1. Earth System Research Laboratory
Global Systems Division
Technology Outreach Branch
AWIPS II Thin Client Development Jebb Stewart NOAA/ESRL/GSD Affiliated with Colorado State University Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA) September 29th

2. Project Overview
Thin Client OSIP Documents at Gate Three AWIPS II Thin Client Analysis and Evaluation

3. Development Objectives
Extend CAVE to support:
Center Weather Service Units (CWSUs)
Weather Service Offices (WSOs)
Incident Support Specialists (ISS) including Incident Meteorologists (IMETs)
NCEP Centers to partially support Continuity of Operations Planning (COOP)
River Forecast Centers (RFCs)

4. Development Objectives (Continued)
To enable Common AWIPS Visualization Environment (CAVE) to work outside local area network.
Add Windows OS Compatibility
Low bandwidth and capability to work on any type of internet access (satellite/BGAN, wireless, local network) requirements.
Many base requirements have been pulled from FX-Net program.
Thin Client Requirements document contains many more.

5. Results From Analysis
Analysis was performed on new versions of CAVE as they were released. Last in depth analysis was R1G1-3.
Basically Functionality (ie Weather “Browsing”) works.
Some Missing Requirements.
Performance Problems within Windows Environment need to be resolved.

6. AWIPS II Remote Mode
AWIPS II has built in capability to run in “Remote” Mode
“Remote” mode no longer requires HDF5 file mount and accesses all data through HTTP
To enable “Remote” mode.
Add or uncomment line “awips.mode=client“
In regular CAVE installation
{CAVE_INSTALLATION_PATH}/configuration/config.ini
In ADE
com.raytheon.viz.product.awips -> config.ini

7. AWIPS II Remote Mode Ports Required
Service Name
Port Number
Capability
Localization Service
9581
This service is used to load localization configuration during startup and requests for data. (Required)
Messaging Service (AMQP)
5672
This service feeds product meta information such as product inventory and new product notification.
Remote Access Gained using either SSH Tunnels or VPN connection

8. Possible Client Types Explored
AWIPS 2 Built and optimized on Linux. How do we provide a multiple OS solution?
Virtual Desktop
A remote desktop capability using NoMachine (NX) technology where CAVE runs on a remote server and user views the screen as it changes (similar to a streaming movie).
Virtual Machine
On client hardware, A virtual machine is running an instance of Linux operating system using VirtualBox software. CAVE runs natively on Linux OS within Virtual Machine and is viewed on client.
Native Windows
CAVE runs natively on Windows operating system

9. Virtual Client Pros Cons Risks Proposed Action
CAVE running in Linux native mode. (No porting necessary) One well-known TCP/IP port (SSH). Simple X-Windows client interface. Minimal systems administration support required. Efficient bandwidth utilization.
Perceived performance is highly dependent upon network availability.
Hardware must scale with number of connected clients.
Requires high network availability.
Requires additional hardware cost on server side.
Video driver compatibility (low risk).
Evaluate single client instance load/demand running on one server.
Evaluate multiple client instances running on one server.
Evaluate other scalability options (cloud, etc.).
Evaluate NX web client.
Verify proper video drivers.

10. Virtual Machine Pros Cons Risks Proposed Action
CAVE running in Linux native mode. (No porting necessary) Available on multiple operating systems Some line offices already use this solution for AWIPS 1 - D/2D with effective results and minimal logistical impact.
Unknown additional security requirements for two operating systems running on one machine.
OpenGL support minimal in Virtual Machine software.
Poorest performance of all offered solutions.
Security may restrict access to one or both TCP/IP ports.
Undefined security policy for virtual machine on Windows.
Users’ need administration expertise for virtual machine
Assess TCP/IP port hardening issues.
Determine NWS security policies.
Feasibility evaluation.
Monitor Open GL development in Virtual Machine software.

11. Native Windows Pros Cons Risks Proposed Action
Native binaries mean best performance of all evaluated options. No Linux system administration needed on client-side.
Modifications and optimization required to run in Windows Environment.
Each new version of CAVE needs to be modified to support Windows OS Environment.
Third party tools / APIs may need porting/testing.
All Test Cases may need to be re-ran in Windows Environment
Assess TCP/IP port hardening issues.
Gather requirements for third-party tools.

12. Use Case Matrix Client Type Security Impact Failure Impacts
CWSU Use Case
(High Availability/High Speed)
WSO Use Case
(High Availability/Moderate Speed)
IMET Use Case
(Moderate-Low Availability/Moderate-Low Speed)
Virtual Client
Low
Moderate (3 points of failure):
Virtual Client.
CAVE client.
EDEX Server. No
Yes
Virtual Machine
Moderate
High (4 points of failure):
Virtual Machine.
Platform – VM interface.
EDEX server.
Native Windows
Low (2 points of failure):
CAVE client
EDEX server

13. Porting To Windows Items Required
Need proper Eclipse environment
Setup Python 2.6 – Including additional support libraries (NUMPY, SCIPY, etc…)
Verify libraries available in site-packages on Linux
Setup JAVA, 1.6 Plus Additional Libraries
Java Imaging, Java imaging IO, JAVA 3D.
Modifications to code
Path Problems (“C:\\users\jstewart”) incorrectly appended to all file paths
Newer JEP version slightly different API.
Script Template Path Problems
Native Library Support – libmeteolib (Contouring), JEP (Python interaction).
Used Cygwin to recompile missing native libraries

14. Porting to Windows Issues
OpenGL/Graphics Card interaction messy, refreshing canvas problems.
Delay problems. Items behind the scenes take longer than on Linux and using client without waiting results in errors.
UI (Creating widgets, alerts) needs additional work.

15. Porting to Windows Future Items
As new releases are created, need to verify portability of changes.
Any extensions created may require additional porting if not 100% java.
Only Basic Functionality has been tested on Windows OS, Other tools (ie GFE …) require further testing

16. Other Thin Client Development
Improve bandwidth utilization by using compression on Thrift objects.
Google Earth Export.
Other Missing Requirements.

17. Questions? Discussion