Understanding OpenVMS System Management Tools

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HP OpenVMS System Manager's Manual, Volume 1:...

Using OpenVMS System Management Utilities and...

Logging In to the SYSTEM Account

Understanding OpenVMS System Management Tools

HP supplies the following software tools to monitor and control system operations and resources:

Tool For More Information

OpenVMS Management Station
OpenVMS Management Station

DIGITAL Command Language (DCL) commands; for example, COPY and MOUNT
DCL Commands

System messages
System Messages

Command procedures; for example, AUTOGEN.COM and STARTUP.COM
DCL Command Procedures

System management utilities; for example, the Authorize utility (AUTHORIZE) and the Backup utility (BACKUP)
System Management Utilities

MGRMENU.COM command procedure
MGRMENU.COM Command Procedure

OPCOM
Using OPCOM to Communicate with System Users

Tool	For More Information
OpenVMS Management Station	OpenVMS Management Station
DIGITAL Command Language (DCL) commands; for example, COPY and MOUNT	DCL Commands
System messages	System Messages
Command procedures; for example, AUTOGEN.COM and STARTUP.COM	DCL Command Procedures
System management utilities; for example, the Authorize utility (AUTHORIZE) and the Backup utility (BACKUP)	System Management Utilities
MGRMENU.COM command procedure	MGRMENU.COM Command Procedure
OPCOM	Using OPCOM to Communicate with System Users

OpenVMS Management Station

The OpenVMS Management Station is a powerful, Microsoft® Windows® based management tool for system managers and others who perform account management tasks on OpenVMS systems. OpenVMS Management Station software provides a comprehensive user interface to OpenVMS account management across multiple systems. You can manage multiple systems from a single source.

OpenVMS Management Station software coexists with all of the existing OpenVMS system management utilities. Sample OpenVMS Management Station Screen shows a sample OpenVMS Management Station screen.

Figure 1 Sample OpenVMS Management Station Screen

OpenVMS Management Station addresses the problem of having to use multiple utilities to manage accounts. For example, creating an account usually involves the following steps:

Add a UAF entry

Grant rights identifiers

Create a directory

Create disk quotas

Grant network proxies

These steps require that you use DCL, the Authorize utility, and the DISKQUOTA component of the SYSMAN utility. OpenVMS Management Station provides an easy-to-use interface to this process.

The OpenVMS Management Station consists of two components:

The client. This is Microsoft Windows based software that you install on a PC and use to perform management operations.

The server. This software must be installed on all OpenVMS systems to be managed. You do not interact directly with the server, the client does that.

Documentation for the OpenVMS Management Station

The Microsoft Windows help files completely describe features, functions, instructions, and examples of using the OpenVMS Management Station. The OpenVMS Management Station Overview and Release Notes document provides an overview of OpenVMS Management Station and describes how to get started using the software.

Information about installing the OpenVMS Management Station on your Alpha or VAX computer and your PC is located in the following manuals:

OpenVMS Alpha Upgrade and Installation Manual

OpenVMS VAX Upgrade and Installation Manual

Managing Resources

OpenVMS Management Station allows you to organize the systems you need to manage in ways that are meaningful to you and your environment, and allows you to manage user accounts on those systems.

You can easily manage user accounts across multiple OpenVMS systems, depending on your needs. The systems might be some of the clusters in a network, all of the systems on one floor of a building, a mix of clusters and nonclustered nodes, and so forth.

You can use OpenVMS Management Station to manage OpenVMS user accounts in a convenient, easy manner. For example, when creating an account on multiple systems, OpenVMS Management Station can add a user authorization file (UAF) entry, grant rights identifiers, create an OpenVMS directory, set a disk quota, set up OpenVMS Mail characteristics, and so forth, for each instance of the account.

OpenVMS Management Station manages the following OpenVMS resources:

The SYSUAF.DAT user authorization file

The RIGHTSLIST.DAT user rights file

The network proxy database

Account login-directory trees

User account disk quotas

The OpenVMS Mail VMSMAIL_PROFILE.DATA file

Managing Operations

The OpenVMS Management Station supports the following account management operations:

Creating user accounts

Modifying user accounts (any aspect)

Deleting user accounts

Renaming user accounts

Displaying user account attributes

DCL Commands

You perform many system management tasks by entering DCL (DIGITAL Command Language) commands. For example, enter the DCL command MOUNT to make disks and tapes available to the system. Most of the DCL commands used by system managers require special privileges (such as OPER privilege).

The general format of a DCL command is as follows:command-name[/qualifier[,...]] [parameter[,...]] [/qualifier[,...]]

Because a command can be continued on more than one line, the term command string is used to define the entire command. A command string is the complete specification of a command, including the command name, command qualifiers, parameters, and parameter qualifiers.

For complete descriptions of each DCL command, refer to online DCL help or the HP OpenVMS DCL Dictionary. If you are not familiar with DCL command syntax, refer to the OpenVMS User's Manual.

System Messages

When you enter commands in DCL or in utilities, the system returns messages to help you understand the result of each command. System messages can indicate the following information:

Successful completion of a command

Information about the effect of the command

Warning about the effect of the command

Failure to successfully complete the command

At times, you might need to interpret a system message, for example, to find out how to recover from a warning or failure. The Help Message utility allows you and system users to quickly access online descriptions of system messages from the DCL prompt.

For more information about the Help Message utility, refer to the OpenVMS System Messages: Companion Guide for Help Message Users . In addition, the OpenVMS System Messages and Recovery Procedures Reference Manual provides detailed descriptions of system messages.

DCL Command Procedures

You can use command procedures to efficiently perform routine tasks. A command procedure is a file containing DCL commands and, optionally, data used by those DCL commands. When you execute a command procedure, the system reads the file and executes the commands it contains. This eliminates the need for you to enter each command interactively. You can create command procedures to automate some of the routine system management tasks specific to your site.

A simple command procedure can contain a sequence of commands that you use frequently. For example, you could include the following commands in a command procedure called GO_WORK.COM:

$ SET DEFAULT [PERRY.WORK]
$ DIRECTORY
$ EXIT

When you execute this command procedure with the command @GO_WORK, you set your default directory to [PERRY.WORK] and display a list of files in that directory.

With complex command procedures, you can use DCL instead of a high-level programming language. For more information about creating command procedures, refer to the OpenVMS User's Manual.

Executing Command Procedures in Batch Mode

You can execute command procedures in batch mode by submitting the procedure to a batch queue. When resources are available, the system creates a batch process to execute the commands in the procedure. Usually, processes running in batch mode execute at a lower process priority to avoid competing with interactive users for system resources.

You might execute a command procedure in batch mode for the following reasons:

To automate a task

To process work at a lower scheduling priority, so as not to compete with interactive users for system resources

To perform a task during off hours, such as at night or on weekends

To allow an operation to continue without having a terminal logged in, thereby increasing the security of the system

A batch-oriented command procedure can include a command to resubmit itself to a batch queue, thereby repetitively performing the task with no user intervention. For example, you might create a batch-oriented command procedure to run the Analyze/Disk_Structure utility (ANALYZE/DISK_STRUCTURE) to report disk errors. If you include a command to resubmit the procedure to a batch queue, the procedure will automatically execute when scheduled, unless errors cause the procedure to fail. The following example is a simple command procedure, named SYSTEM-DAILY.COM:

$ SET NOON
$! Resubmit this procedure to run again tomorrow. 
$!
$ SUBMIT/KEEP/NOPRINT/QUEUE=SYS$BATCH/AFTER="TOMORROW+1:00"/USER=SYSTEM - 
  SYS$MANAGER:SYSTEM-DAILY.COM;
$!
$! Purge the log files
$ PURGE/KEEP=7 SYS$MANAGER:SYSTEM-DAILY.LOG
$!
$! Analyze public disks
$! 
$ ANALYZE/DISK/LIST=SYS$MANAGER:WORK1.LIS; WORK1:
$ ANALYZE/DISK/LIST=SYS$MANAGER:WORK2.LIS; WORK2:
$!
$! Print listings
$!
$ PRINT/QUEUE=SYS$PRINT SYS$MANAGER:WORK1.LIS;,SYS$MANAGER:WORK2.LIS;
$ EXIT

Using HP-Supplied Command Procedures for System Management

HP provides several command procedures for managing a system. System Management Command Procedures lists some commonly used command procedures.

Table 1 System Management Command Procedures
Command Procedure Function

SYS$SYSTEM:STARTUP.COM
The system uses this command procedure to automatically perform certain tasks that are required to start up an OpenVMS system. This procedure is executed when the system boots. Do not modify this command procedure.

SYS$STARTUP:SYSTARTUP_VMS.COM
STARTUP.COM executes this procedure when the system boots. Add commands to this procedure to perform site-specific tasks each time the system boots.

SYS$SYSTEM:SHUTDOWN.COM
Use to shut down the system in an orderly fashion.

SYS$UPDATE:AUTOGEN.COM
Use to automatically set system parameters and page, swap, and dump file sizes to values appropriate for the system configuration and work load.

SYS$UPDATE:VMSINSTAL.COM
Use to install software on a running system.

**Table 1** **System Management Command Procedures**
Command Procedure	Function
SYS$SYSTEM:STARTUP.COM	The system uses this command procedure to automatically perform certain tasks that are required to start up an OpenVMS system. This procedure is executed when the system boots. Do not modify this command procedure.
SYS$STARTUP:SYSTARTUP_VMS.COM	STARTUP.COM executes this procedure when the system boots. Add commands to this procedure to perform site-specific tasks each time the system boots.
SYS$SYSTEM:SHUTDOWN.COM	Use to shut down the system in an orderly fashion.
SYS$UPDATE:AUTOGEN.COM	Use to automatically set system parameters and page, swap, and dump file sizes to values appropriate for the system configuration and work load.
SYS$UPDATE:VMSINSTAL.COM	Use to install software on a running system.

System Management Utilities

With the operating system, HP supplies a number of system management utilities to help perform system management tasks. A system management utility is a program that performs a set of related operations. For example, the Mount utility (MOUNT) makes disks and tapes available to the system, and the Backup utility (BACKUP) saves and restores files.

Most system management utilities require special privileges. Generally, you run these utilities from the SYSTEM account, which has all privileges by default. Logging In to the SYSTEM Account describes logging in to the SYSTEM account.

You invoke some utilities using the following command format:RUN SYS$SYSTEM:utility_name

To invoke other utilities, such as MOUNT and ANALYZE/DISK_STRUCTURE, enter a DCL command. For example:

$ ANALYZE/DISK_STRUCTURE

System Management Utilities and Tools lists the system management utilities and their purposes. This manual describes how to use most of these utilities. For detailed information about utility commands and qualifiers, refer to the HP OpenVMS System Management Utilities Reference Manual .

Table 2 System Management Utilities and Tools
Utility Purpose

Accounting utility (ACCOUNTING)
To produce reports of resource use.

ACL editor (access control list editor)
To create and maintain ACLs.

Analyze/Disk_Structure utility (ANALYZE/DISK_STRUCTURE)
To check the validity of Files-11 Structure Levels 1, 2, and 5 disk volumes, and to report errors and inconsistencies. Also used to repair these inconsistencies.

Audit Analysis utility (ANALYZE/AUDIT)
To produce reports and summaries of security events from the system security audit log file. Use this utility to interpret the large amounts of auditing information that the system might generate.

Authorize utility (AUTHORIZE)
To add and modify records in the existing user authorization and network authorization files, or to create new files. Also used to add and modify records in the rights database.

Backup utility (BACKUP)
To copy or save files and disk volumes. Also used to restore saved files and volumes.

Bad Block Locator utility (BAD)
To analyze block-addressable devices and record the location of blocks that cannot reliably store data.

Crash Logg Utility Extractor (CLUE)¹
On VAX systems, to obtain information about crash dumps.

On Alpha systems, some commands in the System Dump Analyzer facility (SDA) contain CLUE functionality.²

DECevent Event Management utility
To perform a bit-to-text translation of a binary error log file. Also used to do an analysis.

Error Log Viewer utility (ELV)
To perform a bit-to-text translation of a binary error log file (newest tool).

Error Log Report Formatter (ERF)
To perform a bit-to-text translation of a binary error log file (oldest tool).

Exchange utility (EXCHANGE)
To transfer data to and from mass storage volumes that are written in formats other than standard formats recognized by the operating system.

Help Message utility (MSGHLP)
To quickly access information about system messages returned by DCL commands.

Install utility (INSTALL)
To improve performance or enhance privileges of images.

LAT Control Program utility (LATCP)
To set up and control the LAT software on OpenVMS host systems. LAT software allows you to connect terminals and printers to multiple remote systems.

Local Area Disk Control Program utility (LADCP)
On VAX systems, to set up and control the local area disk (LAD) software on OpenVMS host systems. Use LAD software with InfoServer systems.

Log Manager Control Program utility (LMCP)
To create and manage the transaction logs used by DECdtm services.

Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension utility (MIME)
To read and compose MIME-encoded mail messages on OpenVMS system.

Monitor utility (MONITOR)
To monitor systemwide performance.

Mount utility (MOUNT)
To make a disk or magnetic tape volume available for processing.

Network Control Program (NCP)
To set up, control, monitor, and test a DECnet network.

Network Control Language (NCL)
To set up, control, monitor, and test a DECnet-Plus network.

Operator Communication Manager (OPCOM) tool
To communicate with system users.

System Generation utility (SYSGEN)
To create and install page, swap, and dump files and to manage system parameters.

On VAX systems, to load and connect device drivers.

System Management utility (SYSMAN)
To centralize system management. Allows you to perform system management tasks simultaneously on one or more nodes.

On Alpha systems, to load and connect device drivers.

TCP/IP Services management control interfaces
To configure and manage TCP/IP Services.

**Table 2** **System Management Utilities and Tools**
Utility	Purpose
Accounting utility (ACCOUNTING)	To produce reports of resource use.
ACL editor (access control list editor)	To create and maintain ACLs.
Analyze/Disk_Structure utility (ANALYZE/DISK_STRUCTURE)	To check the validity of Files-11 Structure Levels 1, 2, and 5 disk volumes, and to report errors and inconsistencies. Also used to repair these inconsistencies.
Audit Analysis utility (ANALYZE/AUDIT)	To produce reports and summaries of security events from the system security audit log file. Use this utility to interpret the large amounts of auditing information that the system might generate.
Authorize utility (AUTHORIZE)	To add and modify records in the existing user authorization and network authorization files, or to create new files. Also used to add and modify records in the rights database.
Backup utility (BACKUP)	To copy or save files and disk volumes. Also used to restore saved files and volumes.
Bad Block Locator utility (BAD)	To analyze block-addressable devices and record the location of blocks that cannot reliably store data.
Crash Logg Utility Extractor (CLUE)¹	On VAX systems, to obtain information about crash dumps. On Alpha systems, some commands in the System Dump Analyzer facility (SDA) contain CLUE functionality.²
DECevent Event Management utility	To perform a bit-to-text translation of a binary error log file. Also used to do an analysis.
Error Log Viewer utility (ELV)	To perform a bit-to-text translation of a binary error log file (newest tool).
Error Log Report Formatter (ERF)	To perform a bit-to-text translation of a binary error log file (oldest tool).
Exchange utility (EXCHANGE)	To transfer data to and from mass storage volumes that are written in formats other than standard formats recognized by the operating system.
Help Message utility (MSGHLP)	To quickly access information about system messages returned by DCL commands.
Install utility (INSTALL)	To improve performance or enhance privileges of images.
LAT Control Program utility (LATCP)	To set up and control the LAT software on OpenVMS host systems. LAT software allows you to connect terminals and printers to multiple remote systems.
Local Area Disk Control Program utility (LADCP)	On VAX systems, to set up and control the local area disk (LAD) software on OpenVMS host systems. Use LAD software with InfoServer systems.
Log Manager Control Program utility (LMCP)	To create and manage the transaction logs used by DECdtm services.
Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension utility (MIME)	To read and compose MIME-encoded mail messages on OpenVMS system.
Monitor utility (MONITOR)	To monitor systemwide performance.
Mount utility (MOUNT)	To make a disk or magnetic tape volume available for processing.
Network Control Program (NCP)	To set up, control, monitor, and test a DECnet network.
Network Control Language (NCL)	To set up, control, monitor, and test a DECnet-Plus network.
Operator Communication Manager (OPCOM) tool	To communicate with system users.
System Generation utility (SYSGEN)	To create and install page, swap, and dump files and to manage system parameters. On VAX systems, to load and connect device drivers.
System Management utility (SYSMAN)	To centralize system management. Allows you to perform system management tasks simultaneously on one or more nodes. On Alpha systems, to load and connect device drivers.
TCP/IP Services management control interfaces	To configure and manage TCP/IP Services.

This manual does not describe the following utilities in detail:

Utility For More Information

Bad Block Locator utility (BAD)
OpenVMS Bad Block Locator Utility Manual , Online help

Exchange utility (EXCHANGE)
OpenVMS Exchange Utility Manual , Online help

LASTCP and LADCP utilities
InfoServer Client for OpenVMS LASTCP and LADCP Utilities Manual

Network Control Program utility (NCP)
DECnet for OpenVMS Network Management Utilities , Online help

Network Control Language utility (NCL)
DECnet-Plus Network Control Language Reference

TCP/IP Services management control interfaces
HP TCP/IP Services for OpenVMS Management

Utility	For More Information
Bad Block Locator utility (BAD)	OpenVMS Bad Block Locator Utility Manual , Online help
Exchange utility (EXCHANGE)	OpenVMS Exchange Utility Manual , Online help
LASTCP and LADCP utilities	InfoServer Client for OpenVMS LASTCP and LADCP Utilities Manual
Network Control Program utility (NCP)	DECnet for OpenVMS Network Management Utilities , Online help
Network Control Language utility (NCL)	DECnet-Plus Network Control Language Reference
TCP/IP Services management control interfaces	HP TCP/IP Services for OpenVMS Management

MGRMENU.COM Command Procedure

To help you perform basic system management tasks, HP provides a command procedure named SYS$EXAMPLES:MGRMENU.COM. This procedure displays a menu that you can use to perform the following tasks:

Add a user account

Build a standalone BACKUP kit

Shut down your system

You can use this command procedure as is, or modify it to serve your own site-specific needs. If you modify this procedure, HP recommends you first copy the procedure to another directory (for example, SYS$MANAGER), so that an original version of MGRMENU.COM is always available in the SYS$EXAMPLES directory.

To see and use the menu, enter the following command:

$ @SYS$EXAMPLES:MGRMENU

Footnotes

1 VAX specific

2 Alpha specific

( Number takes you back )

Logging In to the SYSTEM Account