This tutorial will teach you how to migrate your existing Post Lists from using a local Oracle database to use a CWMS Data API (CDA) connection. This is important as all offices migrate to the cloud and are required to use CDA to connect to the national database. 

Prerequisites

Before beginning the migration, ensure you have a configured login and write privileges for your target CDA connection. If you need to set up a new connection, please refer to the Setting up a CDA Extract Group documentation before proceeding.

Step 1: Create a Copy of the Post XML File

  1. Close HEC-RTS.
  2. Open Windows Explorer and navigate to the post folder inside your watershed (<watershed name>/shared/post).
  3. Locate the XML file for the Post List you need to update (named [post list].xml) and create a copy of it.
  4. Rename the copy to CDA_[original name].xml.
  5. Repeat this process for any additional Post Lists requiring migration.

Step 2: Update the Destination

For Post Lists, the Datastore defines where HEC-RTS posts its data. This configuration sits at the top of the XML file. 

The image below is an example of what the file should look like before any edits.

  1. Open the newly created CDA_[original_name].xml file in a text editor (Notepad++ is highly recommended).
  2. Near the top of the file, locate the <datastore> block.
  3. Change the opening and closing tags from Oracle to RADAR:
    1. Replace <oracle id="Oracle"> with <radar id="RADAR">. 
    2. Replace </oracle> with </radar>.
  4. Delete the old connection lines within that block and replace them with your new authentication source string:
    1. <cwms_authentication_source version="v1" cwms_source_type="cwms_radar" cwms_radar_url="https://cwms-data-test.cwbi.us/cwms-data/" office_id="[YOUR_OFFICE_ID]">[YOUR_OFFICE_ID]_CDA</cwms_authentication_source>
    2. Replace [YOUR_OFFICE_ID] with your specific office code, e.g., MVS.

The image below is an example of what the file should look like after you complete the necessary edits.

Step 3: Rename the Post List

Renaming the list ensures users can easily differentiate between Oracle and CDA sources inside the watershed.

 The image below is an example of what the file should look like before any edits.

  1. Locate the <ts-dataexchange-set> tags further down in the file.
  2. Update the id attribute (id="[original_name]") to include the CDA prefix (e.g., id="CDA_[original_name]").

  3. Update the secondary id attribute (id="[original_name]1") to also include the CDA prefix (e.g., id="CDA_[original_name]1").

    1. This name must have the 1 appended to the end of the text.
  4. Update the datastore references within these same lines to point to RADAR. 
    1. Change the <datastore-ref> from id="Oracle" to id="RADAR" office-id="[YOUR_OFFICE_ID]".
    2. In this example, the Office ID used is MVS.
  5. Update the store rules from oracle-ts-store-rule to dss-ts-store-rule.

The image below is an example of what the file should look like after you complete the necessary edits.

Step 4: Update Timeseries Datastore IDs

You now need to change the references for each timeseries listed in the Post XML file.

Do not use global Find and Replace for this step. Update each entry individually to avoid breaking unintended lines of code.

The image below is an example of what the file should look like before any edits.

  1. Scroll down to the <cwms-timeseries> mappings in the file.
    1. In this example, it starts on line 25 (the Roselle-St Francis timeseries).
  2. Change datastore-id="Oracle" to datastore-id="RADAR".
  3. Repeat this adjustment manually for every remaining timeseries entry in the file.
  4. Save and close the file.

The image below is an example of what the file should look like after you complete the necessary edits.

Step 5: Verify Changes to the Post List

  1. Launch HEC-RTS and open your watershed.
  2. Switch to the Setup tab.
  3. From the Models menu, select Edit Post.
  4. Select your newly created CDA Post List.
  5. Verify that the data location successfully displays as CDA.
  6. Create a test Forecast and run the post to ensure data is posting correctly without errors.

Final Steps

Repeat Steps 2 through 5 individually for each new XML file you created to ensure all data sources and timeseries are properly mapped and tested.