DNTASK(1)DNTASK(1)NAMEdntask - Execute VMS command procedures
SYNOPSISdntask [options] command-procedure
Options:
[-biVh] [-t timeout]
DESCRIPTIONdntask runs command procedures on a remote VMS system.
It takes advantage of the ability of the TASK object in DECnet to exe‐
cute an arbitrary command procedure located in the users' login direc‐
tory. The remote command procedure should output to SYS$NET rather than
SYS$OUTPUT and (if interactive) read it's input also from SYS$NET.
The VMS equivalent of the (non-interactive version) command would be
TYPE node::"TASK=command-procedure"
For some example command procedures see the tasks directory of the
source distribution. show_system.com is a non-interactive task that
simply displays the output of the VMS "SHOW SYSTEM" command on standard
output. interactive.com is an interactive task that allows you to
enter DCL commands to be executed on the host VMS system. Be careful
which commands you enter because they will expect input to come from
the network connection, for instance programs that do screen orientated
input or output will almost certainly not work.
Task names can be up to 16 characters in length because that's the
limit on DECnet object names.
OPTIONS-b Send the output in binary mode. By default the output from the
DECnet task is assumed to be records. This option sends the data
"as is" so you can put commands like BACKUP in the task and
backup to your Linux box.
-i Interact with the command procedure. The command procedure must
be written to be interactive by reading from and writing to
SYS$NET. Specifying -i for a non-interactive command procedure
will cause dntask to time-out waiting for input. Not specifying
-i for an interactive command procedure will cause it to exit
prematurely at the VMS end.
-t timeout
Specifies the timeout in seconds for interactive command proce‐
dures. If no input has been received from either standard input
or the VMS end in this time then dntask will exit. The default
is 60 seconds. If the value 0 is given then dntask will wait
forever (or until you kill it).
-T connect timeout
Specifies the maximum amount of time the command will wait to
establish a connection with the remote node. a 0 here will cause
it to wait forever. The default is 60 seconds
-h -? Displays help for using the command.
-V Show the version of the tools package that dntask comes from.
NOTES
The command procedure that you write MUST ALWAYS write something to
SYS$NET or you will get a "connection refused" message. This is a limi‐
tation with DECnet objects.
eg. If you write a task to start a remote DECterm it would look some‐
thing like this:
$ remnode=f$element(0, ":", "''f$trnlnm("sys$rem_node")'")
$ set display/create/node='remnode'
$ create/term/detach
$ def/nolog sys$output sys$net
$ write sys$output "DECterm started on ''remnode'"
$ exit
The "write" command near the end is essential.
EXAMPLESdntask 'myvax::show_system'
dndir -i 'tramp"christine pjc123"::interactive'
dndir -i 'tramp"christine -"::interactive'
Specifying "-" in the password field will prompt for the password.
SEE ALSOdntype(1), dndir(1), dncopy(1), dndel(1)DECnet utilities September 25 1998 DNTASK(1)
