RIC Installation and Configuration | Remote Instrument Control (RIC)

Running RIC: User Tasks

The Remote Instrument Control (RIC) server is installed on eol-ric.ucar.edu. In order to connect to it via the locally-installed RIC client (RIC Proxy), the user must have current certificates for RIC and for the instruments you are connecting to RIC. Once the RIC Proxy is installed on a user’s computer, they can connect to their instrument using RIC and control the instrument remotely.

Install the RIC proxy on your (the users) computer

Download RIC proxy and follow the installation instructions.

Get a copy of the latest RIC certification from an SE/ADMIN

You will need a copy of the RIC certification file (eol-ric.crt) which should be placed into .ric/Certs in your home dir. (This dir is created automatically when installing on a Window’s machine. Use “ls -a” to see it.)

In addition, you will need the .key and .crt files for your instrument (<inst>.crt, <inst>.key). An SE or ADMIN can obtain these from .ric/Certs on eol-ric.

NOTE: <inst> is the name of your instrument: GNI, AVAPS, etc

Configure your .ini files

Change the last line of .ric/Proxy.ini to point to a file with the name of your instrument and change the ProxyID near the top of the file to the string that you are using to start your UDP packets

> ProxyID=<inst>
> InstrumentFile=<inst>.ini

Rename SAMPLEINST.ini in .ric/Instruments to the filename created above

> mv SAMPLEINST.ini <inst>.ini

Edit the file you just moved and change InstName to the name of your instrument

> InstName=<inst>

Consult this sample .ini file to see the format: AWAS.ini

At this point, you should have:

homedir/.ric/  <- where homedir is /Users/<username> on a mac, or C:\Users\<username> on Windows
     Proxy.ini
     Certs/
         eol-ric.crt
         <inst>.crt
         <inst>.key
     Instruments/
         <inst>.ini

Connect to your instrument

From the user computer, launch RIC from the desktop icon
Click connect. If RIC doesn’t stay connected, confirm that your certs aren’t corrupted:
```
> openssl x509 -text -in <file>.crt
```
should return begin and end dates that include today, and a subject line like:
```
Subject: C=US, ST=Colorado, O=University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, CN=eol-ric.ucar.edu
```
Once connected, start the user’s instrument client on the user’s computer.