HP 3000 Manuals HP 3000 Manuals
GLOSSARY
banners The generic term for either the header or trailer of a
printout. It contains identification information for the
listing.
batch job A batch job is the noninteractive execution of a series of
MPE/iX commands and/or user programs. The commands and
programs are preceded by a valid JOB command and followed by
the EOJ command. Batch jobs are submitted to the system
with a spooled input device or the STREAM command.
checkpoint A snapshot of the state of a printer at a point in the
output known to both the device and the spooler. By using
checkpoints in the appropriate device commands, the spooler
can quickly reestablish the state of a device as of the time
of the checkpoint. A CIPER protocol printer generates a
checkpoint at the top of each page.
checkpoint file A small file that the spooling subsystem creates and
manages. The spooler keeps checkpoints returned from the
device, as well as other data that it needs to recover
properly from printing interruptions. There is one
checkpoint file per spool file per device on which the spool
file is printed. All checkpoint files for a given spool
file are deleted when the spool file is deleted.
CIPER An acronym for control of intelligent peripherals. CIPER is
a spooler printer cooperative protocol designed to foster
rapid recovery from a device interruption such as a power
failure. A device using this protocol generates checkpoints
and returns them to the spooler, which saves them in a
checkpoint file. Printer output may be interrupted by
either a device failure or a user command. When output
resumes, an appropriate checkpoint is retrieved from the
checkpoint file and is downloaded to the printer, restoring
the state of the printer to that checkpoint. In this way,
it is possible to start transmitting spool file data at
points other than the beginning of the file. For large
output spool files, the time saved is quite noticeable.
Currently, the only peripherals that support CIPER protocol
are the HP-IB connected HP 256x family of line printers.
CM spooler CM spooler refers to the compatibility mode spooler released
with all versions of MPE/iX before release A.40.00.
conditional top-of-page The motion of the logical pen or physical paper such that
the next output begins at the top of the next logical page,
on the same physical sheet, or on a new physical sheet
(depending on use). Conditional means that this motion does
not occur if the the pen is already at the top of the page
due to an explicit FOPEN or FCLOSE of a spooled device file
by a user, or a record with a carriage-control character of
one (octal 61).
data file An input spool file that has been entered through a device
or streamed using the DATA command. T he data in it will be
used later by an interactive session or batch job.
FLABX An acronym for file label extension. Each MPE file has a
label in which are stored attributes common to all files
(such as its unique file identifier, or UFID). The FLABX is
an optional additional area associated with the file label
in which information may be stored that is not part of the
data in the file. For spool files, the NMS stores
attributes such as file state (READY, PRINT), output
priority, and number of copies in the FLABX.
linked spool file A spool file that has an entry in the SPFDIR and, therefore,
is known to the spooling subsystem. A linked spool file is
always in the reserved account HPSPOOL. Input spool files
are in IN.HPSPOOL and output spool files are in OUT.HPSPOOL.
Only linked output spool files can be scheduled for printing
by a spooler. Linked input spool files are used by a CI. If
you copy a spool file from OUT.HPSPOOL to your group and
account, that copy has no SPFDIR entry and is therefore not
a linked spool file.
MOM MOM is a child process of PROGEN, the master system process.
MOM creates all other spooling processes.
operator The person who monitors the system console and manages the
computer on a daily basis. This includes establishing job
and session limits, setting the output fence, responding to
users' resource requests, loading the system after a
shutdown or failure, and informing users of the system's
status. Operator is also called console operator or system
operator.
private spool file A spool file that is created with the PRIVATE option
specified. The private option is intended for applications
that produce sensitive output. Private spool files have
more stringent access and attribute restrictions than
nonprivate spool files.
selection equation A method of selecting one or more spool files from a larger
group of spool files according to user-specified criteria.
The selection equation is not an independent command or
intrinsic. It is a feature of the LISTSPF and SPOOLF
commands. Further details may be found in the description
of the LISTSPF and SPOOLF commands in chapter 4.
silent run A method of recovery to a particular page following an
interruption of the printing process. The interruption can
be expected, as in SPOOLER...;SUSPEND, or unexpected, as in
a device power failure. Silent run requires hardware
support in the device or software support in the device's
storage manager. When in silent run mode, the device or
storage manager interprets, but does not print, all data
sent to it. When it reaches the page at which it should
start printing, it does so automatically and without
additional spooler control. Some devices, such as the HP
2680, must silent run from the beginning of the spool file
to the restart point. Others, such as CIPER devices, are
capable of silent running from a location closer to the
desired start point. Serial printing devices do not support
any form of silent run, so any silent running must be
simulated by the device's storage manager or the device must
restart at the beginning of the file.
SPFDIR Spool File directory. There are two SPFDIRs, one for input
spoofiles and another for output spool files. Each SPFDIR
is an internal table used by the native mode spooler to keep
information about spool files that are linked (known to the
spooling subsystem). Attributes such as target device,
output priority, and number of copies are kept in an SPFDIR
entry. Each SPFDIR contains a working copy of this
information, built from the master copy (kept in each spool
file's FLABX) when the system is booted and whenever new
linked spool files are created.
SPIT Spooling process information table. This is an internal
table used by the native mode spooler to keep information
about spooling processes. Attributes such as process state
(ACTIVE, IDLE, SUSPEND) and current SPOOLID (if any) are
kept in the SPIT entry.
spool Acronym for simultaneous peripheral operation online. A
facility that permits concurrent usage of devices that would
otherwise be nonshareable, such as tape drives and printers.
This is accomplished by copying the input from or output to
these devices to disk, where it waits until the required
process (input) or device is available. The operation is
called spooling, and the program that accomplishes it is
called a spooler. This facility includes commands for
monitoring and controlling the spooled devices and the
spooled files on disk.
spooler A process that manages input from or output to nonshareable
devices so that they appear to be shared among several
users. The input spooler collects data from an input device
(usually a tape drive) and places it in a disk file for
later use by a CI or user process. The output spooler
oversees the orderly selection and printing of spool files.
spool file The term spool file refers to a file originating from or
directed to a nondisk spooled device. When a nonshareable
device is spooled, any user program attempting to access the
device is actually accessing an opened input spool file or a
created output spool file instead of the device itself.
Associated with each spool file (except DATA files) is a job
or session number, a file designator, a user name, an
account name, a device name, the state of the file, and a
SPOOLID. (A DATA file may, but need not, have a file
designator. It has no job or session number until it is
opened by the user. It has all of the other attributes
listed.) Spool Files may be in one of the following states:
OPEN, ACTIVE (input spool files only), READY, DELPND (input
or output spool files), CREATE, PRINT, DEFER, PROBLM,
SPSAVE, or XFER (output spool files only). These states
describe different steps in the life of a spool file.
SPOOLID The NMS equivalent of the CM spooler device file ID (DFID).
The primary difference is that it can range from 1 to
9,999,999. The SPOOLID is the number that follows the #O's
or #I's in the LISTSPF display and the spool file portion of
the SHOWIN or SHOWOUT display. It is assigned by the NMS
file management routines when the spool file is first
created and is associated with the file for its entire
lifetime. It determines the filename of the spool file.
storage manager The lowest level of the three MPE/iX file system
abstractions. The storage manager is responsible for
resolving all device specific requirements into a common
interface for higher levels. For example, all printers
support the concept of a device job. All data is printed
between the start and end of a device job, but different
printers have different ways of being told to start and end
a job, and different responses to these commands. The
storage managers accept a generic START DEVICE JOB command
and issue whatever unique device commands are required to
implement the generic command.
stream A concept similar to input spooling by which users submit
batch jobs to MPE/iX. An input spooler is a system process
controlling a device that reads batch job record images into
an input spool file for later execution. The STREAM command
runs in a user process and accesses a file of batch job
record images, reading these images into an input spool file
for later execution.
system manager The person who manages the computer installation, who is
responsible for creating accounts, and who defines the
resource use limits and capabilities for each user.
type manager The middle level of the three MPE/iX file system
abstractions. The type manager is a filter for file access
methods. For example, a tape type manager would allow the
intrinsic FREADBACKWARD, where a disk type manager would
return an error. For a second example, a disk type manager
for RIO files would allow the intrinsic FDELETE, while the
disk type manager for non-RIO files would not.