GSAC Wholesaling - Made Easy

Table of Contents
-----------------

  • 1. Overview
  • 2. Requirements
  • 3. Availability
  • 4. Components
  • 5. Installation
  • 6. Configuration
  • 7. Contact Information

1. Overview
-----------------

This very brief document describes how a GPS archive can easily begin publishing it's monuments and holdings to the GPS Seamless Archive Center (GSAC) with only minimal effort, minimal programming skills and minimal time required.

Though there is a more advanced GSAC Wholesaler software distribution available to you this document will describe to you how easy it is to begin contributing to the GSAC. You are not required to setup and maintain a relational database. You are not required to have any preexisting experience with any particular programming language - apart from basic shell and crontab skills. However, you MUST be familiar with the GSAC, how it functions, what its purpose is and how data and monuments are "published" before attempting to "wholesale" to the GSAC.

Basically, you will need, at a minimum, a valid GSAC configuration file, usually named (gsac.conf), and three executable binary utilities to help you participate in the GSAC as a valid Wholesaling archive. These utilities will help you to perform the regular functions required of a GSAC Wholesaler - such as creating new incremental directories, cleaning out old incremental directories, inserting, updating, and deleting DHF and MC records, updating incremental and full list files.
 

2. Requirements
-----------------

	* An anonymous ftp server with /pub/GSAC
	  dedicated to the provision and storage of
	  your "published" GSAC monument and data holdings records.

	* One of the below-listed Operating systems and
	  supported hardware architectures.

	  Operating System	Hardware Platforms
	  ----------------      ------------------
	  Solaris 2.5.1        		SPARC
	  Solaris 2.6          		SPARC
	  Solaris 2.7          		SPARC
	  Solaris 2.8      	x86 	SPARC
	  RedHat Linux 6.2 	x86
	  RedHat Linux 7.1 	x86
	  RedHat Linux 7.2 	x86
          Windows NT 4.0   	x86
This basic GSAC Wholesaling strategy is only supported for the above listed operating systems and hardware platforms because of the limitations placed on me by the software I use to build binary executables of Perl scripts and their associated libraries. If you must use a configuration not listed above, and have some experience with Perl programming I strongly urge you to download the current GSAC Perl Wholesaler Kit.
 

3. Availability
-----------------

The latest version of the utilities described in this document for your use are available for free download from the Scripps Orbit and Permanent Array Center located at the University of California, San Diego:

ftp://garner.ucsd.edu/pub/software/gsac/utilities

 

4. Components Needed
-----------------


-> Executable System Utilities (GSAC "production" utilities)

   gsac-wadmin :  a Wholesaler tool written to help a Wholesaler clean,
                  quality-check and repair their flatfile publication area
                  (/pub/GSAC).

   gsac-pubs   :  a Wholesaler tool written to help a Wholesaler "publish",
	          "update" and "recall" monument records/information to/from
                  their local GSAC flatfile Wholesaler holdings (/pub/GSAC).
		  To use this utility you MUST have a valid gsac.conf file,
		  have the GSAC_CONF following environment variable set to this
	 	  location and you must have permission to read it.

   gsac-pubd   :  a Wholesaler tool written to help a Wholesaler "publish",
	          "update" and "recall" data holdings records/information to/from
                  their local GSAC flatfile Wholesaler holdings (/pub/GSAC).
		  To use this utility you MUST have a valid gsac.conf file,
		  have the GSAC_CONF following environment variable set to this
	 	  location and you must have permission to read it.

-> GSAC Configuration File

   This directory contains vital GSAC configuration files used to
   support the proper functioning of GSAC Wholesaler and/or Retailer
   activities.  (see INSTALL for more information).
 

5. Installation
-----------------

NOTE: These steps assume you already have a functioning FTP server and have the ability (rights) to create a pub/GSAC directory under that server. It is also assumed that you are familiar (at least nominally) with the official GSAC Specification.

  • a. Download a sample copy of a GSAC configuration file (gsac.conf) from here and save it to a location of your choosing.

  • b. Set an environment variable named GSAC_CONF to the complete path to the file you downloaded and saved in step a.

  • c. Download copies of the GSAC Wholesaler utilities gsac-pubs, gsac-pubd and gsac-wadmin (described above) specific to the operating system and hardware configuration upon which these utilities will be functioning on a regular basis. Once downloaded, you can move them to a location of your choosing and assign final ownership and access privileges as you see fit. (These utilities need not be in the same location as the configuration file, your ftp server, or any other GSAC components.)

  • d. Edit your configuration file as directed in the CONFIGURATION section below.

  • e. Create a directory named "full" under your pub/GSAC tree on the FTP server. Also create a directory named "inc" in the same location. And, finally, create a file in pub/GSAC with the name used in the WHOLESALER_NEXT_UII_FILE parameter of your conf file....and add a single integer, typically 0, to act as the unique sequence for the data holdings file field unique_info_id. This integer should be the -only- contents of this file....AND SHOULD NEVER BE EDITED AGAIN. The GSAC utilities will update this sequence whenever needed.

  • f. You are now ready to begin integrating use of the provided utilities into your regular archiving practices. Familiarize yourself with the "usage" of gsac-pubs, gsac-pubd and gsac-wadmin and begin using these utilities to publish information to the GSAC for your monuments and data holdings.
 

6. Configuration
-----------------

1. gsac.conf

	You MUST edit appropriate configuration information in the
	gsac.conf file (see instructions inside gsac.conf for more
	information) before the utilities gsac-pubs and gsac-pubd will
        work properly.  Without this information any attempts to
        publish/update/recall monuments or data holdings records to
	the GSAC through these utilities will fail.

	You MAY MOVE the gsac conf file anywhere you like.  You may even
        rename it to anything you like.  However, YOU MUST change your
        environemnt variable $GSAC_CONF when you do so, as most/all
        GSAC utilities depend on finding and parsing your conf file.

2. Creation of GSAC publication area

	Create your GSAC flatfile publication area by insuring
	the path specified as WHOLESALER_ROOT_DIR in gsac.conf refers to
	the full directory path to the directory where your "full" and
	"inc" GSAC hierarchies exist.  You will then need to ensure
	this path is symbolically linked or otherwise visible from
	your anonymous ftp server as /pub/GSAC.
 

7. Contact Information
-----------------

I welcome all questions, comments and bug reports. Please email them to Michael Scharber.