The Cell Directory Service (CDS) control program is a command line
interface for managing the components of the Cell Directory Service
and the contents of the namespace.
You can use the control program commands from within the control
program or from the system prompt. To use the control program
commands from inside the control program, start the control program
by using the cdscp command alone, without any argument. This enters
the control program, which displays the control program prompt
(cdscp>):
$ cdscp
cdscp>
At this prompt, you can enter any control program command;
for example:
cdscp> show server
Use the command do filename from inside the control program to read a
file of commands.
To leave the control program and return to the system prompt, use the
quit command. To use the control program commands from the system
prompt, enter the cdscp command with an internal command of the CDS
control program as the first argument. The control program executes
the command immediately, without displaying the control program
prompt.For example, you can enter the show server command as follows:
$ cdscp show server
1 – Elements of a CDS Command
All CDS control program commands must include a verb, an entity name, and all required arguments. Depending on the command, you can also specify optional arguments and attributes. A space must separate more than one attribute or argument. A space must precede and follow an equal sign (=).
1.1 – Verbs
The following is a list of the definitions of verbs used in
control program commands:
add Adds a value to a modifiable, set-valued attribute
clear Removes knowledge of a cached clearinghouse or cached
server from memory
create Creates an entity
define Creates knowledge of a locally cached server
delete Deletes an entity
disable Stops operation of a clerk or server
dump Displays the contents of a clerk cache
list Displays a list of specified entity names
remove Removes a value from a set-valued or single-valued
attribute
set Changes the value of a modifiable, single-valued
attribute
show Displays attribute information
1.2 – Entity Names
Any individually manageable piece of CDS is called an entity. A
set of commands exists for each entity. The following is a list of
the entities and a description of what each entity represents:
Cached Clearinghouse
A cached clearinghouse is a clearinghouse that a clerk
has discovered and cached. A clerk can learn about
clearinghouses as a result of configuration information,
advertisements received on a LAN, or during the process
of finding a name.
Cached Server
A cached server is a server that a clerk has cached as
a result of manual configuration through the control
program.
Child A child pointer connects a parent and child directory in
a hierarchical namespace. The child pointer is stored in
the parent directory and has the same name as the child
directory.
Clearinghouse
A clearinghouse is a database containing a collection of
directory replicas at a particular server.
Clerk The clerk is the interface between client applications
and servers.
Directory
A directory contains child,object and link entries that
are logically stored under one name
(the directory name).
Link A soft link is a pointer providing an alternate name for
an object entry, directory, or other soft link.
Object An object entry represents a resource (for example, an
application) that is named in the namespace.
Replica A replica is a copy of a directory. Each copy, including
the original or master, is referred to as a replica.
Server A server handles lookup requests from clerks and
maintains the contents of the clearinghouse or
clearinghouses at its node.
1.3 – Attributes
Every CDS entity has attributes, which are pieces or sets of data associated with that entity. Attributes can reflect or affect the operational behavior of an entity, record the number of times a particular event or problem occurred since the entity was last enabled, and uniquely distinguish an entity from any other entity. Some attributes have a single value; others contain a set of values. CDS attributes are identified by ISO object identifiers (OIDs). Every CDS attribute name maps to an OID and a corresponding data type. Usually, client applications define the name of an attribute and its data type. Application programmers should never need to modify (except for the purpose of foreign language trans- lation) the existing CDS labels associated with the unique OIDs in the cds_attributes file. However, programmers can obtain new OIDs from the appropriate allocation authority, create new attributes for their own object entries, and then append them to the existing list. The OID and data type of each attribute are stored in the file DCE$COMMON:[ETC]CDS_ATTRIBUTES.DAT. Descriptions of the CDS data types that applications can use are in the cdsclerk.h file. All entities have show commands that you can use to display the names and values of specific attributes or all attributes. When you display an attribute that has more than one value, the show command lists each value for the attribute separately. When there are multiple values for an attribute, the command first lists the attribute name on a line ending with a colon, then the parts of the value. For more information about CDS attributes, see the DCE Directory Service module in the DCE Administration Guide.
2 – Editing the Commands
You can abbreviate commands, continue a command beyond one line, or
redirect output to a file within the control program.
To abbreviate any command name, type only the first four characters.
You can abbreviate a command name to fewer than four characters as
long as the abbreviated name remains unique among all command names
in the control program. For example, the following commands are
equivalent:
cdscp> show directory /.:/sales
cdscp> sh dir /.:/sales
To continue a long command line onto the next line, type a space and
then a \ (backslash) at the end of the first line, for example:
cdscp> set link /.:/sales CDS_LinkTimeout \
> (1991-12-31-12:00:00 090-00:00:00)
To add a comment, use the # (number sign). Everything following the
# character on a line is ignored.
3 – Using Wildcard Characters
When entering a name in show and list commands, you can use wildcard characters in the rightmost simple name (the name to the right of the last slash (/) in the full pathname). The asterisk (*) matches 0 or more characters in a simple name. The question mark (?) matches exactly one character in a simple name. When you use an asterisk or a question mark as a normal character in the rightmost simple name of a show or list command, escape it with a backslash (\* or \?). Otherwise, the character is interpreted as a wildcard. You cannot use wildcard characters in show clerk and show server commands.
4 – Permissions Required
CDS supports the following DCE permissions: read (r), write (w),
insert (i), delete (d), test (t), control (c), and administer (a).
Each permission has a slightly different meaning, depending on the
kind of CDS name with which it is associated. In general, the
permissions are defined as follows:
Read Allows a principal to look up a name and view the
attribute values associated with it.
Write Permission allows a principal to change the modifiable
attributes associated with a name, except the name's
access control list (ACL) entries.
Insert Permission (for use with directory entries only) allows a
principal to create new names in a directory.
Delete Permission allows a principal to delete a name from the
namespace.
Test Permission allows a principal to test whether an attribute
of a name has a particular value without being able to
actually see any of the values (that is, without having
read permission to the name).
Test permission provides application programs a more
efficient way to verify a CDS attribute value. Rather
than reading an entire set of values, an application can
test for the presence of a particular value.
Control Permission allows a principal to modify the ACL entries
associated with a name. (Note that read permission is
also necessary for modifying a CDS entry's ACLs;otherwise,
acl_edit will not be able to bind to the entry.) Control
permission is automatically granted to the creator of
a CDS name.
Administer
Permission (for use with directory entries only) allows
a principal to issue CDS control program commands that
control the replication of directories.
The creator of a name is automatically granted all permissions
appropriate for the type of name created. For example, a principal
creating an object entry is granted read, write, delete, test, and
control permission to the object entry. A principal creating a
directory is granted read, write, insert, delete, test, control,
and administer permission to the directory.