How to build your own SkyNode

A quick tutorial by

Alberto Conti & Bernie Shiao

Space Telescope Science Institute

Baltimore, MDaconti@stsci.edu, shiao@stsci.edu

Introductory Notes

This brief tutorial was written after Bernie and I spend a morning at JHU with Alex, Tamas and Wil to set up a SkyNode for GALEX (http://galex.stsci.edu). The implementation was rather easy, and we decided it would be a good idea to document the steps we undertook for others to follow.

– GALEX uses MS SQL Server as its database server– GALEX database backend is written in C# under .NET

Framework 1.1– GALEX uses IIS as its web server

Requirements(based on GALEX example)

Database: <dbname>, i.e. GALEX

Objects Table: <objtable>, i.e. PhotoObjAll – This table contains the catalog of all GALEX

objects– Each object has several attributes that will be

accessible from each SkyNode– <objtable> MUST contain:

objID, RA, Dec htmID,cx,cy,cz

Requirements: continued(based on GALEX example)

Objects Table View: PhotoPrimary– This view is obtained from <objtable>

The most general view is obtained by – create view PhotoPrimary as select * from <objtable>

DBObjects Table: DBObjects– Contains the metadata information about the

database, such as tables and user functions.

Requirements: continued(based on GALEX example)

DBColumns Table: DBColumns– Contains the metadata information about each

table, such as columns, UCDs, units, etc.– A view name columns was needed for the

GALEX implementation and is was generated by

– create view columns as select * from dbcolumns

HTM Functions– Run skynode-htmInstall.sql and install htm_v2.dll

under C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL\Binn

Implementation

Install SkyNode software under an IIS virtual directory: http://galex.stsci.edu/SkyNode

Edit the Web.Config file and replace the database connection string:

– <add key="SqlConnection.String“ value="Initial Catalog=<dbname>; Data Source=<dbhost>; User ID=<user>; Password=<password>;Connect Timeout=90" />

Implementation: continued

Edit the Web.Config file and change the Info() dictionary information such as

– SurveyName – SurveyArea– MetaTable– Sigma (astrometric precision)– PrimaryTable– RaName – DecName– Location

Implementation: continued

Run the following SQL scripts:– skynode-webSupport.sql

– Creates all the stored procedures used by the SkyNode web service

– skynode-getMatch.sql– Creates the matching stored procedure called by the

XMATCH web method

Finally…

Provide the URL of your SkyNode web service to budavari@pha.jhu.edu:

Important Note

The database user <user> under which the SkyNode stored procedures will be executed, must also have execution privileges on db MASTER for ALL HTM stored and extended procedures.