I^

NA-

A111D3 QflTVbD

NATL INST OF STANDARDS & TECH R. .C.

IMCE & TECHNOLOGY;A1 11 03089760

FItzaerald, Mary Lyn/Common command lang

QCfOT .U57 NO.560-. 37, 1978 C.1 NBS-PUB

COMMON COMMAND LANGUAGEFOR FILE MANIPULATION ANDNETWORK JOB EXECUTION:AN EXAMPLE

00-37

NBS Special Publication 500-37

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCENational Bureau of Standards

NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS

The National Bureau of Standards' was established by an act of Congress March 3, 1901. TheBureau's overall goal is to strengthen and advance the Nation's science and technology and

facilitate their effective application for public benefit. To this end, the Bureau conducts

research and provides: (1) a basis for the Nation's physical measurement system, (2) scientific

and technological services for industry and government, (3) a technical basis for equity in

trade, and (4) technical services to promote public safety. The Bureau's technical work is

performed by the National Measurement Laboratory, the National Engineering Laboratory,

and the Institute for Computer Sciences and Technology.

THE NATIONAL MEASUREMENT LABORATORY provides the national system of

physical and chemical and materials measurement; coordinates the system with measurement

systems of other nations and furnishes essential services leading to accurate and uniform

physical and chemical measurement throughout the Nation's scientific community, industry,

and commerce; conducts materials research leading to improved methods of measurement,

standards, and data on the properties of materials needed by industry, commerce, educational

institutions, and Government; provides advisory and research services to other Government

Agencies; develops, produces, and distributes Standard Reference Materials; and provides

calibration services. The Laboratory consists of the following centers:

Absolute Physical Quantities^ — Radiation Research — Thermodynamics and

Molecular Science — Analytical Chemistry — Materials Science.

THE NATIONAL ENGINEERING LABORATORY provides technology and technical

services to users in the public and private sectors to address national needs and to solve

national problems in the public interest; conducts research in engineering and applied science

in support of objectives in these efforts; builds and maintains competence in the necessary

disciplines required to carry out this research and technical service; develops engineering data

and measurement capabiHties; provides engineering measurement traceability services;

develops test methods and proposes engineering standards and code changes; develops and

proposes new engineering practices; and develops and improves mechanisms to transfer

results of its research to the utlimate user. The Laboratory consists of the following centers:

Applied Mathematics — Electronics and Electrical Engineering^ — Mechanical

Engineering and Process Technology' — Building Technology — Fire Research —Consumer Product Technology — Field Methods.

THE INSTITUTE FOR COMPUTER SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY conducts

research and provides scientific and technical services to aid Federal Agencies in the selection,

acquisition, application, and use of computer technology to improve effectiveness and

economy in Government operations in accordance with Public Law 89-306 (40 U.S.C. 759),

relevant Executive Orders, and other directives; carries out this mission by managing the

Federal Information Processing Standards Program, developing Federal ADP standards

guidelines, and managing Federal participation in ADP voluntary standardization activities;

provides scientific and technological advisory services and assistance to Federal Agencies; and

provides the technical foundation for computer-related policies of the Federal Government.

The Institute consists of the following divisions:

Systems and Software — Computer Systems Engineering — Information Technology.

'Headquarters and Laboratories at Gaithersburg, Maryland, unless otherwise noted;

mailing address Washington, D.C. 20234.

'Some divisions within the center are located at Boulder, Colorado, 80303.

The National Bureau of Standards was reorganized, effective April 9, 1978.

O*' STANDAKD8

AUG 2 3 1978

COMPUTER SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY: '^c-.%'«

r e-.

Common Command Language for File Manipulation

and Network Job Execution: An Example

M. L. Fitzgerald

Computer Systems Engineering Division

Institute for Computer Science and Technology

National Bureau of Standards

Washington, D.C. 20234

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, Juanita M. Kreps, Secretary

Dr. Sidney Harman, Under Secretary

Jordan J. Baruch, Assistant Secretary for Science and Technology

-^NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS, Ernest Ambler, Director

Issued August 1978

Reports on Computer Science and Technology

The National Bureau of Standards has a special responsibility within the Federal

Government for computer science and technology activities. The programs of the

NBS Institute for Computer Sciences and Technology are designed to provide ADPstandards, guidelines, and technical advisory services to improve the effectiveness of

computer utilization in the Federal sector, and to perform appropriate research anddevelopment efforts as foundation for such activities and programs. This publication

series will report these NBS efforts to the Federal computer community as well as to

interested specialists in the academic and private sectors. Those wishing to receive

notices of publications in this series should complete and return the form at the end

of this publication.

National Bureau of Standards Special Publication 500-37

Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Spec. Publ. 500-37, 32 pages (Aug. 1978)

CODEN. XNBSAV

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 78-600069

U.S. GOVERNMENTPRINTING OFFICEWASHINGTON: 1978

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20434

Stock No. 003-003-01965-8 Price $1.50

(Add 25 percent additional for other than U.S. mailing).

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

I . INTRODUCTION 2

II. OEVELOPhENT Of Tti£ COMMON COMMAND LANGUAGE 3

11.1. COMMAND LANGUAGES 3

II. 1.1. COBuoand Survey , 4I I. 1.2. The Common Command Language Structure .... 7

1 1. 2. IMPLEMENTATION 9

III. COMMON COMMAND LANGUAGE USAGE 12

1 11.1. SYSTEM INTERCONNECTION COMMANDS 12

III. l.l. Establish Primary Connections 12111. 1.2. Establish Secondary Connections 13111.1.3. Terminate Primary Connections 14111. 1.4. Terminate Secondary Connections 14

111. 2. THE FILE HANDLING COMMANDS ( Intr asystem) ... 15

1 1 1. 3. INTERSYSTEM FILE TRANSPORTING COMMANDS 17

111. 4. A SAMPLE SESSION 18

IV. NETWORK JOB EXECUTION 21

IV. 1. COMMAND DESCRIPTION 21

IV. 2. COMMAND USAGE 22

IV. 3. SAMPLE NETWORK JOB EXECUTION PROCEDURE 23

V. CONCLUSIONS 25

APPENDIX 1: TtiE COMMAND LANGUAGE , 26

-iii

DISCLAIMER

Certain commercial products are identified in this paperin order to specify adequately the experimental procedure,or to cite relevant examples. In no case does suchidentification imply recommendation or endorsement by theNational Bureau of Standards, nor does it imply that theproducts or equipment identified are necessarily the bestavailable for the purpose.

iv

Common Command Language for File Manipulationand Network Job Execution: An Example

H. L. Fitzgerald

Computer networks provide the capability forsharing resources across many diverse computersystems. Utilizing this capability is inhibitedby the requirement that the user become familiarwith all the varied command languages and proto-cols of each accessed system. This reportpresents a general approach to solving this prob-lem using an intermediary system to support a setof Common Commands for File Manipulation and Net-work Job Execution. To show the feasibility ofthis approach, common commands were implementedfor four systems using the NBS Network AccessMachine.

Key words: Command language; Computer networks;Network access; Macros.

This Special Publication is one of a series prepared as apart of a jointly sponsored effort by the National Bureau ofStandards and the U. S. Air Force Rome Air DevelopmentCenter under contract number F 30602-77-F-0068

.

-1-

I. INTRODUCTION

Computer networks have oiade available to the prograB-oiing community the services and resources of many types ofcomputer systems. Unfortunately, each of these systems hasits own, sometimes complex, language and methodology for ac-cessing its resources. A network user is faced with thetasK of becoming familiar with the specific command languagefor each system before using the services available on thatsystem.

One method for simplifying the usage of computer net-works might be to develop a set of standards for network ac-cess INBS 77] (NiilU lb]. The vendors of computer serviceswould oe required to make their products compatible withthese standards if the services were to be available to thenetworking community. In the absence of sucn a standard, aditferent method is required.

An alternative approacn to simplifying networking forusers is to develop a standard language to which the diversesets of commands for heterogeneous hosts can be translated.This language should provide a common set of commands togain access to the computer systems on the network, and tomanipulate files on those systems. Since the network useris concerned with many different systems, the languageshould present a uniform view of the systems through thestandard commands and also remove many of the complexitiesof inter-system interactions. Therefore the language shouldpermit the network user to easily transfer files betweendifferent systems of the network and provide the capabilityto execute programs at particular hosts using data that maynot initially be available where the program is to be exe-cuted .

In order to show the feasibility of such a language, anexperiment was performed in which common commands weredeveloped for the following four systems: a Honeywell 6180running MULTICS, a PDP-10 running TOPS-10, a PDP-10 runningT£N£X, and a PDP-11/45 running UNIX. The language was im-plemented on a PDP-li/45 under the UNIX operating system us-ing the Network Access Machine (ROS 76 J as its foundation.£xpanding the language to include other systems is verystraightforward and requires little programming effort.

II. DeVBLOPHEMT OF THE COMMON COMMAND LANGUAGE

The development of the Conunon Command Language (CCL)started by determining some of the desired properties of acommon command language. Next, a survey of the existingcommand languages of the systems in the experiment was madeto define the required commands. The CCL was designed as anattempt to provide a viable language for network users ofthose systems.

II.l. COMMAND LANGUAGES

The primary concern of most computer or network usersis to get a job done, ideally as simply as possible. Usual-ly, the user has little or no interest in the various pecu-liarities of the different systems to be used. This in-cludes differences in the syntax and semantics of the com-mand languages of those systems. The user should also beshielded from dealing with the complexities of error mes-sages which may occur during a terminal session.

At best, then, the language provided to a network usershould allow maximum access to the features of all the sys-tems available with minimum system dependent interaction.In addition, it must supply a reasonable cross-section ofall the available services each system maintains, but it maynot necessarily handle commands dependent upon the physicalproperties of the system due to differences in hardware con-figurations and equipment.

Extensive study has been made to determine the mostdesired properties of a common command language (UNG 74J

.

The properties should include the following:

Obvious

Simple

Uniform

Transparent

The commands should perfotmthe actions their names imply.

The commands should be simplein format and machine indepen-dent.

The functions performed shouldbe equally adaptable to allsystems involved.

The user should be unaware ofany system peculiarities andshielded from different types

of error or system messages

•

extendable The coanand repertoire shouldbe easily extended to add morecommands if necessary.

In order to develop the CCL the following three steps weretaken:

1. A survey of the systems to be used was made todetermine all the different types of (logical)file handling functions available. These func-tions deal with the files themselves as named en-tities, rather than with the contents of thefiles.

2. The command names for the functions werechosen, trying to maintain an intuitively mean-ingful vocabulary.

3. The commands were implemented on the i^etworkAccess Machine.

II. 1.1. Command Survey.

four types of computer systems were used for thedevelopment of the CCL. In order to select the commands tobe implemented, a survey of the file manipulation commandsof each of these systems was made, and for each differentfunction represented, a common command was implemented.

Table II. 1 indicates the types of file manipulationfunctions that are commonly available and the correspondingcommands for the systems being surveyed. Dashes in thetable indicate that the system does not have a command forthe described function. (In some cases there may be a utili-ty that can be invoked on a given system, but not a singlecommand .

)

These commands are for logical manipulations on filesas entities within an operating system. Functions which usethe other resources of the operating system such as editorswill not be addressed at this time. Later this languagewill be incorporated with other functions to provide thecapabilities of a Network Operating System (NOS) IKIH 76-lJiKIM 76-2] . The NOS environment will provide the user withthe ability to use a network in the same manner that newould use a single system. Included within the NOS will bea Network Mide Directory System that will describe the user,the user's files on the network, the configurations andstructure of the various hosts on the network, and the

interactions permitted among them. In addition the NOS willprovide functions for remote record access and data transla-tion and transformation (MOOD 78J

.

-5-

Table II.

1

Functions MULTICS T£N£X TOPS-lid UNIX

append onefile to another

i append i i cat

compare twofiles

j compare j... j cmp

make a newfile

1 create .... alcfil ....

remove file namefrom directory

I delete

restore file todirectory

I undelete !""

remove file fromdirectory

i delete I expunge 1 delete j rm

make copy ofa file

1 copy 1 copy I copy 1 cp

1 obtain directory1 listing

{ Is 1 dir 1 dir 1 Is

1 list contents of1 a file

1 pr 1 type1 type j cat

\ change the name1 of a file

1 rename t rename 1 rename I mv

-6-

II » 1.2. The Common Command Language Structure.

The CCL consists of four major command types: Intra-system commands, inter~system commands, network job execu-tion commands, and system inter-conneCtion commands.

Xntra-system Commands

bince each of the functions described in Table II. 1 isavailable on at least one of the systems, it was decidedthat the CCL would contain a command for each of the func-tions represented. The names were chosen trying to maintaina correspondence between the functions performed and thecommand. In addition, some of the command names were chosenin Keeping with some of the currently available commands.

append

compare

copy

append one file to another

compare one file to another

make a copy of an existingfile

create

delete

erase

list

make a new file

remove the file name from theuser's directory

remove a file completely

list the names of the user'sfiles

rename

type

change the name of a file

display the contents of a textfile to the user terminal

undelete return a deleted file name tothe user's directory

Inter-system Commands

Along with the commands for file handling listed above,the language contains commands to transfer files betweensystems.

retrieve move file from remote host to

7

primary host

transfer move file from primary host toa remote host

System Interconnection Commands

Before a user can actually perform any file manipula-tions, access must be gained to the system where the filesreside* The command language therefore contains commands toconnect the user to a remote system and execute the particu-lar login procedure required. Likewise, when the terminalsession is over, there exist commands that will log the userout and terminate the connection.

Network Job Execution

Often, a network user may want to execute a program ona specific host and the desired data files reside on otherhosts throughout the network. Ideally the user would liketo be able to specify just one command that could indicatewhere the program is to be executed, where the input datareside, and where the output data should be sent. Such acommand could have the format:

KUN FHUGKAM^tiOSTl@tiOST2 INlsINFILEi(dtiOSTA UUT1»0UTFILE1@U0STB

One of these commands would constitute a network jobstep and a sequence of network job steps could be known as anetwork job.

where

PROGRAMHOSTlH0ST2INIINFILElHOSTAOUTlOUTFILElUOSTB

program namewhere program is to be executedwhere program residesprogram's name for input file 1

actual name for input file 1

where input file 1 residesprogram's name for output file 1

actual name for output file 1

where output file will be migrated

In order to execute a network job an additional commandcalled 'run' is also part o£ the command repertoire. Thiscommand is unique because its actions are dictated by theuser through two utility programs which are called to definethe network job to be run.

I I. 2. IMPLEMENTATION

The implementation of the CCL was facilitated by utili-zation of the NBS Network Access Machine (NAM) which pro-vides the communication support for this study [ROS 78]

.

The NAM is a program that runs under the UNIX timesharingsystem on a ^0^-11/45. Through this program the user at aninteractive terminal may establish connections with manytypes of remote computers. The NAM provides directives thatpermit the user to maintain a dialogue with the systems of a

network. Sequences of these directives stored in filescalled macxos have been written that will generate thenecessary machine->dependent dialog to perform the file mani-pulation functions required for each of the host systems.The responses generated by the remote systems are in turnanalyzed by the NAM. By permitting the mapping of thevaried system responses into standardized messages for thenetwork user to see, the NAM facilitates the uniformity ofthe CCL.

The commands of the CCL were implemented as a set ofsimply named NAM macros. Since each system requires aunique dialogue to perform a given function, a macro to gen-erate that dialogue is needed for each system. Thus, therename command is really implemented as several macros named'rename', one for each of the systems in the study. Theparticular macro that is called depends upon which systemthe user is connected to. Incorporating a new system typemerely involves adding a set of command macros for that sys-tem.

Figure II. 2.1. shows two such macros for the renamecommand: one for a TOPS-10 system and one for a UNIX system.The TOPS-ll} command to perform the file renaming function is'rename' and provides one of three different responses tothe user

:

1) "File X already exists" if there already is a filewith the new name.

2) "File renamed:" if the rename was successful and

3) "? No file named x" if the file to be renameddoesn't exist.

Macro for the command RENAME for a TOPS-10 system,

.term "t30 1

.match i 'already exists' i 'No file'" topslB

.send "rename "$2" * "$1"(CRJ"*switch matched

*case 3:

.ms9 "File "$1" not found . tCRJ (LFJ

"

.break*case 1;

.msg "File "$1" renamed to "$2". (CRJ (LFJ

"

.break*case 2:

.msg "File "$2" already exists. (CRJ (LFJ

"

*end.flush.exit

Macro for the command RENAME for a UNIX system..

.term "t30 1'%'"

.match "'not found' I 'not exist' I'%'" unix

.send "Is "$2"(CRJ"*if matched « 1

.send "mv "$1" "$2"(CRJ"*if matched » 2

.msg "File "$1" not found. (CRJ (LFJ

"

.flush

.exit*end.msg "File "$1" renamed to "$2"

. (CRJ (LFJ

"

.flush

.exit*else

.msg "File "$2" already exists. (CRJ (LFJ

. flush

.exit*end

Figure II. 2.. Sample macros.

-10-

Therefore, the rename macro must send the TOPS-lk) renamecommana to the system and analyze the system response. Us-ing the SnAi^ statements 'switch' and 'case', the macro out-puts an appropriate message for the resulting systemresponse.

On UNIX systems, however, renaming files is accom-plished through the 'mv' command and existing files with thenew name will be overwritten without warning the user.Therefore, the rename macro for UNIX first determines if afile with the new name exists. If not, the 'mv' command issent to the system and the response is analyzed to determineif the rename was successful. In this macro, the NAM state-ments of 'if and 'else' are used to differentiate among thepossible system responses.

This ability of the NAM to analyze system respbnses,provides the mechanism to standardize messages that the CCLuser sees. Each of the systems in the above example ha^different responses for non-existent files, yet the messagethe user will see will always be "File x not found" if thefile to be renamed does not exist. Moreover, since the useof NAM macros permits multiple NAM-remote system interac-tions for one user command, the command level capabilitiesfor the systems appears to be extended.

-11-

III. COMMON COMMAND LANGUAGE USAGE

This section describes the usage of the commands of theCCL. Each of the four types of commands is covered and aexample of its usage is given.

III.l. SYSTEM INTERCONNECTION COMMANDS

In order to perform any file manipulations on a specif-ic host via a network, a user must gain access to that hostand execute a successful login procedure. Two types of con-nections can be made by the network user: primary connec-tions which connect him to the host where most of the ses-sion will occur; and secondary connections which are used toallow file transfers between different hosts. For thisstudy, most of the systems were primarily available throughthe AKPA network. bBti refers to the host BBN-TENEX, whileISI is the USC-ISI TENEX system. N&S-10 and UNIX451 referto hosts within the NBS Experimental Computer Facility andMULTICS is the MIT-MULTICS. (In addition, the language wasexpanded to include the UNIX453 machine at NBS and the Mul-tics system at the Rome Air Development Center.)

III. 1.1. Establish Primary Connections.

The following commands make and break primary connec-tions on the systems the user wishes to access. A primaryconnection is made to the system the user expects will beutilized most during the session at the terminal. Thesecommands are identified by the names of the systems to beaccessed.

bBti <ldentifier> A user enters this command toISI <ldentifier> establish a primary connection

with the TENEX systems at BBNor ISI. The identifier is theuser's name as known to thesystem and the user will beinteractively , requested tosupply password and accountinginformation.

MULTICS <Identifier> A user enters this command toestabish a primary connectionwith MULTICS at MIT. The

-12-

identifier is the name of theuser as known to the system,and again password informationmust be supplied as required.

NBSltf <ldentifier> This will establish a primaryconnection with the NBS PDP-lii)

system running TUPS>lft). Theidentifier is the user'sproject-programmer number onthe lid and password informa-tion is requested.

UNIX451 <Identifier> The command establishes a pri-mary connection with aPOP-11/45 running UNIX. Theuser will be connected to andlogged onto the UNIX451 systemat NBS. A password will berequested.

III.1.2« Establish Secondary Connections.

Secondary connections are made when the user wishes totransport files to or from a host other than the primaryconnection. These commands are the system name prefixed by'conn' or 'leave' depending on whether the user is connect-ing to or disconnecting from the system.

COMNBBN <Identifier>CONMISI <Identifier>

h secondary connection is es-tablished with a T£N£X systemat BB£j or ISI. The identifierto be supplied is the name ofthe user known to the system.The password and accountinginformation must be suppliedby the user

.

CONNMULTICS <ldentifier> A secondary connection is es-tablished at HULTICS. Againthe system will request apassword which the user mustsupply.

CONNNBS10 <Identifier> A secondary connection is madewith the NBS PDP-10 running

13

TOPS-10. The identifier isthe project-programmer numberof the user at NBS and thesystem will request a pass-word .

CONNUNIX451 <Identifier> The command establishes a sec-ondary connection with theUNIX451 system at NBS. Logincommands are issued using theuser's identifying name speci-fied in the identifier parame-ter. The system again willrequire the user to enter apassword

.

III. 1.3. xerminate Friiaary Connections.

LEAVi:; This is the command issued toterminate communications withany of the four primary con-nections. The MAM is aware ofwhich system the user has es-tablished as the primary con-nection and will execute thiscommand to log the user outfrom that host and terminatethe connection.

III. 1.4. Terminate Secondary Connections.

LEAVEhost This is the command used toclose out the secondary con-nections. The host part ofthe command can be either BBN,ISI, HULTICS, NBS10 orUNIX451. The command logs theusers off the secondary hostand closes the connection withthe NAM.

-14-

III. 2. THE FILE HANDLING COMMANDS ( Intr asystem)

Ttie following is a description of each of the filemanipulation commands, their usage and parameters.

A^fEi\iD irILEl i'lLt.2 FILEl is appended to FILE2.If FILEl does not exist, themessage "File FILEl notfound." is given and FILE2 isunchanged. If FILE2 does notexist, a copy of FILEl is madeand called FILE2.

COMPAKE FILEl FILE2 If either FILEl or FILE2 doesnot exist a message is given.Otherwise the character filesare compared on a line by linebasis and a message indicatingwhether they are different orequivalent is issued. (Com-parison of non-character fileswill be a future option ofthis command.)

COPY FILEl FILE2 A file called FILE2 is createdthat is a copy of the filecalled FILEl. If there al-ready exists a file calledFILE2, it is NOT overwrittenand a message indicating thatFILE2 already exists is given.If FILEl does not exist themessage "File FILEl notfound." is output to theuser's terminal.

CREATE FILEl The directory entry for fileFILEl is made. If there al-ready is an entry by thatname, the message "File FILElalready exists." is given.

DELETE FILEl File FILEl is removed from theuser's directory. This im-plies that the user may nolonger access that file and

-15-

may even create another filewith the same name. However,the file itself still existsand may be undeleted (re-stored) at a later time, pro-vided that either the userdoes not logout or does not doan erase command (see UND£L£T£and £RAS£.) If a file of thesame name has previously beendeleted, the message "FileFIL£1 previously deleted." isgiven to permit the user ac-cess to the previous versionof the files. In this caseeither the previously deletedfile must be erased, or incase it is still useful, thename of the current version ofthe file can be changed beforeit is deleted. If FIL£1 doesnot exist, a message "File notfound." is given.

The command completely removesany previously deleted files.Once an £RAS£ is done no moreUND£L£T£s can be done on thosefiles. In addition, an au-tomatic erase is done when auser leaves the system.

All the file names from theuser's directory are listed inthe format of the directory ofthe system being used.

FIL£1 is renamed to FIL£2. Ifthere already is a FIL£2, themessage "File FIL£2 alreadyexists." is given and thefil^ retain their names. Ifthere is no FIL£1, the userwill be informed.

The contents of FIL£1 are dis-played on the user's terminal.

-16

UNDELETE FILEl The command returns any pre-viously deleted file to theuser's workspace.

III. 3. INTEKSYSTEM FILE TKAMSPOKTING COMMANDS

The CCL extends the file handling capabilities of thehost computers studied by providing commands that transferfiles between systems. Thus the user enters system levelcommands and has the ability to transfer and retrieve filesto and from remote hosts. In order to use these commands

#

the user must establish a primary connection with one host»and a secondary connection with the host with which the ex-change is to take place. In addition a directory listingcapability for secondary connections is provided.

LISThost The directory listing of thesecondary host 'host' is ob-tained .

RETRIEVE FILEl SECONDARYHOST A file named FILEl is sent tothe primary host from thesecondary host. It will beassumed at present that thefile does indeed exist on thesecondary host and a file ofthe same name does not as yetexist on the primary host.

TKAtMbttiK FlLhl SECONDARYhOST The file FILE! is sent fromthe primary host to the secon-dary host. Again it is as-sumed that the file does existon the primary host and a fileof the same name does not ex-ist on the secondary host.

-17-

III. 4. A SAhPLL S£SbIUN

In order to show the usage of the CCL, a scenario for asample terminal session will be given and the commands usedwill be listed.

A network user has accounts at MULTICS and theNBS10. A primary connection is established with MULTICS anda listing of the files stored there is made. The files are:mul, mul2f and mul3. The user decides to combine mul andmul2 and just keep the combined file. In addition he de-cides to transfer this file to the NBS10 as a backup copy.Therefore he appends mul to mul2 and deletes mul. A secon-dary connection is made with the NBS10, a directory listingis requested, and the new mul2 is transferred there. Hefinds that in a previous session he made a file on the NBS10that should have been a copy of the old mul file, but he isnot sure. He retrieves that file, mul, from the NBS10 butcannot compare it with the old mul because he deleted it afew moments ago. Also, since the file he retrieved from theMBS10 has the same name as the deleted file, he cannot un-delete it yet. So, he renames the retrieved file to mulnbsland then undeletes the old mul. Now he compares the twofiles and since they are different, deletes them both. Heis now finished and so terminates the secondary connectionand then terminates the primary connection.

MULTICS WATKIMSLISTAPPEND MUL MUL20£L£TE MULCONNNBS10 510/46LISTNBS10TRANSFER MUL2 NBS10RETRIEVE MUL NBS10RENAME MUL MULNBSlUNDELETE MULCOMPARE MUL MULNBSlDELETE MULDELETE MULNBSlLEAVENBS10LEAVE

The following is a listing of the terminal session for

this example.

-IS-

% nanA Test Version of the NBS Network Access Machine

tMultics WatkinsNultics 33.3: MIT> Cambridge, Mass.Load * 37.0 out of 85.0 units: users » 37Password

:

:listSegments « 9, Lengths « 6.

mulmal3mul2queenqueen. pi

1

Watkins.mbxstart_up.ecWatkins. prof lieWatkins .con_msgs

r 1248.7 $

: append mul mul

2

File mul appended to mul 2.

:delete mulFile mul deleted.

:connnbsl0 510/46.JOB 22 NBS-10 5. 078 NBS 5/IL TTY65%LGNNOC No operator coverage.Password

:

:listnbsl0 mul

MUL 1 <155> 29-JU1-77 DSKB: [510,46]

: transfer mul2 nb8l0File mul2 transferred to nbsl0.

:retrieve mul nbsl0File mul retrieved from nbsl0.

-19-

: rename mul mulnbslFile iDulnbsl created.

: undelete mulFile mul restored.

:compare mul mulnbslFiles are different.

:delete mulFile mul deleted.

:delete mulnbslFile mulnbsl deleted.

:leavenbsl0connection nbsl0 closed

: leaveconnection multics closed

-20-

IV. NETWORK JOB EXECUTION

This section describes the method of providing networkjob execution capabilities developed in conjunction with theCCL.

IV.l. COMhAND DESCRIPTION

Implementing the RUN command described in sectionI I. 1.2 in the same manner as the other commands of thelanguage would be extremely difficult and not within theformat constraints of a Uhfi macro call. In addition, re-<^uiring tne user to type in such a sequence of complexstrings increases tne likelihood of error and diverges fromthe simplicity of commands demonstrated in the rest of theCCL. Therefore, two utility programs were developed for theNAM which, in conjunction with the CCL commands previouslydescribed, provide a means for the user to define a networkjob.

The first utility is called HAKEPROFILE. It is an in-teractive program that queries the user for informationabout the various systems the user wishes to access. It re-quests the user names, passwords and account numbers for thesystems to be used, and builds a data file called a 'pro-file' for the user which is used by the second utility .

The second utility is called RUNNACRO. It also is aninteractive program that asks the user to supply all the in-formation needed to specify a network job. For each jobstep in the network job, the user is asked to give the pro-gram name, host names, and all the rest of the data names asdescribed above in section III. 1.2. After the user speci-fies all the steps, the program builds a NAM macro calledrun' that is a sequence of all the CCL commands that arerequired to perform the transitions for each function to beexecuted. using the profile, the program supplies all theaccounting information required to make connections that theuser usally has to supply interactively. After executingthe RUnmaCRO utility, the user merely executes the RUN mac-ro, and the network job is executed.

21

The following procedure describes the steps a usertakes in order to define a network job,

1. Loc) onto UNIX.

2. Kun the NAM program.

3. Enter the accounts and passwords of the systems to beused by running the 'HAKCPROFILE ' program. Enter 'MAKEPRO-FILE' in response to the prompt character and answer thequeries. (Note: The identifier required for the NBS10 isthe project-programmer number pair separated by a slash:e.g. 510/46).

4. Define the sequence of job steps to be executed in thenetwork job. For each job step the user must specify thename and residence of the program to be executed, where itis to be executed, which input files to transfer, and whichoutput files to transfer by answering the queries of the'RUNMACRO' program. The output of this program is a NAMmacro that will perform the desired functions.

5. Enter

RUNMACRO

In response to the prompt "Enter Program Specifications:"the user enters

pprogi^hostl<^host2

where pprog is the name of the program to be run, hostl isthe name of the system where the program is to be executed,and host2 is the name of the system where the program iscurrently located if it is not already at hostl. If hostlis the same as host2, enter 'pprogi^hostl '

.

If there are no more job steps to be defined, the userenters a carriage return.

The utility will then query the user for the logical namesof the input files, that is, the names by which the programknows the input files. Then the utility will ask for theactual names for the data files and the hosts at which theyreside. If the file exists at the execution site, enter acarriage return in response to the host name. If there areno more input files, enter a carriage return in response tothe file name. After obtaining the names of the inputtiles, the names and sites for the output files will be

-22-

obtained, using the same philosophy for entering theresponses.

6. After execution of the 'RUNMACRO' program, there exists amacro called 'run' in the user's directory. The user enters'run' and the macro will be executed.

IV. 3. SAMPLE NETWORK JOB EXECUTION PROCEDURE

The user wishes to execute the program TEST on theNBSIli). The source for TEST resides on UNIX451. There arethree input files: FILEl located at BBN, FILE2 located atNBSlk) and FILE3 located at ISI. They are to be given thelogical names INI, IN2 and IN3 respectively. The programproduces three output files: OUTl, 0UT2 and 0UT3. They areto be renamed to DATAl, DATA2 and DATA3 respectively andmoved to other sites as follows: DATAl goes to UNIX451,LIATA2 goes to BBN and DATA3 will remain at the NBSlfc). Therewill be only one Network Job step in this , so only one setof specifications will be entered. (Note: The user'sresponses are to the right of the ':'. Responses for pass-word entries for the HAKEPROFILE program are not echoed.All other entries that are not seen are responses ofcarriage-return to indicate no response.)

The following dialogue will transpire:

%nam:makeprofileInput Identifier at BBN:swwInput Identifier at lSI:swwInput Identifier at NBS10:510/46Input Identifier at UNIX451:fitzInput Password at BBN:Input Password at ISI:Input Password at NBS10:Input Password at UNIX451:Input Account at BBN:333Input Account at ISI: 40Input Account at NBS10:Input Account at UNIX451:

:runmacroEnter Program Specifications : TEST@NBS10@UNlX45iRemote file access? (y or n) nLogical Name for Input File 1: INIActual Name for Input File 1: FILElHOST 1 » BBNLogical Name for Input File 2: IN2

-23-

Actual Name for Input File 2: FILE2HOST 2 =

Logical iMame for Input File 3: IN3Actual £4ame for Input File 3: FIL£3dOST 3 » ISILogical Name for Input File 4:Logical Name for Output File 1: OUTlActual Name for Output File 1: OATAlHOST 1 = UNIX451Logical Name for Output File 2: 0UT2Actual Name for Output File2: DATA2HOST 2 * BBNLogical Name for Output File 3: 0UT3Actual Name for Output File 3: 0ATA3HOST 3 =

0UT4 *

£nter Program Specif icationss:run

The "RUN" macro produced is the following. The userpassword supplied from the profile is indicated by <PASSMD>.

NBS10 510/46 <PASSWO>UNIX451 FITZ <PASSMO>TRANSFER TEST NBS10LEAVEUNIX451CONNBBN S^iN <PASSMO>RETRIEVE FILElLEAVEBBNREMADE FILEl INlRENAME FILE 2 IN2CONNISIRETRIEVE FILE3LEAVEISIRENAME FILE3 IN3EX TESTCONNUNIX451 FITZ <PASSWD>RENAME OUTl DATAlTRANSFER OATAl UN1X4 51LEAVEUNIX451CONNBBN SWM <PASSMD>RENAME 0UT2 0ATA2TRANSFER 0ATA2 BBNLEAVE BBNRENAME 0UT3 0ATA3LEAVE

-24

V. CONCLUSIONS

The Common Command Language for File Manipulation andNetwork Job Execution was developed to facilitate user in-teraction with the various systems of a network. Aspresently implemented, it enables a user to perform filemanipulations on four different system types after learningonly one simple language. In addition, the language pro-vides the ability to gain access to a system , to identify auser to that system and to easily transfer files betweensystems without learning complicated protocols.

work is currently underway to combine the CCL with aNetworkwide Directory (NWD) to develop the idea of a "net-work user." A network user will be connected to the dif-ferent systems on the network through the NAh and be able toaccess the files resident on the different hosts the sameway a single system user can access files resident on dif-fent devices. Address resolution of the files will be donethrough the NAM using the NWD and will be transparent to theuser. Incorporated within this system will be a record levelaccess capability for files on remote systems along with fa-cilities to control user access to those files.

-25-

APPENDIX 1: THE COMMAND LANGUAGE

Connection Establishing Commands

BBN <IDENTIFIER>Ibl <IDENTIfI£R>MULTICS <IDENTIFIER>NBSltf <IDENTIFIEK>UNIX451 <ID£NTIFI£R>

File Handling Commands

APPEND FILEl FILE2COMPARE FILEl FILE2COPY FILEl FILE2CREATE FILE2DELETE PILElERASELISTRENAMETYPEUNDELETE

File Transfer Commands

RETRIEVE FILEl HOSTTRANSFER FILEl HOST

Connection Termination Commands

LEAVE

Network Job Execution

Makeprofile UtiltityRunmacro UtiltityRUN

26-

[KIM 76-lJ Kimbleton, S. R. , Final Report, ContractF30603-75-C-0222, Rome Air Development Center, January 1976.

[KIM 76-2] Kimbleton, S. R. and R. L. Mandell, "A Perspec-tive on Network Operating Systems", Procedings of the AFIPSNational Computer Conference , vol. 45, 1976, pp. 551-559.

[NBS 77] National Bureau of Standards, "User - Terminal Pro-tocols, ENTRY and EXIT Procedures between Terminal Users andComputer Services, Federal Register , vol. 42, No. 238, pp.62408 - 62416.

[NEU 75] Neumann, A. J., "Proposed Implementation forDevelopment of User- Terminal Protocols for Computer NetworKAccess, NBSIR 75 - 744, July 1975.

IROS 76] Rosenthal, Robert, "A Review of NetworK AccessTechniques with a Case Study: The Network Access Machine",NBS Technical Note 917, July 1976.

[ROS 78] Rosenthal, Robert, and Lucas, Bruce D., The Designand Implementation of the National Bureau of StandardsNetwork Access Machine ( NAM ) , NBS Special Publication Series500, m preparation.

[UNG 74] Unger, Claus (editor), "Command Languages",Procedings of the IFIP Working Conference on CommandLanguages , Lund, Sweden, 1974.

[WOOD 78] Wood, Helen M. , and Kimbleton, S. R. , "RemoteRecord Access: Requirements, Implementation, and Analysis,"in preparation.

-27-

NBS-114A (REV, 7-73)

U.S. DEPT. OF COMM. 1. PUBLICATION OR REPORT NO. 2. Gov't Accession

""'°-ShYe"t^ NBS SP.500-37

3. Recipient's Accession No.

4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE

COMPUTER SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY:rrtmmnn PnmmanH I AnniiAno "Fav^ Flip M^ini mil ai"! nn ;^nH Nlp'hwnv^k'uornniuii ^uiiuiiariu Laiiyuciyc i ur r i i c riaii ijJuiaLiuii aiiu i^ctwur n

Job Execution: An Example

5. Publication Date

August 1978

6. Performing Organization Code

7. AUTHOR(S)

M. L. Fitzgerald8. Performing Organ. Report No.

9. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME AND ADDRESS

NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDSDEPARTMENT OF COMMERCEWASHINGTON, D.C. 20234

10. Project/Task/Work Unit No.

650212911. Contract/Grant No.

12. Sponsoring Organization Name and Complete Address (Street, City, State, ZIP) 13. Type of Report & PeriodCovered

Special Publication

14. Sponsoring Agency Code

15. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 7S-6OOO69

16. ABSTRACT (A 200-word or less (actual summary ol most si^ificant information. If document includes a significant

bibliography or literature survey, mention it here.)

Computer networks provide the capability for sharing resources across

many diverse computer systems. Utilizing this capability is inhibited by

the requirement that the user become familiar with all the varied command

languages and protocols of each accessed system. This report presents a

general approach to solving this problem using an intermediary system to

support a set of Common Commands for File Manipulation and Network Job

Execution. To show the feasibility of this approach, common commands were

implemented for four systems using the NBS Network Access Machine.

17. KEY WORDS (six to twelve entries; alphabetical order; capitalize only the first letter ol the first key word unless a proper

name; separated by semicolons)

Command language; computer network; file manipulation; macros; network access;

network job execution; network operating' systems.

18. AVAILABILITY |XII Unlimited

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