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NAME

       dntask - Execute VMS command procedures

SYNOPSIS

       dntask [options] command-procedure
       Options:
       [-biVh] [-t timeout]

DESCRIPTION

       dntask runs command procedures on a remote VMS system.
       It  takes  advantage  of  the  ability  of the TASK object in DECnet to
       execute an arbitrary command procedure  located  in  the  users’  login
       directory. The remote command procedure should output to SYS$NET rather
       than SYS$OUTPUT and (if interactive) read it’s input also from SYS$NET.
       The VMS equivalent of the (non-interactive version) command would be

       TYPE node::"TASK=command-procedure"

       For  some  example  command  procedures  see the tasks directory of the
       source distribution.  show_system.com is a  non-interactive  task  that
       simply displays the output of the VMS "SHOW SYSTEM" command on standard
       output.  interactive.com is an interactive  task  that  allows  you  to
       enter  DCL  commands  to be executed on the host VMS system. Be careful
       which commands you enter because they will expect input  to  come  from
       the network connection, for instance programs that do screen orientated
       input or output will almost certainly not work.
       Task names can be up to 16 characters  in  length  because  that’s  the
       limit on DECnet object names.

OPTIONS

       -b     Send  the  output in binary mode. By default the output from the
              DECnet task is assumed to be records. This option sends the data
              "as  is"  so  you  can  put commands like BACKUP in the task and
              backup to your Linux box.

       -i     Interact with the command procedure. The command procedure  must
              be  written  to  be  interactive  by reading from and writing to
              SYS$NET. Specifying -i for a non-interactive  command  procedure
              will  cause dntask to time-out waiting for input. Not specifying
              -i for an interactive command procedure will cause  it  to  exit
              prematurely at the VMS end.

       -t timeout
              Specifies   the  timeout  in  seconds  for  interactive  command
              procedures. If no input has been received from  either  standard
              input  or  the  VMS  end in this time then dntask will exit. The
              default is 60 seconds. If the value 0 is given then dntask  will
              wait forever (or until you kill it).

       -T connect timeout
              Specifies  the  maximum  amount of time the command will wait to
              establish a connection with the remote node. a 0 here will cause
              it to wait forever. The default is 60 seconds

       -h -?  Displays help for using the command.

       -V     Show the version of the tools package that dntask comes from.

NOTES

       The  command  procedure  that  you write MUST ALWAYS write something to
       SYS$NET or you will get a  "connection  refused"  message.  This  is  a
       limitation with DECnet objects.
       eg.  If  you  write  a  task  to  start  a remote DECterm it would look
       something like this:

       $ remnode=f$element(0, ":", "’’f$trnlnm("sys$rem_node")’")
       $ set display/create/node=’remnode’
       $ create/term/detach
       $ def/nolog sys$output sys$net
       $ write sys$output "DECterm started on ’’remnode’"
       $ exit

       The "write" command near the end is essential.

EXAMPLES

         dntask ’myvax::show_system’

         dndir -i ’tramp"christine pjc123"::interactive’

         dndir -i ’tramp"christine -"::interactive’

       Specifying "-" in the password field will prompt for the password.

SEE ALSO

       dntype(1), dndir(1), dncopy(1), dndel(1)