Bug: Unclear use of $HOME/omero

[jamoore]

Add documentation for the use of OMERO_TEMPDIR to choose between $HOME/omero/tmp and /tmp.

Some users may expect /tmp to be used rather than any directory under $HOME which is possibly NFS mounted (or similar).

See: ​http://lists.openmicroscopy.org.uk/pipermail/ome-users/2011-January/002533.html

[jmoore]

This needs to be added to an improved "Environment variables" on the server install page for both server types, and perhaps linked from the FAQ.

[jburel]

Moved from sprint 2011-06-16 (14)

[ajpatterson]

I have added:

http://www.openmicroscopy.org/site/support/faq/omero-clients/i-am-getting-slowdowns-and-timeouts-using-the-clients-what-to-do

Is this ticket about a client or server problem?

[jmoore]

~/omero is used by clients and servers. The server access ~/omero/sessions as well as ~/omero/tmp (i.e. OMERO_TEMPDIR). Clients primarily use ~/omero/log/, but other areas as well.

[jmoore]

Current text:

When performing some operations the clients make use of temporary file storage and log directories. By default these files are stored in the users OMERO temp directory $HOME/omero/tmp and $HOME/omero/log. If your home(~) directory $HOME is stored on a network, possibly NFS mounted (or similar), then these temporary files are being written and read over the network. This can slow access down. To get round this you can define an OMERO_TEMPDIR environment variable pointing to a temporary directory located on the local file system (e.g. /tmp/). The OMERO.server also accesses $HOME/omero/sessions.

A couple of things:

• clients and not the server access ~/omero/sessions
• in the clients, use of ~/omero is hard-coded (This includes the cli). Probably need RFE tickets for all clients to fix this.
• Only the server temp directory usage is configurable. Services like "dropbox" will still access ~/omero/sessions in a hard-coded way.

[ajpatterson]

New version on the three pages:

---

When performing some operations the clients make use of temporary file storage and log directories. By default these files are stored below the users HOME directory in $HOME/omero/tmp, $HOME/omero/log and $HOME/omero/sessions. If your home(~) directory $HOME is stored on a network, possibly NFS mounted (or similar), then these temporary files are being written and read over the network. This can slow access down.

The OMERO.server also access the $HOME/omero/tmp and $HOME/omero/log folders of the user the server process is running as. As the server makes heavier use of these folders than the clients, if the users home(~) is stored on a network the server can be slowed down.

To get round this for the OMERO.server you can define an OMERO_TEMPDIR environment variable pointing to a temporary directory located on the local file system (e.g. /tmp/).

[ajpatterson]

Chris please close if correct.