRIS™ and RDA SOFTWARE

Vaisala Oyj Phone (int.): +358 9 8949 1

Visit our Internet pages at www.vaisala.com

No part of this manual may be reproduced, published or publicly displayed

2.7.1 File Ownership and Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

CHAPTER 3 UNIX SURVIVAL SKILLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

CHAPTER 4 IRIS DIAGNOSTIC UTILITIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

APPENDIX A INSTALLING CENTOS 7.X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

A.2 Creating Installation Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

APPENDIX B INSTALLING CENTOS6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

B.0.2 Default Installation of CentOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

APPENDIX C SIGCONFIG INSTRUCTIONS FOR CENTOS6 AND 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

APPENDIX D LINUX SYSTEM FILE LISTINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

APPENDIX E PRINTER CONFIGURATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

APPENDIX F SIGBRU UTILITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

F.8 Test IRIS and Backup Your Restored System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

This manual provides information about installing and upgrading IRIS

1.2 Version Information

1.3 Related Manuals

1.4 Document Conventions

Table 3 Document Conventions

NOTE Note highlights important information about using the product.

Linux® is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.

UNIX® is a registered trademark of The Open Group.

All other company and product names may be trademarks of their

2.1 Before You Start

Before you install the IRIS/RDA software, do the following:

NOTE Vaisala provides an automated installation procedure for installing

2. Use the following sections to perform a new install or upgrade:

• "Initial Configuration" on page 17

2.2 Mount the CD

2. Insert the CD into the CD-ROM drive.

• If this is a new installation, go to "Performing a New Software

2.3 New Software Installation

2.3.1 Preparing for a New Software

If you used the sigconfig script described in:

• Appendix A, Installing CentOS 7.x on page 81

go to "Run Setup Utility" on page 16.

If this is a new installation on a new computer or a new hard disk, read

1. Check that there is enough disk space.

3. Choose an anchor point for the IRIS directory tree.

2.3.2 Performing a New Software

NOTE A new installation completely overwrites any existing files in the

To install a new software installation:

• For Linux systems (IRIS):

• For Linux systems (RDA):

• For all systems:

Figure 1 New Install Dialog Box

2. Optionally, you may select other support software packages to install

The installation utility takes a few minutes to complete and prints

5. Continue with the following sections to complete the installation

Now for a new OS installation, run the sigconfig steps manual as

2.3.3 Run Setup Utility

If your system is an analysis or display system, be sure to set that in the

If your system is a radar system (i.e. connected to an antenna/signal

2.3.4 Get Your License

Contact Vaisala ([email protected]) with the information

2.3.5 Run sigmet_env