MEMORANDUM FOR: Distribution E
FROM: John H. Ward
Chief, Production Management Branch
SUBJECT: Changes to the NWS Production Suite
1. Due to the recent increase in tropical activity and the need for critical weather
declarations, for the next two weeks implementations scheduled for Tuesdays may be
implemented on Monday if there is a potential for critical weather during the week.
In addition, the National Weather Service Headquarters has requested that no changes
be made to mission critical systems during the week of August 30. It is expected
that critical weather will be declared at 00Z Monday, 30 August through
12Z Friday, 3 September.
Critical Weather Day status is now available via the WEB at:
http://www.nco.ncep.noaa.gov/pmb/CWD/.
2. Installation of the CCS Phase II system has begun. The
transition of NCEP operations to the Phase II system is expected to begin in early
October 2004, with the system expected to become
operational on or about 18 January 2005. Based on the current
installation schedule, the moratorium on changes to the Production Suite is expected
to begin on or about 1 October and end in January 2005. Requests for changes (JIFs)
must be submitted prior to 13 September in order for those changes to be consider
for implementation prior to the moratorium. Changes required to correct operational
failures will continue to be made during the moratorium.
Major implementations scheduled prior to the moratorium are:
Aug 17 - SREF diversity upgrade
Aug 24 - Coupled-Climate Forecast System (CFS)
Sept 21 - Hi Res Window WRF ensemble
3. The transition in the file naming convention for the Global
Forecast System (GFS) has begun. On 14 June 2004, a duplicate file structure was
established on both the TOC and NCEP FTP servers. All file structures containing
AVN now have a duplicate link containing GFS. These duplicate file structures will
remain in place for six months. On approximately 18 January 2005, all file
structures containing AVN will be eliminated. Additional details about this
transition can be found at the following web site:
http://www.nco.ncep.noaa.gov/pmb/changes/avn-gfs_rename.html
4. NCEP Central Operations is implementing a new DNS solution for World Weather
Building (WWB), Camp Springs, MD. The deployment of the new DNS solution is
scheduled to commence 23 August 2004. A component of the DNS solution is the
retirement of the "wwb.noaa.gov" and "fb4.noaa.gov" DNS domains. The domain
"ncep.noaa.gov" is and will be supported in lieu of the "fb4" and "wwb" domains.
Scripts that access NCEP hostnames using the "wwb.noaa.gov" should have been changed
to "ncep.noaa.gov" by 1 August 2004. For example, if accessing
"ftpprd.wwb.noaa.gov", change to "ftpprd.ncep.noaa.gov". This will allow time to
address problems before the deployment of the new DNS system. For internal NCEP
users, a separate communications will provide further instructions. If there are
any questions or concerns, please
email ncep.helpdesk@xxxxxxxx and copy Luis.Cano@xxxxxxxx.
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