SYNOP (and some RAOB) URL problems in WXSIMATE

I’m aware that recently, seemingly all of WXSIMATE’s synoptic data sources (I don’t use SYNOP myself, preferring METAR) have quit working. The FSU links are affected by their decision to require (free) registration. I haven’t tried registering yet. Have any of you tried? And have the links changed?

The one I was working on tonight is the COD (digatmos) one. The URL is now https instead of just http, and I tried hard-coding that change, but it still gives me a “cannot establish connection with the secure server channel SSL/TLS”, or something like that. This isn’t a field of expertise for me. Doers anyone have any ideas or information?

Thanks!

Tom

Hi Tom.
The fix should be relatively simple.
WXSIMATE is requesting the data using TLSv1 but the website is wanting TLSv1.2.
Your assembler should have a process for the upgrade of the TLS procedure.

The actual error received by the app is Fatal alert, Handshake Failure on the TLSv1 protocol.

The process for redirecting to https is working ok. WXSIMATE is being redirected to https:\ but is then failing due to the less secure TLSv1 handshake.

Hope this gets you in the right direction.

Rob

Thanks, Rob! I tried it on a newer computer, with Net Framework 4.6.2 already installed, and it supports TLS 1.2, and worked fine. So, I think it’s just amatter of telling users to download and install the latest Net Framework upgrade. Easy enough! :slight_smile:

Tried to install 4.6.2 but it would not let me as I have 4.7 installed.
Will look at a workaround solution
Rob

Hmmm … I would have thought that 4.7 would work if 4.6.2 did! Let me know what you find. Just to confirm, what URL were you trying?

Tom

Hi Tom.
the url in wxsimate is http://weather.cod.edu/digatmos/syn/.syn

I run wxsimate while sniffing the network with wireshark to see what packets are being sent and received.
using a brower on the address has always worked. m1 has 4.7 and m2 has 4.8 both give the same result from winsimate.

Rob

It appears to default to https now, maybe you need to use that format?

correct.
But can you tell me how to set the address in wxsimate ??
as this is currently not an option.

otherwise, I would be using https://rawdata.eoas.fsu.edu/syn/

Rob

Really strange … I had tried the COD synoptic data last night, and it worked, but tonight, it’s not! When I try the address directly in the browser window, it works, even if I use http instead of https, so I think that part redirects. I’m researching possible solutions, and I’ll post here when I figure something out!

Update: might have a simple solution … a proxy server - same one Sam Bohler set up for the GFS and WXSIM-Lite data. This might be an easy way to head off similar problems in the future as more sites go secure. Hoping to have a fix soon! :slight_smile:

Tom

A new WXSIMATE to try out (just the .exe, not an installer is at

www.wxsim.com/wxsimate.exe

This offers at least one verified (just now!) URL for every data type, and the obsolete ones have been omitted.

Let me know how it goes!

Tom

ran without error.
will keep it in situ for today’s runs and let you know after 1800 gmt+10

Rob

working great.