Does anybody have a snowstorm installation available to be queried with the API?

Hi Anibal,

As Jon points out, the SI Snowstorm behind the browser has some limitations to prevent excessive workload. As discussed before in this forum, for intensive usage the best option is to have a dedicated Snowstorm installation, locally installed. Or in the cloud.

I have sent you (by direct message on LinkedIn) the URL to access one of our cloud snowstorm servers that has the Canadian Edition already installed. In that way, you can continue experimenting until a more definitive setup is in place.

Getting familiar with Snowstorm and installing it locally (or using Docker, or a remote virtual machine) is highly recommended for any developer working on the field. Beyond the developer courses available through the SI e-learning platform, you can also find the most recent developer training resources used in SI developer workshops at confluence.ihtsdotools.org/display/DEV/Developer+Training
If there is interest, Jon or Susan Roy can probably assist Infoway in setting up a special event for Canadian stakeholders interested in the subject.

Best regards,
Guillermo

Hi Anibal,

Thank you for your post.

If your IP address was blocked by SNOMED International, it could be because the load your queries were placing on their server are detrimental to other users of the SNOMED International Browser. The response you received seems to imply that.

Based on your requirements, it sounds like setting up your own instance of Snowstorm may be the way to go. Snowstorm is very easy to setup and you don't need a lot of powerful hardware. An old laptop with 8 GB of memory would be sufficient to get you started. Basically it can be done in under an hour on a computer running Windows, macOS or Linux.

While you are waiting for your procurement process to complete, you might want to consider setting up a temporary instance which has local network access only and then you don't need to worry as much about security.

I hope this helps.

Jon

Hi all,

I now have two scripts that we're using to hit a snowstorm terminology server and automate a lot of our actions. Before these scripts our staff would go to the SNOMED CT browser Canadian Edition and do individual searches. The process was extremely tedious and error prone.

With the new scripts the process is fully automated and executes in seconds.

The issue is that I got blocked from using the snowstorm terminology server publicly available from SNOMED CT International (browser.snomedtools.org/snowstorm/snomed-ct/browser/MAIN/SNOMEDCT-CA/2021-09-30/concepts/xxxxx). I'm getting a message stating:

Your Access to this Service has been Blocked
Your IP address has been blocked due to our Rate Limiting or Acceptable Usage Policy.

If you feel you have been sent here in error please contact us with your IP address so we can remove the ban.

We're trying to get our own snowstorm installation going, but it's taking some time to procure the hardware and access controls. Is there anybody who has an instance available that I could use temporarily while we get our instance going?

Wouldn't it be a good idea for CHI to provide one for Canadian use rather with the latest version of the Canadian Edition loaded, rather than having each individual province duplicating the same effort?

Thanks.