Table of Contents

2.1   Installing the SOO/STRC WRF EMS
2.2   Running the wrf_install.pl script

2.1     Installing the SOO/STRC WRF EMS

The WRF EMS distribution includes an installation script, wrf_install.pl, which is used to simplify the process of installing and configuring the system on your workstation. It is recommended that the installation be conducted by user root; however, it may be installed by another user provided that you have full write permission on the partition where the package will reside.

To install the WRF EMS complete the following steps:

1. Mount the DVD on your workstation

2. Change directories to your DVD drive

3. Run the "wrf_install.pl" script

4. Log back in as chosen wrf user

5. Run the wrf_update.pl routine:

% wrf_update.pl --update --install

Note that you will need to have access to the SOO/STRC ftp server to run the update script automatically. If you do not have access to the server you can still get the updates and patches from the STRC web site:

http://strc.comet.ucar.edu/wrf/wrf_updates.htm

 

2.2      Running the wrf_install.pl script

The wrf_install.pl script will do the following:

•  Prompt you for the installation directory (Default: /usr1)

•  Check to make sure the directory exists and whether you have write permission

•  Prompt you for the name of the user to assign ownership of the package

•  Create a new account and home directory if the user does not exist

•  Check that the user's login shell is either tcsh or csh

•  Prompt you for a password if a new user was created

•  Install the WRF EMS from the DVD

 

Note that useful information will be printed to the screen while the installation script is running so don't leave the room.

Following installation of the package, the script will build PerlTk libraries for your system. Should the PerlTk build fail, precompiled libraries for either 32- or 64-bit system will be installed.

The script will configure the WRF EMS, which includes updating configuration files and Perl scripts with the location of the WRF EMS on your system.

The script will then configure SSH on your system so that you can run distributed memory (DM) binaries. These binaries will provide a 15% performance gain over the shared memory (SM) executables with the ARW and NMM cores.

The wrf_update.pl routine will be installed (disabled) in the user's crontab file. The wrf_update.pl script automatically downloads and installs updates and patches to the EMS from the SOO/STRC ftp server and notifies the user(s) of any changes. More on the wrf_update utility later.

The script will update the users .cshrc file so that the WRF EMS environment variables are correctly defined the next time the user logs in.

See, isn't that simple? The WRF EMS practically installs itself.

 

Depending on the speed of your DVD reader and hard disks, the installation should take ~10 to 15 minutes. Most of this time is taken up by the unpacking of the very large terrain data sets such as topography and land use.

Following the successful installation, log out and return as the WRF EMS user. To make sure your environment is set correctly, try the following commands:

% cd $WRF - you should be in the top level of the WRF EMS

% ls $WRF_STRC - You will see the contents of the $WRF/strc directory

If both of the above tests are successful then your installation is complete and you are ready to become a modeler. If not, just give your not-so-local SOO STRC a call.