Compaq PATHWORKS for OpenVMS (Advanced Server)
Server Administrator's Guide


Previous Contents Index

4.3.11.2 Displaying and Modifying Shares from a Windows NT Server

To display and modify the OpenVMS share from a Windows NT Server, use the following share path:


C:\vmsdevicename\directorypath

For example, if you add a share using the ADMINISTER command ADD SHARE, and you specify $1$DUA2:[SHARE.LEVEL2] as the share path for share LEVEL2, when you display this share from the Windows NT Server Manager, the share path is displayed in the following format:


C:\$1$DUA2\SHARE\LEVEL2 

4.3.11.3 File-Naming Conventions

An operating system's file system determines the conventions that apply to file and directory names. When you use the PATHWORKS Advanced Server, you can use long file and directory names, much as with OpenVMS. Windows NT, Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows 2000 provide long file names, but Windows V3.11 and MS-DOS do not. For example, on Windows NT, Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows 2000 clients, file names may contain more than one period, and have file extensions of any length within the file name length limit. In contrast, MS-DOS clients limit file names to the "8.3" convention: file names can be no longer than eight characters, there must be one period to separate the file name from the file extension, and the file extension can be up to three characters.

All files stored on the PATHWORKS Advanced Server are subject to the PATHWORKS Advanced Server file naming conventions.

4.3.11.3.1 PATHWORKS Advanced Server File Naming

The PATHWORKS Advanced Server uses the naming conventions shown in the following table.

Note

PATHWORKS Advanced Server stores file names as all uppercase characters.

Table 4-11 Advanced Server File-Naming Conventions
Convention What Is Supported Notes
File name length Up to 78 characters, including the extension (39.39 format). Separate the extension from the name by using a period. When clients store files whose names include spaces or nonalphanumeric characters (characters not included in the standard character sets), the length of a file name on an ODS-2 volume is limited further: Each such character takes up four characters on the disk volume.
File name characters Alphanumeric characters (a-z, A-Z, 0-9), dollar sign ($), underscore (_) and hyphen (-), plus any of the 8-bit nonalphanumeric characters of the ISO Latin-1 character set, with the exception of the following characters:
C0 control codes (0x00 to 0x1F inclusive)
Double quotation marks (")
Asterisk (*)
Backslash (\)
Colon (:)
Left angle bracket (<)
Right angle bracket (>)
Slash (/)
Question mark (?)
Vertical bar (|)
Lowercase letters are stored as uppercase.
Supported 8-bit nonalphanumeric characters are encoded as __ XX, where XX is the 8-bit code.
Any OpenVMS system file or directory name that contains excluded characters is neither visible nor accessible by the client.

4.3.11.3.2 MS-DOS and Windows File Naming

If you are using the Advanced Server in an environment where long file names are not always supported, users should continue using MS-DOS file naming conventions. For example, if your clients are running Windows 3.11, or older Windows applications that only recognize the 8.3 file format, file names should follow the 8.3 file-naming convention; if your clients are running Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows 2000, they can use long file names.

On MS-DOS, Windows NT, Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows 2000 clients, the following names are reserved and cannot be used for files or directories on OpenVMS disk volumes: AUX, COM1, COM2, COM3, COM4, CON, LPT1, LPT2, LPT3, NUL, and PRN.

On Windows NT, Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows 2000 clients, file names preserve uppercase and lowercase characters, and are case sensitive. The Advanced Server stores these file names as uppercase and is not case sensitive.

For more details on file naming conventions supported by each type of client, refer to the appropriate documentation for that client operating system.

4.3.11.3.3 Alias File Names Accommodate Client Applications Limited to the MS-DOS File Name Format

As noted previously, clients and client applications are more restrictive with file names than are the Advanced Server and Windows NT. For example, MS-DOS file names are limited to the "8.3" convention: file names can be no longer than eight characters, with a period separating the file name from the file extension, and the file extension can be up to three characters. Obviously, these applications do not take full advantage of longer file names supported on Windows NT, the Advanced Server, and other systems.

To maintain compatibility between MS-DOS clients and Windows NT, and between legacy applications and Windows NT, the Windows NT Server provides an alternate way of accessing files with names that are not compatible with MS-DOS conventions. Windows NT generates MS-DOS-compatible alias names for these files.

The PATHWORKS Advanced Server file server also creates MS-DOS-compatible alias file names for shared files whose names do not conform to the MS-DOS format. As a result, client applications that must use, or choose to use, the MS-DOS format for file names, can access these shared files on the server by using the file's associated alias name. Clients (depending on their file systems) can use either the real file name or the alias file name to access the file.

Note

Alias file names are usually used by client applications. Users will seldom need to use them.

The Advanced Server alias file names are functionally equivalent to the alias names generated by the Windows NT Server in that each alias file name:

For generating its alias file names, the Advanced Server uses a different algorithm than does Windows NT; consequently, the alias file names generated by the Advanced Server do not resemble alias file names generated by the Windows NT Server. An Advanced Server alias file name always includes an eight-character base, and includes an extension of the same length as the original extension, if any, up to three characters. The first character and extension of the alias file name are derived from the real file name and its extension, substituting an underscore (_) for any such character that is not MS-DOS-compatible.

The following example shows an MS-DOS directory listing that includes alias file names generated for MS-DOS compatibility. In this example:


F:\DEMO>dir/x 
 Volume in drive F is USER1 
 Volume Serial Number is 0000-0001 
 
 Directory of F:\DEMO 
 
06/01/01  01:14p        <DIR>                          . 
05/31/01  04:14p        <DIR>                          .. 
05/21/01  04:30p                    16                 12345678.123 
05/21/01  04:30p                    16 14AD1'HA.123    123456789.1234 
05/21/01  04:30p                    16 L1JKGVAM        LONG FILENAME 
05/21/01  04:30p                    16 X2$'XC`R.1_3    X.1+345678 
05/21/01  04:30p                    16 _0XY8I@H._      +.+ 
   .
   .
   .


Chapter 5
Managing Printers, Print Queues, and Print Shares

The Advanced Server software lets you share printers connected to the network (accessible from the OpenVMS system). You can create an Advanced Server print share for any OpenVMS print queue and assign access permissions to that share. Users can then send print jobs to the queue specified by the share as though they were using a local printer.

The procedures you use to manage shared printers are described in this chapter:

The Advanced Server makes printers available to network users through shared print queues. A print queue stores print jobs as users submit them. When a printer associated with the queue becomes available, the Advanced Server routes a job to that printer.

To share a printer, you add the printer (print queue) to the server's share database. You use ADMINISTER commands to add a print queue and set it up for sharing. You assign the share name to a queue that points to the printer.

Because the Advanced Server is based on the OpenVMS operating system, the print queues and the printers that you share can be OpenVMS print queues and printers.

This chapter explains how to share printers that are connected to the network, accessible from the OpenVMS system.

5.1 OpenVMS Print Queues

OpenVMS systems use execution queues and generic queues to provide access to printers as follows:

You can use any of the following methods to create and manage OpenVMS print queues:

5.1.1 Types of Advanced Server Print Queues

An Advanced Server print queue can be either of the following:

5.2 Planning Printer Services

To support the printing needs of your users, plan print queues and print shares to meet their requirements. You can set up printers as shared devices, and you can establish constraints on print queues.

5.2.1 Sharing Printers and Print Queues

The way you make printers available to Advanced Server users depends on your server installation and whether you want to share existing OpenVMS print queues or create new ones.

Advanced Server users access the print queue by specifying a print share.

To make a print share operational, a print queue must be established first. To establish both a print queue and a print share, first set up the print queue, then set up the print share.

With the ADMINISTER interface, you create a print share so that users can send print requests to the print share rather than to individual print queues. For access from Windows NT, Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows 2000 clients that will print to a Advanced Server shared print queue, the share name and the queue name must be the same; for other clients, like Windows 3.11, the share and queue name can be different. Multiple print shares can point to the same print queue.

The Advanced Server print queue name is limited to no more than 12 characters. If the OpenVMS print queue name has more than 12 characters, you can define an OpenVMS logical name for the print queue, to translate the queue name. You might use a logical name that is the same as the share name.

For example, the following OpenVMS command defines a logical name GLENDA for the OpenVMS print queue GLENDASPRINTER:


$ DEFINE/SYSTEM GLENDA GLENDASPRINTER 

Then, when you use ADMINISTER commands, you can use the logical name to specify the print queue when you create a print share for it.

5.3 Managing Printers, Print Shares, and Print Jobs

You manage printers, print shares, and print jobs by using the ADMINISTER command-line interface. To set up shared printers, do the following:

  1. Use the ADD PRINT QUEUE command to establish an OpenVMS print queue as a print queue on the server, defining it as either a printer queue (OpenVMS execution queue) or a routing queue (OpenVMS generic queue).
  2. Create a share for that queue, using the ADD SHARE/PRINT command.

5.3.1 Setting Up a New Printer

The information in this section applies only to printers supported by the OpenVMS operating system. If you start with no OpenVMS queue and create an Advanced Server print queue, the Advanced Server creates the OpenVMS print queue.

To set up a new printer to make it available to Advanced Server clients:

  1. Connect the printer to your server or network. Refer to your printer documentation for physical connection information. See Section 5.3.1.2, Connecting Your Printer, for information about specifying printer connections to OpenVMS systems.
  2. Use the ADMINISTER command interface to:
    1. Create a printer queue for the printer, as described in Section 5.3.1.3, Creating an Advanced Server Print Queue.
    2. Create a routing print queue (optional), as described in Section 5.3.1.3, Creating an Advanced Server Print Queue.
    3. Create a print share for the queue, as described in Section 5.3.2.7.1, Creating an Advanced Server Print Share.

5.3.1.1 Printer Types

To share a PostScript printer, selected PostScript printers might require use of the DECprint Supervisor for OpenVMS (DCPS) software for communication with the printers over DECnet or TCP/IP. In this case, use DCPS to create the queue. Then set up the queue as an Advanced Server print share, using the ADMINISTER ADD SHARE/PRINT command, as explained in Section 5.3.2.7.1, Creating an Advanced Server Print Share.

Printers supported by Advanced Server software include:

To use the Advanced Server ADMINISTER command interface to display the printers that are supported, enter the following command:


LANDOFOZ\\TINMAN>HELP ADD PRINT QUEUE /TYPE 

5.3.1.2 Connecting Your Printer

When you connect your printer, make a note of the printer type and the name of the physical device or port to which it is connected.

The list of physical device connectors or ports includes, but is not limited to:

For example, the type of printer may be a DL3200 (a DEClaser 3200), and the physical device or port to which it is connected may be LTA201.

5.3.1.3 Creating an Advanced Server Print Queue

A print queue can be either a printer queue associated with a physical printing device, or a routing queue that routes print requests to one or more print queues. Typically, a routing queue points to a group of printers that have similar characteristics. You could also set up several print queues for the same printer. This might be useful if you want to set up different print queue characteristics for a printer.

To create queues for printers on your server, you must be logged on to a user account that is a member of one of the following groups:

To create a printer queue or routing queue, use the ADD PRINT QUEUE command. Use the SET PRINT QUEUE command to change the characteristics of an existing queue.

For each Advanced Server queue, you must specify whether it is a printer queue or a routing queue. For a printer queue, you can specify the printer device type and the port to which the printer is connected to the OpenVMS system. For a routing queue, you can specify one or more printer queues to which the print jobs in the routing queue will be sent.

For example, the following command creates a printer queue called GLENDA1 for the DEClaser 3200 printer that is connected to LTA201:


LANDOFOZ\\TINMAN> ADD PRINT QUEUE GLENDA1 /PRINTER=LTA201- 
_LANDOFOZ\\TINMAN> /TYPE=DL3200 
%PWRK-S-QUEADD, queue "GLENDA" added on server "TINMAN" 

The following command sets up or establishes the routing queue called GLENDA. Print jobs sent to GLENDA go to either of the two printer queues, GLENDA1 or GLENDA2. The description of the routing queue is "Glenda's routing queue."


LANDOFOZ\\TINMAN> ADD PRINT QUEUE GLENDA /ROUTE_TO=(GLENDA1,GLENDA2) - 
_LANDOFOZ\\TINMAN> /DESCRIPTION="GLENDA's routing queue" 
%PWRK-S-QUEADD, queue "GLENDA" added on server "TINMAN" 
 
LANDOFOZ\\TINMAN> 

5.3.2 Managing Printers Using the Advanced Server ADMINISTER Command-Line Interface

This section provides information about displaying, modifying, and managing print queues from the Advanced Server, using the ADMINISTER command interface. To manage print queues, you must be logged on to a user account that is a member of one of the following groups:

There are no special requirements for displaying print queue information.

5.3.2.1 Displaying Print Queue Information

Using the SHOW PRINT QUEUE command, you can display a list of the server's print queues, information about a specific queue, or information about the print jobs in each queue. To display information about the print queues on a server, use one of the following procedures.

5.3.2.1.1 Displaying Information About All Print Queues on a Server

To display information about all print queues on a server, use the SHOW PRINT QUEUES command, as in the following example:


LANDOFOZ\\TINMAN> SHOW PRINT QUEUES 
Name              Jobs   Status        Printer/Routing    Description 
----------------  ------ ------        ---------------    -------------- 
User_PRNT          2     destination   LRA0:GENERIC 
                          paused 
GLENDA             0     PAUSED 
 
LANDOFOZ\\TINMAN> 

The Advanced Server displays, in tabular form:

If a job is currently printing from a given queue, an additional line is displayed that contains the job ID (job identification number), the user name that queued the print job, and the status of the print job.


Previous Next Contents Index