I'd like to use Geoserver to serve forecast data. My forecasts are in Netcdf files, one file per 12 hours, from few years period of time. I want to expose Netcdf files download and also run WMS and CSW services.
For now I'm trying GUI actions, like adding workspace, store and layer from Netcdf files. I know I could also add files using REST requests.
How should be data structured in Geoserver terms, what would be my store and layer? As for now, single store is made from single Netcdf file. Then single layer I create is one of the Netcdf variables. Now, in layer preview, single layer seems to have only 1 time.
And then, should another Netcdf file from another time be another store, with this file as data source?
How should I name the layers then? Default layer naming suggests names derived from Netcdf variable, so I'd have to name it like i.e.
workspace_name:VARIABLE_YYYYMMDDHH
to avoid collision with another variable layer from different Netcdf.
Or is there some other way, maybe is it possible to add multiple Netcdf files to single store, or access variables from different files in single layer?
It sounds like you need a time series enabled image mosaic, fortunately GeoServer provides exactly that module. It also provides a tutorial on how to set it up.
You should also check out the section on NetCDF files if you have not already done so.