From: MERC::"uunet!CRVAX.SRI.COM!RELAY-INFO-VAX" 12-SEP-1992 04:12:41.97 To: info-vax@kl.sri.com CC: Subj: Operations Manual (ascii) 2/3 SET PROTECTION=(G:RWED, W:RE) REPORT.DIR Now let's assume that she changes her mind and wants to take away all access from the WORLD, and give only Read and Execute to the GROUP: SET PROTECTION=(G:RE, W) REPORT.DIR The SYSTEM and OWNER fields are manipulated the same way. You can change who has access to any file or directory that you create. An important note about the SYSTEM field: Leave it alone. Anyone who has SYSTEM privs can access your files whether you want them to or not. And there are certain files (such as MAIL files) that can get messed up if you change this field. In addition to being able to protect individual files, general protections also play an important role in controlling access to your directory and subdirectories. Generally speaking, a user must have (at least) execute access to you main directory (and to any intervening subdirectories) to be able to access any file. Note, however, that with only execute access, other users won't be able to learn the names of your files (a DIR won't work) Therefore, if you want people to be able to access a particular file, you'll need to provide them with the specific file names they'll need since they won't be able to search your directory themselves. If you DO want to allow other users to be able to read your directory, put EXECUTE and READ protections on your directory. They can then do a directory of your account just as they'd do a directory of their own area. Note, also, that users MUST have READ access to your directory to be able to do a "wildcard" copy of files from your account. Don't worry too much about this. When giving others access to your files, it's pretty much standard to give them both EXECUTE and READ. Lastly, NEVER give WORLD or GROUP either WRITE or DELETE access to ANY directory!! -- File Security Specific File Permissions: While general file protections work fine most of the time, there are some instances where you need to grant special access privileges to only one user (or a group of users). In such cases, you'll want to use Access Control Lists (ACLs) instead of general file protection. While ACLs allow a bewildering array of attributes to be established for a given file, the most common ACL-related commands a user would use are shown below: $ DIR/ACL MYFILE.TXT This will display MYFILE.TXT's current Access Control Lists (if any) $ SET ACL/ACL=(ID=TWJELKS,ACC=R) MYFILE.TXT This will give TWJELKS "R"ead permission to MYFILE.TXT $ SET ACL/ACL=(ID=BSING,ACC=CONTROL) MYFILE.TXT This will give BSING all the access enjoyed by the actual file owner $ SET ACL/ACL=(ID=GRCREWS,ACC=NONE) MYFILE.TXT This eliminates any access that GRCREWS would have had to MYFILE.TXT $ SET ACL/ACL=(ID=[DAC,*],ACC=R) MYFILE.TXT This will give all members of the DAC group (Data Control) "R"ead access to MYFILE.TXT $ SET ACL/DEL MYFILE.TXT This will remove all ACLs except those with the PROTECTED option NOTE: ACC=NONE may not eliminate access by a given person to a particular file; some users have multiple accounts and you may miss one or more of their IDs. ACLs that pertain to a particular individual should be put ahead of more general ACLs since the first ACL that's matched terminates ACL evaluation. In the above examples, if the GRCREWS ACL were give AFTER the general DAC ACL, GRCREWS would still have access to the file since that account is a member of the DAC (Data Control) group. Overuse of ACLs impact system performance. -- Monitoring & Balancing the System What to do For a System SlowDown At times users may complain that the system is responding more slowly than usual. A number of problems could cause this - for example, a poorly tuned system, heavy use of certain programs, or a low amount of available disk space. It is the system manager's responsibility to correct this type of problem. The following commands can be useful in narrowing down what is causing the problem: $ SHOW SYSTEM $ SHOW DEVICES/MOUNTED $ SHOW DEVICES/FULL $ SHOW MEMORY $ SHOW PROCESS/CONTINUOUS For looking at a suspect job. $ MONITOR SYSTEM This will watch the system as a whole. Use CTRL/Z to quit. $ MONITOR PROC/TOPC This will watch the CPU loading. Use CTRL/Z to quit. If you suspect a particular user/job is doing something out of the ordinary and wish to monitor what they're doing, do the following: (1) Locate the PID of the job you want to monitor with: $ SH USERS/FULL Use to display current users with PID #s. Assuming that the PID you with to monitor is 21003A24 (just an example), monitor that job with: $ SH PROC/CONT/ID=21003A24 Continuously monitors an individual job. Use CTRL/Z to quit. If the system response is too slow and you can't find the problem, the following may be done to speed things up. $ SET LOGINS/INTERACTIVE Use to display the current interactive login limit. $ SET LOGINS/INTERACTIVE=n Use to set the interactive login limit to a lower number. Request that some people log off. What to do If The System is Hung If the system is hung, a problem has completely stopped the system but does not make the system fail (the system does not respond to DCL commands or let users log in, but has not printed a crash message on the console). In this instance, it may be necessary to force a system failure. Check several different terminals to make sure that the system is hung before forcing a system failure. If the system is part of a cluster, check to see if all members of the cluster have failed. If some members of the cluster are still functioning, it may be possible to use them to check further on what the status of the cluster, network, are. In particular, you can issue a SET HOST command to attempt to log into the unresponsive system. If the system is hung, it is important to force a system failure in a way that saves information. For this reason, turning the power off and on again should be a last resort. For instructions on forcing an emergency failure, refer to the section "Emergency Crash" or "Emergency Shutdown" in the VMS Installation and Operations manual for the processor in question. The normal method for forcing a system failure is the following: y Press CTRL/P. y At the >>> prompt, enter the command @CRASH. Again, make sure that the system is actually hung before entering these commands. After the system is down, refer to the ShutDown and StartUp Procedures in this manual to make sure the components of the system are all on-line and to re-start the system. -- Monitoring & Balancing the System Miscelanious Monitoring Commands Below are several commands useful for displaying certain aspects of the system. These commands are covered briefly here because they are likely to be used a great deal. For further information on any of these commands, see either the DCL Dictionary or use the on-line HELP facility. SHOW CPU/ALL Displays the current state of the processors in a VMS multiprocessing system. SHOW DEFAULT Displays the current default device and directory names. These defaults are applied whenever you omit a device and/or directory name from a file specification. SHOW DEVICE/FULL device-name Gives specific information about a device. If the device-name isn't specified, all devices will be displayed. SHOW DEVICES/MOUNTED Displays all devices that currently have volumes mounted on them. All volumes should usually always be mounted. SHOW ENTRY/FULL Used to display all information available about jobs. If an entry# is specified after the command, it will only display information on that entry. Displays the following information for each job: job name, user name, entry number, job status, full file specification associated with each job, date and time of submission, settings specified for the job, queue name, and queue type. The /FULL qualifier overrides the default brief listing format. SHOW ERROR Displays the error count for all devices with error counts greater than 0. SHOW MAGTAPE Displays the current characteristics and status of a specified magnetic tape device. SHOW NETWORK Displays the addresses and names of all nodes that are currently accessible to the local node. The SHOW NETWORK command also displays link and cost relationships between the local node and other nodes in the network. SHOW PROCESS Displays information about a process and subprocesses. If no qualifier is entered, only a basic subset of information is displayed: the time, process terminal, user name and UIC, node name, process name and process identification, priority, default directory, and allocated devices. -- Monitoring & Balancing the System Miscellaneous Monitoring Commands SHOW PROCESS/CONTINUOUS/ID=pid Displays continuously updated information about a local process in a VAXcluster environment. The PID is the ID of the process you want to display. It can be obtained with a SHOW USERS command. You may not use the /CONTINUOS qualifier to display information about a process on another node in a VAXcluster environment. While the continuous display is running, you can press the V key to display a map of the pages in the virtual address space of the process. Each character displayed in the map represents the type of page. If the current program counter (PC) is in the page, the page type is indicated by an at (@) sign. Pages locked in the working set are indicated by the letter L. Global pages are indicated by the letter G. Other valid pages in the working set are indicated by an asterisk (*). To terminate the continuous display, press the E key. To return to the original display, press the spacebar. SHOW QUEUE Displays information about queues and jobs that are currently in queues. Can be used to supplement the "Q" Hotkey to get specific and exact information when needed. SHOW QUEUE/FORM Displays form names and numbers that are available on queues. SHOW QUOTA Displays the current disk quota that is authorized for a specific user on a specific disk. This display includes a calculation of the amount of space available and the amount of overdraft that is permitted. SHOW SYSTEM Gives a general overview of the processes on the system. Displays status information about current processes: the time, process name and identification, processing state, priority, total process I/O, cumulative processor time used, cumulative page faults, amount of physical memory being used, and type of process. Can be used to as a sort of "super" SHOW USERS. SHOW USERS Shows all interactive processes currently running. Also see the Hotkeys SU and WHO. Adding a node qualifier will display all users on a particular node. For example: SHOW USER/NODE=ADVAX2 will display all users on ADVAX2. -- Displaying & Modifying Queues/Jobs Displaying Print Queues To display the current contents of a print queue, use the following command: SHOW/QUEUE/ALL queue_name Where queue_name is the name of a valid print queue. Examples: SHOW/QUEUE/ALL ACVAX1_MAIN_PRINT SHOW/QUEUE/ALL *PRINT* SHOW/QUEUE/ALL/FULL RPS The /FULL qualifier shown above will give a multi-line detailed display of every entry in the specified queue. Specifying *PRINT* as the queue_name will give a report for all queues with "PRINT" in their names (or ALL print queues). In addition to the DCL command above, you can use the Operator Hotkey 'Q' to get the same information (and more) with much less typing. For example, to get the same information as the above commands would show, you would type: Q M for all MAIN queues Q A for ALL queues Q RPS FULL for the RPS queue The Q command has several other significant benefits. One of the main benefits is the FORM option. For example, typing Q M F or Q M FORM, the contents of the queue will be displayed arranged such that it is easy to distinguish the form-codes of each entry. To get the latest help on the Q command, enter Q . A one-page help screen will be shown. Another thing the Q hotkey is useful for is displaying multiple queues at a time. For example, Q DOC will display all DOC queues - whether they are generic queues or printer queues. Since a print entry sitting in any one of the DOC queues will be printed on the same printer, this command comes in very handy. Starting & Stopping Print Queues There are two basic ways to stop all jobs from printing on a particular printer. One is to either turn the printer off or off- line. The other way is to logically 'STOP' the printer. The second method is the preferred method of stopping a printer. In the case of printers where all files are spooled to a generic queue, turning the printer off-line will NOT stop the printer's queue - just the printer. In this case, a print job will be sent to the printer even though the printer is off-line. The job will sit there waiting to be printed until either the printer is brought on-line or the job is re-queued or aborted. If, instead of turning the printer off-line, the printer's queues were logically STOPPED, no jobs would be sent to the printer at all until the queues were logically STARTED - even if the printer was on-line. The following command may be used to control the STARTING & STOPPING of the various print queues. The STOP commands will stop the specified printer AFTER the job currently printing (if any) is finished. STOP/QUEUE/NEXT queue_name START/QUEUE queue_name For example: STOP/QUEUE/NEXT ADVAX1_DOC_PRINT STOP/QUEUE/NEXT ADVAX2_DOC_PRINT START/QUEUE ADVAX1_DOC_PRINT START/QUEUE ADVAX2_DOC_PRINT The generic queues, such as DOC_PRINT, need not be stopped. You'll notice above that there are two queues for DOC_PRINT that are stopped/started. BOTH queues MUST be stopped if you don't want the printer printing anything. One controls the flow of jobs from ADVAX1 to the DOC_PRINT printer, the other controls the flow of jobs from ADVAX2 to the DOC_PRINT printer. BOTH paths must be stopped or printing may occur. Luckily, there's a hotkey for this.... STOPQ DOC STARTQ DOC STOPQ/STARTQ are hotkeys for starting/stopping queues. The above small two lines accomplish the same thing as the previous long four lines did. STOPQ/STARTQ know which queues associated with the printer need to be stopped/started. For further information on these hotkeys, enter STOPQ or STARTQ. -- Displaying & Modifying Queues/Jobs Changing Printer Forms To change forms on a particular printer, six or so steps need to be taken in a given order 1. Do NOT turn the printers off-line. 2. STOP ALL queues for that printer. 3. NOW turn the printers off-line. 4. Physically change the forms. 5. START all queues for that printer. 6. Align the forms if necessary. This order needs to be followed or various unplesantries can arise. For example, if the printer is turned off-line before the queue is stopped, it is possible for the VAX to send a job to the printer anyway. Then when the new forms are loaded, the old job will print - even though it's the wrong form. This can also happen if only one of the queues going to a particular printer is stopped. The other queue still thinks the printer has the old forms in it - and will continue to send print jobs there. Since there are many things that can go wrong doing this, a special hotkey, FORM, was written to make things easier. The format for the FORM command is: FORM printer formcode For example, to change the form-code on the ADVAX PTR1 printer, you would do the following: FORM 1 AH (then wait for any jobs currently printing to finish) Printer ADVAX1_PTR1_PRINT stopped. Change paper and type 'go' to continue. : GO AH paper started on ADVAX1_PTR1_PRINT FORM was designed to handle any form-code. If new form-codes are added at a later date, FORM will automatically recognize them. The DEFAULT form-code stands for standard 1-part wide green bar paper. NARROW is the same as AK. For more information on the FORM command, type FORM from the console. Remember, it is IMPORTANT that the forms not be physically changed and that the printer not be turned off-line until AFTER the first command is entered. This is because a print job can be sent to a printer even if the printer is off-line. This is unlike some other computer systems. The only way a print job of a particular form-code can be stopped from entering an available printer with the same formcode assigned to it is if the printer is logically 'STOPPED'. See the STOPQ 'Hotkey' for information on how to do this. Note: FORM can be entered without any parameters and it will prompt you for the required information. Also, if any errors are made while typing the command (such as an unavailable formcode), it will inform you of the mistake and prompt for the corrected information. Moving Queues If it becomes necessary to move all the jobs from one queue to another, the following command can be used: ASSIGN/MERGE destination_queue source_queue For example: ASSIGN/MERGE ACVAX2_MAIN_PRINT ACVAX1_MAIN_PRINT ASSIGN/MERGE ACVAX1_MAIN_PRINT ACVAX2_MAIN_PRINT ASSIGN/MERGE CLUST_PRINT RPS ASSIGN/MERGE ADVAX1_DOC_PRINT DOC -- Displaying & Modifying Queues/Jobs Reprinting Damaged Jobs When a job printing becomes damaged, it may be aborted and started over with the following command: STOP/QUEUE/REQUEUE queue_name For example: STOP/QUEUE/REQUEUE ACVAX1_MAIN_PRINT STOP/QUEUE/REQUEUE ACVAX2_MAIN_PRINT STOP/QUEUE/REQUEUE RPS STOP/QUEUE/REQUEUE ADVAX1_DOC_PRINT In each case above, the job is stopped from printing and placed back in the queue. When it starts printing again, it will start at the beginning of the job. If a damaged job has printed a significant amount already and you don't want to reprint the whole thing, do the following: STOP/QUEUE/NEXT queue or use the STOP Hotkeys. Reset paper in printer. START/QUEUE/BACKWARD=n where "n" is the number of pages to skip backwards. or... SET/ENTRY/PAGES=(###,###) entry# This will print only the specified pages. Example: PAGES=(100,1000) will print pages 100 through 1000. After that, issue a normal START/QUEUE command to start the queue again. For further information on SET/ENTRY, it is also mentioned in the "Miscellaneous Commands" section of this document. Aligning Standard Paper The ALIGN hotkey will spool an alignment pattern to the specified printer. This pattern may be used to help align standard green-bar (DEFAULT) paper. Formats: ALIGN queue-name #-of-copies priority ALIGN queue-name priority #-of-copies Examples: ALIGN (displays instructions on how to use ALIGN) ALIGN 1 (prints three copies to "printer #1" - three copies is default) ALIGN 2 5 (prints five copies to "printer #2") ALIGN 2 1 (prints one copy to "printer #2") ALIGN DOC 7 (prints seven copies to the DOC printer) ALIGN 2 1 P (prints one copy to "printer #2" with priority) ALIGN 2 P 1 (prints one copy to "printer #2" with priority) The "priority" option will print the alignment pattern before any other jobs waiting in the print queues. -- Displaying & Modifying Queues/Jobs Miscellaneous Queue Commands Below is a list of several useful functions for changing the characteristics and options associated with a print job. All of these use the SET ENTRY command. On all of the commands, enter the entry # of the job which you want to affect after the command itself. The entry # can be found with the "Q" Hotkeys. SET ENTRY/AFTER=time ### Delay printing job until after specified time Requests that the specified job be held until after a specific time. If the specified time has already passed, the job is queued for immediate processing. SET ENTRY/COPIES=n ### Change number of copies to print Specifies the number of copies to print. The value of n can be any number from 1 to 255. The number of copies can apply only to the entire print job. You cannot use this qualifier to specify different numbers of copies for individual files within a multi-file job. SET ENTRY/FORM=type ### Change form type for job Changes the form associated with the print job. To see which forms have been defined, use the SHOW QUEUE/FORM command. To find out which form is currently mounted on a particular queue and which form is specified as that queue's default form, use the SHOW QUEUE/FULL command or the "Q" Hotkeys. SET ENTRY/HOLD ### Hold a job for later processing Controls whether the job is to be made available for immediate processing or held for processing later. If you specify /HOLD, the job is not released for processing until you enter SET ENTRY /NOHOLD or SET ENTRY/RELEASE. SET ENTRY/OPERATOR="string" ### Assign an operator message to a job Specifies a message string of up to 255 characters to be sent to the operator just before the print job begins to print. SET ENTRY/PAGES=([lowlim,]uplim) ### Print selected portions of a job Specifies the number of pages to print for the specified job. You can use the /PAGES qualifier to print portions of long files. By default, all pages of the file are printed. When you use the /PAGES qualifier with the SET ENTRY command, the qualifier can apply only to an entire job. You cannot use this qualifier to specify different numbers of pages to be printed for individual files within a multi-file job. The lowlim specifier refers to the first page of the file that you want to print. If you omit the lowlim specifier, the printing starts on the first page of the file. The uplim specifier refers to the last page of the file that you want to print. When you want to print to the end of the file but do not know how many pages are in the file, use two consecutive quotation marks ("") as the uplim specifier. You can omit the parentheses when you specify only a value for the uplim specifier. For example, /PAGES=10 prints the first 10 pages of the file; /PAGES=(5,10) prints pages 5 through 10; /PAGES=(5,"") starts printing at page 5 and continues until the end of the file is reached. SET ENTRY/PRIORITY=n ### Set the priority of a job Specifies the job-scheduling priority of the job. The value of n is an integer in the range of 0 through 255, where 0 is the lowest priority and 255 is the highest. SET ENTRY/RELEASE ### Release a job that is on hold Releases for processing jobs submitted with the /HOLD qualifier or /AFTER qualifier, jobs held in a queue with the /RETAIN qualifier. -- Initializing Tapes The command to initialize a tape is: INITIALIZE drive#:tape_label Example: INIT MUA0: FUL_01 /DENSITY=6250 ACVAX ONLY INIT $1$MUA1: FUL_01 /DENSITY=6250 ADVAX ONLY The initialize command may be abbreviated to INIT. If this command is used to initialize a tape that already has data on it, a "file access is nonblank" error will result. Below is a "Hotkey" for initializing a tape that is nonblank and it's full VMS equivalent. Hotkey: BLANK drive#: label VMS: INIT/OVERRIDE=(ACCESSIBILITY,EXPIRATION) drive#: label Example: BLANK MUA0: FUL_01 ACVAX example Example: BLANK $1$MUA0: FUL_01 ADVAX example Example: INIT/OVER=(ACCESS,EXPIRATION)/DENSITY=6250 MUA0: FUL_01 Example: INIT/OVER=(ACCESS,EXPIRATION)/DENSITY=6250 $1$MUA0: FUL_01 Each command above assumes that a tape with a write ring is mounted and on-line in the drive# specified. The space between the colon, ":", and the tape label must be there for the commands to execute properly. The c2.BLANK command may be used with both blank and nonblank tapes alike so it is possible to use it exclusively. If you wish to verify the initialization process to make sure that the tape label is correct, do the following: MOUNT/OVERIDE=ID MUA0: The system will then display that the tape with tape_label was mounted. DISMOUNT MUA0: Be sure to use $1$MUA0 for the ADVAX cluster. If you wish to mount a tape from another computer system, or if you're not sure of its origin, do the following: MOUNT/FOREIGN MUA0: Be sure to use $1$MUA0 or $1$MUA1 for the ADVAX tape drives. ... Do whatever you want to with it here........ ... DISMOUNT MUA0: Dismount the tape when done. The VAXBAK backup utility uses the following labels for the various types of backups should you need to initialize any blank tapes. The nn in each case is a number between 01 and 99. The tapes go in sequence from 01 through however many tapes are needed for the backup. DLY_nn Used on all the DAILY backups. FUL_nn Used for all tapes on WEEKLY and MONTHLY backups. USQ_nn Used for the USER_DISK portion of the QUARTERLY and YEARLY backups. SYQ_nn Used for the SYSTEM portion of the QUARTERLY and YEARLY backups. APQ_nn Used for the APPLICATION portion of the QUARTERLY and YEARLY backups. -- Electronic Mail on the VAX Your Electronic Mail Address If your VAX username is JSMITH, then use: local address: JSMITH BITNET: JSMITH@CSUPOMONA.EDU INTERNET: JSMITH@CSUPOMONA.EDU DECNET (ACVAX): ACVAX1::JSMITH DECNET (ADVAX): ADVAX1::JSMITH Sending Mail to Other Addresses To send mail to a local user of the VAX, simply use his username: Example: CVADS002 If the user is on a machine DECNet-ed to the VAX, use NODE::USERNAME to reach him: Examples: ADVAX2::BFRANK ACVAX2::CVADR001 If you're sending BITNET or INTERNET mail, enclose the address in WINS%" " Examples: WINS%"ESKPIE@ALASKA.EDU" WINS%"RSNOOTY@GUANO.HARVARD.EDU" Some other mailer hints: y Case can matter: Some machines have case sensitive userids, so watch capitalization. y Specify explicit message routings (if needed) using percent signs. Mail to WINS%"ZIGGY%XYZ%JFK@LMN" is first sent to site LMN, which strips its address (@LMN) and changes the next % to an @ before sending the message on to JFK, where the process iterates. The Basics of Using Mail MAIL> DIR <-- What messages do I have? MAIL> <-- Read a message MAIL> S <-- Send a message MAIL> R <-- Reply to a message MAIL> PRINT <-- Print message when you exit MAIL MAIL> 4 <-- Re-read message #4 MAIL> EXTRACT TEMP.LIS <-- Put it in TEMP.LIS MAIL> EXIT <-- Leave MAIL $ PRINT TEMP.LIS <-- Print the message MAIL> DELETE 3 <-- Delete message #3 MAIL> S filename.ext <-- Send this file MAIL> READ/NEW <-- read new messages received while already in MAIL MAIL> HELP <-- Get help on MAIL MAIL> EXIT <-- Get out of MAIL -- Electronic Mail on the VAX Some More Advanced Mail Features MAIL> REPLY/EXTRACT <-- Include a copy of their message in your reply MAIL> S To: @CLASS.DIS <-- Send mail to each ID in the file CLASS.DIS Subj: Assignment 2 Assignment 2 is now due at 5 PM this Friday. MAIL> 7 <-- Review message 7 MAIL> F <-- Forward it... To: AQUINLAN <-- to AQUINLAN... Subj: Handle this! <-- with instructions MAIL> D <-- then delete it... MAIL> 5 <-- Review message 5 MAIL> MOVE CLASS <-- Move it to CLASS Y <-- OK the new folder MAIL> DIR/FOLDER <-- What folders do I have? MAIL> SELECT COMMITTEE <-- Choose COMMITTEE MAIL> DELETE 3:8 <-- Delete messages 3 through 8 MAIL> COMPRESS <-- Compress existing mailbox MAIL> EX <-- Get out of mail $ DELETE MAIL.OLD.* <-- Delete old mailbox MAIL> SET MAIL [.MBOX] <-- Hide mail$...files MAIL> SET FORWARD JJONES <-- Forward my mail to JJONES MAIL> SET FORWARD WINS%"""WAWA@U.HAWAII.EDU""" MAIL> SET COPY SEND,FORWARD,REPLY <-- Keep a carbon of every message you produce MAIL> SET P "TOM JONES" <-- Identify yourself (permanently) with this info on every message $ MAIL :== MAIL/EDIT <-- make mail use EDT Sending Mail to Other Networks y AMERICA ONLINE: To send a message to America Online users, such as MichaelPye, use the format: WINS%"accountname@aol.com" WINS%"MichaelPye@aol.com" y COMPUSERVE EASYPLEX: Assume you want to send mail to a Compuserve EasyPlex user such as id 70009,1484 You'd use the VAX mail address: WINS%"70009.1484@compuserve.Com" Notice that the comma normally separating the two-number Compuserve ID MUST be converted to a period. Also be aware that EasyPlex messages are limited to a maximum of 50,000 characters. y MCI MAIL: You can send VAX mail to an MCI Mail user with any of the three following address formats: WINS%"accountname@mcimail.Com" WINS%"mci_id@mcimail.Com" WINS%"full_user_name@mcimail.Com" y FIDONET MAIL To send mail to John Smith at Fido node 1:129/87.2, use the VAX address: WINS%"John.Smith@p2.f87.n129.z1.fidonet.org" -- FTP (File Transfer Protocol) Using FTP FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is a facility that will let you use the VAX to retrieve files from remote computer systems. To get at files on a remote system via FTP, you need a username on the remote system, or the remote system needs to have created a special anonymous "guest" account. One popular system that has anonymous FTP is the Kermit communication package support machine at Columbia in New York City. To log onto the Kermit machine at Columbia, enter: $ FTP WATSUN.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU <-- Columbia! *LOGIN anonymous <-- Login as anonymous...note lowercase!!! *Password: JSMITH <-- Send your username At that point you're ready retrieve a file: *CD kermit <-- Move into the kermit dir *DIR <-- What files are out there? *GET read.me <-- Get a file *CLOSE <-- Close the connection *QUIT <-- Exit FTP -- You're done! The file read.me is now in your VAX directory! To just type a file to your screen, use: *GET filename TT: <-- "get" to the terminal To get binary format files: *BINARY <-- set binary mode *QUOTE "TYPE L 8" <-- demand eight bit words *GET filename <-- get the file When you're done transferring binaries, use the following to change back to text mode: *ASCII To get multiple files with one command use: *MGET XYZ.* This initiates retrieval of all files called XYZ.anything in the current remote directory. Reply with a lowercase y to accept each file when asked. If you want to just accept everything without the lowercase y's being needed, say: *NOINTERACTIVE before issuing the MGET. Automating your FTP login process If you routinely FTP to a particular host, you may want to create a file called FTPLOGIN in your root directory to "semiautomate" this process. Each line in this file should contain the IP address of the system you're connecting to, your username on that system, a dash (representing your password) and an optional account number (if used). NEVER replace the dash representing your password with a REAL password! -- FTP (File Transfer Protocol) When Do I "GET" And When Do I "PUT"? Realize that VAX FTPing can be done with the VAX acting as either a CLIENT or as a SERVER. If you start FTP on the ACVAX and thereby connect from it to the other remote system, the ACVAX will be running an FTP CLIENT. You'll GET files from the other system to the ACVAX (or, conversely, you'll PUT them from the ACVAX to the other system). If you start FTP on the other system and connect from it back to the ACVAX, the ACVAX will be running an FTP SERVER. You'll PUT files from the other system to the ACVAX (or, conversely, you'll GET them on the other system from the ACVAX). Nationwide List of Anonymous FTP Sites $ PRINT USER_DISK:[OPR.OPERATOR.COMMANDS]FTP.SITES NOTE: To obtain the absolutely most recent edition of this file, retrieve (via anonymous FTP, of course!) the file ftp.list.Z from the pub/unix-misc directory on PILOT.NJIN.NET and then UNCOMPRESS it. To avoid having the VAX mangle the filename, you can specify what you want it to be called when you get it: * GET ftp.list.Z ftp.list_Z As the VAX is not fond of more than one period in a filename, it's a good idea to follow this practice. -- USENET News What is USENET News? USENET NEWS is a unique information sharing resource quite distinct from mail (and from mailing lists or LISTSERVers). The best way to understand NEWS is to consider what happens when you send mail to a "conventional" mailing list for re-distribution: essentially, an individual copy of your mail message is re-sent to every list subscriber. This means that if a given site has "n" subscribers to a particular list, that site will receive (and the network will carry) "n" mail messages every time someone posts something to the list. NEWS uses a different philosophy to disseminating information. NEWS directly attacks the question, "Why should a site (potentially) receive a dozen identical copies of a given message? Why not provide a single central copy of the message, and let everybody simply look at that local 'master' copy, instead?" This may sound a lot like the microcomputer bulletin boards you may be familiar with, and it is quite similar, but NEWS has a unique twist Messages posted via NEWS are generally transparently "propagated" to other NEWS sites across the United States (and sometimes overseas). Because of the diverse nature of individual NEWS users interests, postings within NEWS are organized hierarchically by subject. Local NEWS administrators determine which newsgroups are carried, and sometimes a local NEWS administrator may elect not to carry a particular group that is of little interest to local users. On the other hand, a site may also create "local-only" newsgroups; because those newsgroups deal with strictly local topics, they are not propagated to other NEWS sites. Reading USENET and Other News A number of USENET and other newsgroups are accessible to VAX users via a full screen (VT100) news reader. Invoke NEWS by saying: $ NNEWS <-- Start Network NEWS Use your cursor keys to move down to a topic of interest, then hit