\font\chapfont=cmbx10 scaled\magstep3 \font\subrubfont=cmbx10 scaled\magstephalf \parskip=\bigskipamount \parindent=0mm \hsize=6.3 truein \hoffset=1.0 truein \vsize=9.7 truein \voffset=1.0 truein \footline={\hfil} \headline={\it\firstmark\hfil\folio} \def\makeheadline{\vbox to 0pt{\vskip-.7truecm \ifnum\pageno=1 \else \ifnum\pageno<0 \line{\it\hfil\folio}\smallskip \hrule \else \line{\the\headline}\smallskip\hrule\fi\fi \vss}\nointerlineskip} \newcount\chapcount \newcount\subcount \newcount\subsubcount \chapcount=0 \subcount=0 \subsubcount=0 \def\chapter#1\par{\vskip 0pt plus.4\vsize \goodbreak \vskip 0pt plus-.4\vsize \bigskip \bigskip \advance \chapcount by 1 \subcount=0 \subsubcount=0 \chapcontents{#1}\mark{\the\chapcount.\enspace#1}% {\chapfont \setbox0=\hbox{\the\chapcount.\enspace}\hangindent=\wd0 \baselineskip=20truept \raggedright \noindent \box0 #1\bigskip \nobreak}} \def\subrub#1\par{\vskip 0pt plus.3\vsize \goodbreak \vskip 0pt plus-.3\vsize \bigskip \advance \subcount by 1 \subsubcount=0 \subcontents{#1}% {\subrubfont \setbox0=\hbox{\the\chapcount.\the\subcount\enspace}% \baselineskip=17truept \hangindent=\wd0 \raggedright \noindent \box0 #1\medskip \nobreak}} \def\subsubrub#1\par{\vskip 0pt plus.3\vsize \goodbreak \vskip 0pt plus-.3\vsize \bigskip \advance \subsubcount by 1 \subsubcontents{#1}% {\bf\setbox0=\hbox{\the\chapcount.\the\subcount.\the\subsubcount\enspace}% \baselineskip=14truept \hangindent=\wd0 \raggedright \noindent \box0 #1\medskip \nobreak}} \newwrite\contents \immediate\openout\contents=\jobname.contents \def\chapcontents#1{\immediate\write\contents{\noexpand\chapline% {\the\pageno}{\the\chapcount}{#1}}} \def\subcontents#1{\immediate\write\contents{\noexpand\subline% {\the\pageno}{\the\chapcount.\the\subcount}{#1}}} \def\subsubcontents#1{\immediate\write\contents{\noexpand\subsubline% {\the\pageno}{\the\chapcount.\the\subcount.\the\subsubcount}{#1}}} \long\def\bye{\immediate\closeout\contents\vfil\supereject\docontents\end} \def\docontents{\pageno=-1\bf\parskip=0pt\parindent=0pt \def\punkter{\leaders\hbox to .75em{\hss.\hss}\hfill} \def\chapline##1##2##3{\smallskip\noindent##2\enspace##3\punkter##1} \def\subline##1##2##3{\smallskip\noindent\qquad##2\enspace##3\punkter##1} \def\subsubline##1##2##3{\smallskip\noindent \qquad\qquad##2\enspace##3\punkter##1} \vglue1cm \input \jobname.contents \vfil\supereject} \newskip\ttglue{\tt \global\ttglue=.5em plus.25em minus.15em} \chardef\other=12 \def\ttverbatim{\begingroup \catcode`\\=\other \catcode`\{=\other \catcode`\}=\other \catcode`\$=\other \catcode`\&=\other \catcode`\#=\other \catcode`\%=\other \catcode`\~=\other \catcode`\_=\other \catcode`\^=\other \obeyspaces \obeylines \tt} {\obeyspaces\gdef {\ }} \def\;{\char'73 } \catcode`\;=\active {\obeylines\gdef;{\ttverbatim\spaceskip=\ttglue\let^^M=\ \let;=\endgroup}} \font\BIG=cmbx10 scaled\magstep5 \null\vfil \centerline{\BIG N A N N Y}\bigskip\bigskip \centerline{``A VAX without a Nanny is like a child without a mother.''} \medskip\centerline{A Creation Of} \centerline{Zar Limited} \vfil The contents of this document and all matter described herein are licensed solely by Zar Limited and must not be duplicated or transferred without written consent of Zar Limited. Questions and comments can be directed to: \bigskip \line{\hskip 2in Daniel Zirin\hss} \line{\hskip 2in Zar Limited\hss} \line{\hskip 2in P.O.~Box 372\hss} \line{\hskip 2in Pasadena, Ca 91102\hss} \line{\hskip 2in U.~S.~A.\hss} \bigskip\bigskip\eject \pageno=1 \chapter Introduction Nanny is a program to maintain an even balance of CPU for all non-system processes, to perform special memory management functions, to logoff idle processes, to allow individual users special commands to manipulate processes with the same UIC, and to do various other functions available to system users or standard users. Nanny runs as a detached system process in an endless loop, checking for new processes, updating the states of old processes, checking for processes removed from the system, and performing other functions. Each loop is a cycle and at the end of each cycle, Nanny will wait a specified time (usually between 15 and 60 seconds) before starting another cycle. During each cycle, Nanny may also read commands from a system-wide permanent mailbox assigned to the logical name NANNYS\$BOX. Included with this package are several programs which use Nanny's commands. When you distribute these programs to your VAX community, it is a good idea to protect the source and only allow access to the executable. If you feel too threatened by allowing use of one or many Nanny commands, a bit mask exists to disable one or all of Nanny's commands. Each time Nanny is started, she reads predefined values from a parameter file and, optionally, a Nanny command file to determine your system's site-specific requirements and system dependent values that allow each system a means of modifying Nanny in accord with the needs of your computer. For more flexibility, a special command permits you to reread these values. In addition, you can ask that Nanny use multiple parameter files for defining Nanny's actions during specific times of the day. Each and every action Nanny takes, including any errors that may occur, are written into a log file. This log file is always closed when Nanny isn't writing data to the logfile, so you may edit or type the logfile at any time. Many errors and/or status messages from the Nanny will also appear on designated Nanny operator terminals. The next few sections will describe each command and function of Nanny. \chapter Priorities Nanny has a priority dither function to keep processes from hogging the CPU (usually interactive processes). To enable priority dither, you need to change bits in the function enable bit mask (explained later). The following algorithm determines what priority a process may have after each cycle if the priority dither is enabled: $$ \eqalign{newpri = &oldpri + 1 \hbox{\quad if}\cr &cpuused < cycletime / numusers\cr} $$ or $$ \eqalign{newpri = &oldpri - 1 \hbox{\quad if}\cr &cpuused > ( cycletime / numusers ) * 1.1\cr} $$ $Numusers$ are all processes with the same login priority AND the same job mode (such as batch or interactive mode) AND does not increase because of duplicate users. For example, if the users DXL, SHR, and DMR were all batch jobs with a login priority of 3, $numusers$ for DXL would be the value 3. But if DXL added another job to the same batch queue (with the same login priority), $numusers$ would still be 3 only allowing DXL one third of the CPU no matter how many jobs he added to the same queue (this is optional and can be determined by bit flags in the function enable bit mask for each process type). $Cpuused$ is your accumulated CPU usage since the last cycle. Priorities are not lowered less than the process' login priority less one and are not raised above the process' login priority. The $cycletime$ is determined from the parameter file, described in detail later. It is also possible to ask Nanny to use a running average in determining CPU use by changing a parameter file variable. \chapter Idle processes All non-system interactive processes are checked during each cycle to determine if the user has been idle. If the process has been idle for more than the allowed time, the process is deleted. This action, though, is not taken without warnings. A warning is sent to the process at $maxtime$ divided by 2 and again at $maxtime-cycle\ time$ before logout. When the process is logged out, an appropriate message is displayed at the process's terminal. $Idle\ time$, $maxtime$, and $cycle\ time$ are constants in the parameter file. The value $maxtime$ starts out as the default idle time. Users are then allowed to change their own $maxtime$ values within the minimum and maximum idle time values using the Nanny command IDLESET. Default, minimum, and maximum idle time settings are defined in the parameter file. It is possible to have a process not appear idle to Nanny when in fact, it is (such as KERMIT is server mode). To handle this, Nanny has another optional $maxelapsed$ parameter file variable that will force a user to exit an image after the time specified by $maxelapsed$ (usually something like 18-20 hours). \chapter Memory Management During peak use hours on your CPU, responce time for interactive users deteriorates as less an less memory is available and more and more users login (especially if you have to start swapping processes out of core). To increase responce time, Nanny has bits in the function enable bit mask to allow Nanny to manage memory for your overcrowded VAX. If you enable one or more of the function bits corresponding to memory management, you must specify $maxmemory$ and $freememory$ values in the parameter file to define when memory management will start. When memory use by processes on your system (all processes) exceeds $maxmemory$, Nanny will start suspending batch jobs with low priorities to temporarily release more memory to interactive processes. A batch job has the potential to be suspended if another batch job exists with a higher priority or if all of the CPU cycles are being used by interactive processes. Once a batch job is suspended by Nanny, the swapper targets the batch job as the best candidate for being outswapped next (saving other interactive users that may be temporarily idle for a few seconds). Nanny will resume batch jobs when memory use drops below $freememory$ using a FIFO (First In First Out) algorithm). Nanny also has the option to resume batch jobs after a specified amount of time in suspension. To determine what values to set $freememory$ and $maxmemory$, wait until your system is nice and busy and then use a ``SHOW SYSTEM'' command to total the ``Mem'' column. Subtract 500 from this value and you have a good starting point for $maxmemory$. The $freememory$ value should be set to $maxmemory$ minus a typical batch job's WSEXTENT+100. Once you have initial settings for $freememory$ and $maxmemory$ you should ignore the above suggestions and tailor to your desires and to the behavior of your system. \chapter System Announcements On VAX clusters, it is nice to know how busy a computer is before you login. Nanny has a function bit to automatically create a replacement string for the logical name SYS\$ANNOUNCE that shows the name of the computer (determined by \$GETSYI system service and using the logical name SYS\$NODE as a backup), the DECNET address (if any), the version of VMS, the date and time of the last system boot, the current login limit, the process load, and the current and maximum memory usage. \chapter Wake-up Calls If your users would like to be reminded of important meetings, Nanny offers a wake-up call service (this was the original reason Nanny was created in the first place). Using the WAKE, WCLR, and WSHOW Nanny commands, you can ask Nanny to send a message to your terminal screen at a certain date/time in the future. Since Nanny may not always be operating (an operator system shutdown for example), Nanny saves wake-up calls in a file pointed to by NANNY\$DUMP and reads this file at startup if it exists. But, if the system unexpectedly crashes, all wake-up calls will be lost. \chapter Commands All commands sent to Nanny must take the form: \nobreak{\tt\qquad command mbxch pid [arg1 [arg2 [\dots] ] ]} The command must not be abbreviated and the entire message must be followed by a space (ascii character 32). Each command sent must have a mailbox device name and your process I.D.~following the command. Any arguments required by the command (brackets indicate use if required) must be present and each argument delimited by at least one space. The maximum length of a command sent to Nanny can be 128 bytes long. Process I.D.s must be represented in hexadecimal form. If Nanny receives an unknown command or a command not properly assembled, it will be ignored. If a command is unneeded or unwanted, you may disable its use. A parameter file constant allows one command or all commands to be disabled from system use. This constant is described later. After the message is sent to Nanny, the user may optionally read a status byte from the mailbox specified with the command. The byte will either be 1 for successful completion, or 32 to signify an error occurred while attempting to complete the command. \subrub ADDACC The command ADDACC will add a user record to your system's accounting data file via the system service \$SNDACC. ADDACC requires one argument: the character string to insert into the accounting data file. The character string will be preceded with the requestor's username. \subrub DIE The command DIE will request Nanny to return all processes to their original priorities and terminate execution. This command requires no arguments. If the requestor's group UIC number is greater than the defined system group UIC number (explained later), the command will not be performed. \subrub ENTER The command ENTER will ask the Nanny to start monitoring a process removed with the FORGET command. This command requires one argument: The target process I.D.. If the requesting process group UIC number is greater than the defined system group UIC number, no action will be taken. \subrub FORGET The command FORGET will ask to remove a process from Nanny's observation. This command requires one argument: the target process I.D.. If the requesting process group UIC number is greater than the defined system group UIC number, no action will be taken. \subrub FREE The FREE command will tell Nanny to deallocate a device allocated with the GRAB command. This command requires one argument: the name of the device to be deallocated. If the requesting process group UIC number is greater than the defined system group UIC number, no action will be taken. \subrub GRAB The GRAB command allocates a device to disallow system access to the device. This command requires one argument: the name of the device to be allocated. If the requesting process group UIC number is greater than the defined system group UIC number, no action will be taken. \subrub IDLESET The IDLESET command asks Nanny to change a user's maxidle setting within the boundaries defined by minimum and maximum idle cycle values in the parameter file. This command requires two arguments: the process I.D. to change the maxidle setting and the new maxidle setting. Only user's with a group UIC less than or equal to the system group UIC are allowed to change a different user's maxidle setting. \subrub IGNORE The IGNORE command asks Nanny to close the mailbox NANNY\$PEEK (see the LISTEN command). \subrub ISHOW The ISHOW command asks Nanny to return the requested user's maxidle setting, the system minimum and maximum idle cycle settings, and the Nanny cycle time. This information is returned in the return mailbox prior to receiving the status of this command in the same mailbox. The data is sent as four longword integers (sixteen bytes) in the order listed above. This command has one optional argument: the process I.D. of the user to return maxidle information. If no argument is specified, the user making the request is assumed. \subrub KILL The command KILL will request Nanny to delete a process. The process must have the same UIC as the request process or no action will be taken. This command requires one argument: the target process I.D.. \subrub LISTEN The LISTEN command asks Nanny to open a mailbox called NANNY\$PEEK and send a copy of each message destined for Nanny's logfile to NANNY\$PEEK. In addition, a system update of the current process load will be sent to NANNY\$PEEK for each Nanny cycle. By default, NANNY\$PEEK is closed. For an example of reading messages from NANNY\$PEEK, see the program LISTACP. \subrub NEW The command NEW will close the current log file, open a new one, and reread the parameter file. This command has no arguments and can be issued by all processes. If the requesting process group UIC number is greater than the defined system group UIC number, no action will be taken. \subrub ODIS The command ODIS will disable a previously enabled operator terminal from receiving all operator messages. This command has one optional argument: a terminal device name to disable. If no terminal is specified, the requestor's terminal is assumed. \subrub OEN The command OEN will enable a terminal as an operator terminal to receive all operator messages. This command has one optional argument: a terminal device name to enable. If no terminal is specified, the requestor's terminal is assumed. \subrub PAUSE The command PAUSE will pause or suspend executing jobs in a specified queue. This command requires one argument: the name of the queue to pause. \subrub QSTART The command QSTART will start or restart a specified queue. The command requires one argument: the name of the queue to start. \subrub QSTOP The command QSTOP will stop a specified batch or print queue. This command requires one argument: the name of the queue to stop. \subrub READ The command READ will ask Nanny to use a specified parameter file at an optional date/time. This command requires one argument and allows two: the parameter filename to read as argument one and an absolute or delta time as the optional argument two. If no absolute or delta time is specified, Nanny will not read the new parameter file until a NEW command is issued or midnight (which ever comes first). If the requesting process group UIC number is greater than the defined system group UIC number, no action will be taken. \subrub REQUEUE The command REQUEUE will take the current job in a paused or stopped print queue and requeue the job at the end of the print queue. This command requires one argument: the name of the print queue. \subrub RESUME The command RESUME will remove a process from a suspended state via the system service \$RESUME. This command requires one argument: the target process I.D.. If the target process and the requesting process do not have the same UIC, no action will be taken. \subrub STOP The command STOP will cause a process executing an image to terminate the image with the system service \$FORCEX. The requesting process and target process must have the same UICs. This command requires one argument: the target process I.D.. \subrub SUSPEND The command SUSPEND will cause a process to enter a suspended state. This command has one argument: the target process I.D.. Both processes must have the same UIC or no action will be taken. \subrub VERSION The command VERSION asks Nanny to return the current version number of Nanny. The version number is returned as an ASCII text string of unknown length (something like ``V?.?''). This command has no arguments. \subrub WAKE The WAKE command will queue a message to be sent to a user or terminal at a specified date and time. This command is limited to 25 outstanding messages throughout the system and is anonymous in nature. The message has a maximum length of 40 bytes. The wake-up call function accepts three arguments: a terminal name or username, an absolute time (format: ``dd-mmm-yyyy hh:mm:ss.ss''\; fields within the absolute time may be omitted, but punctuation may not), and a message preceded by a double quote. Only one space may delimit each argument. An example would be: \nobreak {\tt\qquad WAKE ZAR 12-MAY-1982 12:00:00.00 ``Time to eat lunch.} or \nobreak {\tt\qquad WAKE TTB2: {-}- ::. ``This tests the wake-up call.} If a username is specified for the first argument, a colon should not follow the name. If the wake-up call expires and the user is not logged on the system, the message will not be sent. If the user specified is logged on to more than one terminal, the user will be notified at each terminal. For an example on sending WAKE requests to Nanny, see the WAKEACP program. \subrub WCLR The WCLR command will remove a wake-up call from Nanny's memory. It requires one argument: the wake-up call identification number (between 10 and 35) or ``*'' (all wake-up calls). Only users with system UICs can cancel a wake-up call issued by another user. For an example on clearing wake-up calls, see the program WAKEACP. \subrub WDUMP The WDUMP command will save all current wake-up calls to a dump file. It requires one argument: the filename of the dump file to store the wake-up calls. Only users with system UICs can issue the WDUMP command. \subrub WSHOW The WSHOW command will return wake-up queue information to the caller's return mailbox (before the actual return status sent). The command takes no arguments and returns information in the following format: \nobreak {\tt\qquad id own-uic destination date/time} where `id' is the wake-up call identification number multiplied by $-1$ (2 bytes), `own-uic' is the UIC of the issuing process (4 bytes), `destination' is the name of a terminal or user to send the message (12 bytes), and `date/time' is the system binary time when the call will be sent (8 bytes). Nanny will send one packet of information (26 bytes) for each wake-up call in its memory after which a dummy packet with an `id' equal to $-1$ will be sent signifying the end of the queue. The next message sent will be the Nanny return status code. For an example on issuing the WSHOW command to Nanny, see the program WAKEACP. \chapter Parameter File The parameter file is a standard ASCII text file containing input constants for Nanny. These constants will set guidelines for Nanny to follow when determining new priorities, logging off idle terminals, and performing other functions. The parameter file is read once when Nanny is started, and each night at midnight. The following sub-paragraphs will define each constant of the parameter file in detail. To format a constant for a FORTRAN list-directed I/O statement, enter the value into the parameter file with no leading blanks or zeros (leading blanks or zeros are optional when reading variables with a list-directed I/O statement) and follow the constant with at least one space (ASCII character 32). \subrub Alternate Parameter Filename This character value defines the next parameter file that will be used followed by an optional 23 byte character absolute or delta time to read the specified parameter file. If no time is specified after the filename (if the filename exists) then the specified alternate parameter file will be read when a NEW command is issued or at midnight (which ever comes first). Two examples would be ``SYS\$MANAGER:NANNY1.INP {-}- 18:0:0.0'' to ask that the new parameter file be read at 6pm and ``SYS\$MANAGER:NANNY2.INP 0 1:0:0.0'' to ask that the new parameter file be read one hour from the reading of the current parameter file. \subrub Nanny Command Filename This character value defines the name of a Nanny command file (explained in detail later) to be read immediately. \subrub Process Name This 15 byte character value is Nanny's process name. It should be different from any other process name on the system. The value is read from the parameter file with an (A15) FORTRAN format statement. \subrub System Group UIC Number This value is the group number portion of the system's UIC (User Identification Code). This value MUST be represented as an octal 6 digit number and may and may take a value between 1 and 255. While Nanny is searching for processes to pick on, she will ignore processes with a UIC group portion less than or equal to this value (for example if SYSGRP (the value under discussion) is 3 and Nanny comes across a process with a UIC of [2,1], the process will be ignored. If SYSGRP is 5 and the process's UIC was [7,1], the process will be entered into Nanny's tables). \subrub System Account The system account is the account name (or number) all system processes are charged to. To find out your system account, log-in as the user SYSTEM and issue the command ``;SHOW PROCESS/QUOTA;''. In the upper-left of the display will be ``;Account name: xxxxxxxx;''. Any process that Nanny finds with this account name string will be disregarded. The value is read from the parameter file with an (A8) FORTRAN format statement (the first eight bytes are used to determine the value). \subrub Cycle Time The cycle time is the time Nanny waits between process checks. The value is represented in hundredths of seconds (i.e. 1000 is equal to 10.00 seconds). A good value should be between 30 and 60 seconds (although values between 10 seconds and 2 minutes are allowed). This value is read from the parameter file with a list-directed I/O statement. \subrub Cycle Average The priority dither feature of Nanny will allow you to specify a number to averge CPU use. This value determines how many cycles will be used to generate an average CPU use statistic. Values from 0--10 are allowed. A value of zero (0) implies one (1). This value is read from the parameter file with a list-directed I/O statement. \subrub Def/Min/Max Idle Time And Maximum Elapsed Time The default idle time is the total elapsed time before a interactive user is removed from the system. Minimum and maximum idle time are the lower and upper boundaries to allow user's to change their default idle time setting. Idle terminals are a waste of resources and process slots. These three values are expressed in Nanny cycle times (specified by the previous line in the parameter file). The maximum elapsed time is the maximum allowed elapsed time since login that a process may exist. If a process exceeds this value, Nanny forces the process to exit its image. This is good for programs like KERMIT (in server mode) that trick Nanny into thinking the process is never idle. This value is also expressed in Nanny cycle time. These values are read with a list- directed I/O statement. \subrub Non-idle Time And Non-idle I/O Non-idle time is the amount of CPU needed to consider a interactive process not idle. The value is expressed in hundredths of seconds (i.e. 5 is 0.05 seconds of CPU). A good value would be between 2 and 20 (allowed values are between 0 and 299). Non-idle I/O is the amount of combined buffered and direct I/O required to be non-idle. These two values are read with a FORTRAN list-directed I/O statement. \subrub Maximum Memory Usage And Low Memory Usage If the total physical memory usage of all processes monitored by Nanny exceeds the first value of this line, Nanny will start suspending low priority batch jobs (after which the SWAPPER will swap out the batch job rather than interactive processes). Typically, this value should be 85\% of your system's total memory capacity. A value of 0 (zero) indicates you don't want Nanny to suspend processes when memory usage peaks. Values may be between 2048 pages and 65536 pages (1--32 megabytes). If the total physical memory usage of all processes monitored by Nanny is less than the second value in this line and Nanny has previously suspended processes, Nanny will resume the highest priority batch job suspended. This value should be the `Maximum memory usage' minus the average maximum working set extent of a typical batch job on your system. A value of 0 (zero) is redundant with the previous parameter. Valid values are 2048--65536 pages. These values are read from the parameter file with a list-directed I/O statement. \subrub Maximum Suspend Time This line contains a value expressed in Nanny cycle time units called maxsuspend. If a process suspended by Nanny's memory suspension function exceeds maxsuspend, the process is resumed. When suspending a process on VMS it is possible to catch the process while it has a lock out on a file (sometimes that file is SYS\$SYSTEM:SYSUAF.DAT). If other processes on the system depend on eventually gaining access to a file locked by a suspended process, they can hang. Good values for maxsuspend are between 15-60 minutes. These values are read from the parameter file with a list- directed I/O statement. \subrub Time Change Days This line contains two integer values: the day-of-the-year to advance the system time, and the day-of-the-year to backup the system time. The time change will occur on the day requested at approximately 2:00 in the morning. Nanny does not check for any time dependant programs operating on the system prior to changing the time (if you also have strict accounting procedures, you should probably not use this feature). A value of zero for both integers disables this feature (the function enable mask also can disable this feature). Valid values are 0-366. These values are read from the parameter file with a list-directed I/O statement. \subrub Working Set Purge This line should read ``;YES;'' if you want Nanny to purge her working set after each cycle and ``;NO;'' if you want her to just purge it each night at midnight. Purging Nanny's working set for every cycle may save your system 100 to 150 pages of memory, but pagefaulting will be high. Nanny will also start automatically purging memory if you have a maximum memory usage specified (previous line in the parameter file) and memory is considered low. \subrub Number Of Disks To Watch This is an integer specifying the number of disks you wish Nanny to check for free space and error counts. This value is read with a FORTRAN list directed I/O statement. If this is 0 (zero), skip the next two sections. \subrub Free Disk Space This line contains a single integer used in determining if disk space is low in the disk watch algorithm. A disk is full if the maximum blocks divided by this number is greater than the free disk blocks. A good number is 50 (2\% available). This value is read from the parameter file with a list-directed I/O statement. \subrub Disk Checking You must now have $x$ lines where $x$ is the number of disks to watch (two lines above in the parameter file). Each line must have the device names of disks Nanny will check for low space and errors. The disk names must be less than 64 bytes long and each name must be followed by a space (ascii character 32). A maximum of 16 disks can be specified. Nanny checks every 15 minutes if each disk has available disk space and an increase of 10 errors. If either of the checks is true, messages are sent to Nanny specified operator terminals. \subrub Number Of Nanny Operators This is an integer specifying the number of terminals you wish Nanny operator messages be sent. This value is read with a FORTRAN list directed I/O statement. If this is 0 (zero), skip the next section. \subrub Nanny Operators You must now have $x$ lines where $x$ is the number of terminals to send Nanny operator messages (previous line in the parameter file). Each line must have the device names of terminals to be designated as Nanny operator terminals. Some Nanny errors and many Nanny status messages are sent to these terminals. Included in this list of terminals is ;OPA0:; (the console). The terminal names must be followed by a space (ascii character 32). A maximum of eight terminals may be specified. \subrub Command Disable Mask This value is a bit mask to disable one or more of Nanny's commands. The value must be expressed in hexadecimal form and have exactly 8 digits. To disable a command, set the bit corresponding to the command to be disabled. To enable a command, clear the bit. The following define each bit of the mask and the command the bit represents: {\obeylines\parindent=2em Bit 1 -- This bit, if set, will disable the command ADDACC Bit 2 -- This bit, if set, will disable the command DIE Bit 3 -- This bit, if set, will disable the command ENTER Bit 4 -- This bit, if set, will disable the command FORGET Bit 5 -- This bit, if set, will disable the command FREE Bit 6 -- This bit, if set, will disable the command GRAB Bit 7 -- This bit, if set, will disable the command IDLESET Bit 8 -- This bit, if set, will disable the command IGNORE Bit 9 -- This bit, if set, will disable the command ISHOW Bit 10 -- This bit, if set, will disable the command KILL Bit 11 -- This bit, if set, will disable the command LISTEN Bit 12 -- This bit, if set, will disable the command NEW Bit 13 -- This bit, if set, will disable the command ODIS Bit 14 -- This bit, if set, will disable the command OEN Bit 15 -- This bit, if set, will disable the command PAUSE Bit 16 -- This bit, if set, will disable the command QSTART Bit 17 -- This bit, if set, will disable the command QSTOP Bit 18 -- This bit, if set, will disable the command READ Bit 19 -- This bit, if set, will disable the command REQUEUE Bit 20 -- This bit, if set, will disable the command RESUME Bit 21 -- This bit, if set, will disable the command STOP Bit 22 -- This bit, if set, will disable the command SUSPEND Bit 23 -- This bit, if set, will disable the command VERSION Bit 24 -- This bit, if set, will disable the command WAKE Bit 25 -- This bit, if set, will disable the command WCLR Bit 26 -- This bit, if set, will disable the command WDUMP Bit 27 -- This bit, if set, will disable the command WSHOW Bits 28 through 32 -- unused.\par} If the disable mask was equal to 00008009 (hex), the commands ADDACC, FORGET, and QSTART would be disabled. The value FFFFFFFF disables all commands and 00000000 enables all commands. \subrub Function Enable Mask This value is a bit mask to enable one or more of Nanny's functions. The value must be expressed in hexadecimal form and have 8 digits. To enable a function, set the bit corresponding to the function to be enabled. To disable the function, clear the bit. The following defines each bit of the mask and the function the bit represents: {\parindent=4em \item{Bit 1 --}This bit, if set, will allow Nanny to modify batch process priorities if CPU usage is unfairly distributed. \item{Bit 2 --}This bit, if set, will allow Nanny to modify detached process priorities if CPU usage is unfairly distributed. \item{Bit 3 --}This bit, if set, will allow Nanny to modify interactive process priorities if CPU usage is unfairly distributed. \item{Bit 4 --}This bit, if set, will allow Nanny to modify network process priorities if CPU usage is unfairly distributed. \item{Bit 5 --}This bit, if set, will allow Nanny to modify subprocess priorities if CPU usage is unfairly distributed. \item{Bit 6 --}This bit, if set, will cause duplicate users CPU totals to be combined when determining CPU distribution. If disabled, duplicate users will not exist. \item{Bit 7 --}This bit, if set, will cause processes suspended by Nanny's memory suspension function to resume after maxsuspend (defined in the parameter file). \item{Bit 8 --}This bit, if set, will allow Nanny to suspend batch processes if memory is low. \item{Bit 9 --}This bit, if set, will allow Nanny to suspend detach processes if memory is low (not available yet). \item{Bit 10 --}This bit, if set, will allow Nanny to suspend interactive processes if memory is low (not available yet). \item{Bit 11 --}This bit, if set, will allow Nanny to suspend network processes if memory is low (not available yet). \item{Bit 12 --}This bit, if set, will allow Nanny to suspend subprocesses if memory is low (not available yet). \item{Bit 13 --}This bit, if set, tells Nanny to only logoff idle process trees. If clear, Nanny will logoff idle subprocesses owned by a target idle process before the main interactive target process will be logged off. \item{Bit 14 --}This bit, if set, will allow Nanny to logoff idle interactive system processes. \item{Bit 15 --}This bit, if set, will send a logoff warning to idle processes at 1/2 the total maximum idle time. \item{Bit 16 --}This bit, if set, will send a logoff warning to idle processes at approximately 60 seconds before logoff (depending on the cycle time). \item{Bit 17 --}This bit, if set, will prefix the logoff warning, set by enabling bit 16, with three form-feeds (to clear the terminal screen in a secure environment). \item{Bit 18 --}This bit, if set, will send a warning to interactive users with a CPU quota prior to exceeding the CPU quota. \item{Bit 19 --}This bit, if set, will turn on preference account priority dither (not available yet). \item{Bit 20 --}This bit, if set, will disallow a single user to issue multiple wake-up calls. \item{Bit 21 --}This bit, if set, will consider a process not-idle only if the process has met both the minimum CPU and minimum I/O values in the parameter file. If clear, this bit will cause processes that meet either the minimum CPU or the minimum I/O requirement to be considered not-idle. \item{Bit 22 --}27 -- Unused. \item{Bit 28 --}This bit, if set, will dynamically update the logical name SYS\$ANNOUNCE with the system load. \item{Bit 29 --}This bit, if set, will update the system time at daylight savings time on the days of the year specified by parameter file constants. It is suggested you leave this off if you operate a VAXCluster unless you understand the side effects of changing the time. The time change occurs at approximately 2:00 in the morning on the days requested and does not attempt to fix accounting records or other problems that may arise from changing the time. The time is advanced or backed up by exactly one hour. \item{Bit 30 --}Reserved. \item{Bit 31 --}Causes debugging messages to be sent to the logfile and some functions are not performed (such as idle logoff). \item{Bit 32 --}Causes debugging messages to be sent to the logfile and execute all desired functions.\par} The value 3FFFFFFF enables all functions and 00000000 disables all functions. \subrub Number Of Users To Ignore This is an integer specifying the number of users you wish Nanny to ignore and remove from the internal process tables. This value is read with a FORTRAN list directed I/O statement. If this is 0 (zero), skip the next section. \subrub Ignoring Users You must now have $x$ lines where $x$ is the number of users to ignore (previous line in the parameter file). Each line must have a username of a person the Nanny will entirely ignore. The usernames must be followed by a space (ascii character 32). A maximum of 32 names can be specified. \subrub Number Of Terminals To Ignore This is an integer specifying the number of terminals you wish Nanny to ignore and remove from the internal process tables any user logged onto the ignored terminal(s). This value is read with a FORTRAN list directed I/O statement. If this is 0 (zero), skip the next section. \subrub Ignoring Terminals You must now have $x$ lines where $x$ is the number of terminals to ignore (previous line in the parameter file). Each line must have the device name of a terminal Nanny will ignore (OPA0: for example). The device names must be specified as ``;ddun:;'' or ``;_ddun:;'' (never use concealed devices!) and each name followed by a space (ascii character 32). A maximum of 16 names can be specified. \chapter Command File The Nanny command file is a standard ASCII text file containing valid commands for Nanny. The commad file is read if line two of the parameter file requests a specified command file be read. The command file (unlike the parameter file) is read until the end of file is detected and can contain blank or comments anywhere within the file (comments follow the bang or exclamation mark character). Unlike commands sent to Nanny's mailbox, all commands in this file must not specify a return mailbox and must not specify a requestor process I.D.. All commands are processed regardless of the bit settings in the command disable bit mask (defined in the parameter file). Only a subset of Nanny commands are available for use in the command file. They are ADDACC, DIE, FREE, GRAB, IGNORE, LISTEN, ODIS, OEN, PAUSE, QSTART, QSTOP, READ, REQUEUE, WAKE, WCLR, WDUMP, and the special command SPAWN. The SPAWN command takes one argument: the name of a DCL command file to run as a detached process (external and asynchronous to Nanny). All commands may be preceded by an optional date/time string. If a date/time string is specified, the command is restricted to the date and time preceding the command and will not be run at any other time. The date/time string takes two forms: a date followed by a colon followed by a time, or a weekday name followed by a colon followed by a time. The date field should be formatted as ``dd-mmm-yyyy'' and the time field must be specified as ``hh:mm:ss.ss''. The weekday field may be one of the set ``SUNDAY'', ``MONDAY''...``SATURDAY''. Both the date and weekday fields must use uppercase letters. An example of valid date/time strings would be ``{-}-:8:0:0.0'' to execute the following command at 8am every day. Another example would be ``SATURDAY:0:0:0.0'' to restrict the following command to run only at midnight every saturday. A good use for the Nanny command file is to have restricted time commands to start and stop queues, run midnight batch jobs, and end the command file with time restricted ``READ'' commands to reread the parameter file (and the command file) and the next time interval such as ``{-}-:10:0:0.0 READ NANNY.INP {-}- 11:0:0.0''. \chapter Installation To install Nanny, log-in as the user SYSTEM. Then, create a directory to store Nanny's files. Ideally, this directory should be protected to prohibit access to the world (non-system users). A suggested command would be: \nobreak \qquad;$ CREATE/DIR/PROT=(S:RW,O:RW,G,W) SYS$SYSROOT:[SYSMGR.NANNY]; Edit the files STARTNAN.COM and NANNY.INP (parameter file). Use BUILD.COM to create all executables. Add ``;@STARTNAN;'' to SYS\$MANAGER:SYSTARTUP.COM and run the program NANNYACP to talk to Nanny while she's running (except for wake-up calls). Use WAKEACP for sending, deleting, and showing wake-up calls. Use LISTACP in conjunction with the LISTEN and IGNORE commands in the command disable bit mask. Be careful that the logical names NANNY\$START and NANNY\$DUMP (if used) are created in executive mode in the system logical name table. Lastly, check both BUILD.COM and NMAIN.FOR for hints on how to find the Author and/or a new update kit. \bye