An Overview of the Store Process

Typically, when someone needs to store files, the following things happen:

The user assigns a name to the backup device (using the FILE command) and issues a STORE command to store some or all of his or her own files.
The STORE command automatically sends a tape request to the console.
If the tape drive is available, you load and prepare a tape for file copying. Then, to let the user (and the STORE program) know that the copying can begin, you answer the tape request.
When all the files have been copied, you remove the tape and give it to the user.

There may be times, however, when you are both the user and the system operator. In this case, you issue the FILE and STORE commands to store a set of your own files or a set of system files and you also handle the media and monitor the console for STORE messages. This chapter describes the store process with this in mind.

The next section explains how and when to issue a FILE command to name a backup device. Following that is a brief explanation of the hierarchical file system (HFS) that was introduced with Release 4.5 of MPE/iX, along with the general rules for specifying file sets using MPE syntax and HFS syntax. The remainder of the chapter describes the how to use the STORE command and all of its options.

To assign a name to the backup device

Use the FILE command to assign a file name to a backup device according to its logical device number (LDEV), or its device class. Using the backup device's logical device number is a more exact way to assign a file name to a particular device. There is only one device with LDEV number 8 in your system. However, several devices may be assigned the device class TAPE.

For example, to assign the file name T to LDEV 8, enter:

   FILE T;DEV=8

Or, for example, to assign the file name BACKUP to all devices with the device class name TAPE, enter:

   FILE BACKUP;DEV=TAPE

When you are choosing how to reference a backup device in the FILE command, keep in mind that you must reply to device requests at the console under two circumstances:

When you use a device class that has been assigned to more than one device in the FILE command to name backup devices
If Auto Reply is not enabled on the designated device

To set up an auto reply device

Some backup devices have an Auto Reply feature. To set up such a device so that it automatically replies to a request, enable Auto Reply on the device and assign it a unique name with the FILE command. The simplest way to assign it a unique name is to reference the device by its LDEV number. You may, however, reference it by device class name so long as the device class name is associated with one, and only one, device.

To choose the files you want stored

You use the filesetlist parameter of the STORE command to specify exactly which files you want stored: one file, several files, or all the files on the system. In addition to naming many kinds of file sets, you can name file subsets to be excluded from the STORE process.

With Release 4.5 of MPE/iX, the file system is no longer limited to three levels (account, group, and user) but instead is hierarchical, or tree structured. To facilitate this new organization, MPE/iX uses a new type of file, called a directory, which contain lists of files and pointers to those files. Users can now keep MPE files in directories as well as in groups, and a single directory (or a group) can have multiple levels of subdirectories within it. Moreover, all files in the system are stored in a root directory, represented by the slash character (/).

The introduction of the hierarchical file system (HFS) has resulted in changes to the process of storing files which you, as the system operator, need to understand. The next few sections outline the changes you can anticipate. Throughout this chapter, you will see examples of the STORE command that include MPE syntax and HFS syntax. For the complete syntax of the STORE command and the text of the error messages, refer to the MPE/iX Commands Reference Manual, Vol. II (32650-90374).




	NOTE: For a thorough explanation of HFS, read New Features of MPE/iX: Using the Hierarchical File System (32650-90351).

To name file sets in MPE and HFS syntax

Valid file names that use MPE syntax are also valid in HFS syntax; however, the converse is not necessarily true. For example, the MPE file name STORE.PUB.SYS is equivalent to /SYS/PUB/STORE in the HFS syntax; but the file name /tmp/store is not a valid MPE file designation because HFS syntax is case sensitive whereas MPE syntax is not. As a result, the way you specify the file set to store or restore has changed.

Here are the rules for specifying MPE/iX file sets in the STORE command:

To perform a full system backup, use / as the file set instead of @.@.@. (You can use @.@.@, but / is recommended.)
If you are storing selected files on your system, separate multiple file sets with a ",".
Specify exclusions from a file set by including a "-" symbol before the file set.
Since "-" is a valid file name character, make sure that it is preceded by a blank so that it is recognized as a negative file set symbol in an HFS syntax file set.

To use wildcard characters and character sets

You can use wildcard characters in the file set specification. This allows you to store, for example:

all files directly under a specified directory
all files and directories at all levels below and including a specified directory
the hierarchical directory structure (i.e., the entire file system)

You may use the following wildcard characters and character sets to refer to a set of files: @, #, ?, [xy], [x-z], [ax-z]. Table 6-1 “Wildcard Characters and Character Sets” shows the meanings of the wildcard characters and provides examples.

Table 6-1 Wildcard Characters and Character Sets

Character	Meaning	Example
@	Represents zero or more alphanumeric characters. By itself, it means "all members of the set".	n@ designates all items that begin with the character n.
#	Represents one numeric character.	n## designates all items beginning with the character n and followed by two numeric characters.
?	Represents one alphanumeric character.	?n designates all two-character items that end with n.
[xy] (any alphanumeric characters)	Specifies a list of characters.	[ad]@ stores all files beginning with a or d.
[x-z] (any range of alphabetic or numeric characters)	Specifies a range of characters.	[c-t]@ stores all files beginning with c through t.
[ax-z] (any list of alphanumeric characters and any range of alphabetic or numeric characters)	Specifies a list of characters combined with a range of characters.	@[1e-g] stores all files ending with 1 or e through g.




	NOTE: Since the hyphen (`-`) is a valid character in HFS syntax names, you may use it inside a character set immediately following a left bracket (`[`) or preceding a right bracket (`]`). When specified between two characters, the hyphen implies a range of characters.

Every path component specified in the file set expands to include all directories, accounts, or groups at the level that match the wildcard. So, for example, to store all files and directories at the third level below the root directory, the file set would be /@/@/@. If you include a trailing slash (/) in the file set, then all of the directory matches at the last component of the specified set are scanned recursively. For example, to store all files and directories at the third level below the root directory and any files and directories below that level, the file set would be /@/@/@/.

You can use two options, TREE and NOTREE, to override the trailing slash on the file set. The TREE option forces every file set to be scanned recursively from the specified level, including any levels beneath it; the NOTREE option forces every file set to be scanned at the specified level.

The following table shows examples of valid MPE/iX file sets for STORE and RESTORE.

Table 6-2 Example File Sets for STORE/RESTORE

File Set	Contents
`?@.@.@`	All files and directories directly under MPE groups whose names conform to MPE syntax
`./file1`	`file1` in the current working directory
`./@ or @`	All files and directories directly below the current working directory
`?@`	All files and directories in the current working directory whose names conform to MPE syntax
`./[aA]@`	All files or directories in the current working directory whose names begin with "a" or "A"
`./dir1/@`	All files or directories located in the subdirectory `dir1` in the current working directory
`/SYS/PUB/@ or @.PUB.SYS`	All files or directories in directory `/SYS/PUB`
`/@/@/@`	All files or directories three levels below the root directory
`./dir1/a@, ./dir1/@a`	From the current working directory, all files and directories in `dir1` beginning or ending with "a"
`./dir1/@ - ./dir1/a@`	From the current working directory, all files and directories in `dir1` except those beginning with "a"
`/@/@/@ - /SYS/PUB/@`	All files and directories exactly three levels beneath the root directory except the files and directories in `/SYS/PUB`
`/ or @.@.@`	All files and directories on the system (beginning with the root directory and moving down through the entire file system)
`./dir1/`	From the current working directory, all files and directories beneath and including `dir1`
`./dir1/a@, ./dir2/`	From the current working directory, all files and directories beginning with "a" directly beneath `dir1`; and all files and directories at all levels beneath and including `dir2` ofthe current working directory
`./d1/ - ./d1/dir2/@`	All files and directories at all levels beneath and including `d1`, except for those files and directories that are in subdirectory `dir2`
`./dir@/ - ./dir1/dir2/`	From the current working directory, all files and directories beneath directories matching dir@ (such as `dira`, `dirb`, etc.), except the files and directories under subdirectory `dir1/dir2` (or subdirectory `dir2` of `dir1` of the current working directory)
`/ - @.@.@`	All files and directories that are outside of MPE syntax




	NOTE: Anytime the file name part of a MPE syntax name is equal to `@` the name will be folded to an equivalent POSIX name. This folding is only done for inclusion file sets, it is not done for exclusion (negative) file sets.

If you omit a list of files in the STORE command (except in conjunction with the DIRECTORY parameter), the default fileset is all files in your current logon group.

To use character sets in the file set

You can also use character sets to name groups of files. A character set is a series of characters to substitute for a single character. For example, to store all files beginning with the character a, b, c, d, e, or f in the current working directory, enter:

   FILE T;DEV=TAPE

   STORE [a-f]@;*T

Or, for example, to store all files ending with e, f, g, or 1 in the current working directory, enter:

   FILE T;DEV=TAPE

   STORE @[e-g1];*T

You may specify a maximum of 16 characters for each fully qualified file designator part; you may not nest brackets.