Glossary

The generic term for either the header or trailer of a printout. It contains identification information for the listing.

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.

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.

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.

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 refers to the compatibility mode spooler released with all versions of MPE/iX before release A.40.00.

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).

An input spool file that has been entered through a device or streamed using the DATA command. The data in it will be used later by an interactive session or batch job.

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.

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 is a child process of PROGEN, the master system process. MOM creates all other spooling processes.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.