Distributed Name Service (DNS) Management Operations Manual

Options for Entering DNSCOM Commands
Using DNSCOM
6–16 31258 Tandem Computers Incorporated
Working With Lists in
Commands
Where lists of elements are allowed in DNSCOM commands, they can take one of the
following two forms:
{ element }
{ ( element [ , element ] ... ) }
Thus when you specify a single list element as shown in the first form above,
parentheses are not necessary. If you specify multiple elements, they must be enclosed
in parentheses and separated by commas, shown in the second form.
DNSCOM permits you to add and delete elements conveniently when the value of an
attribute is a list. Additions and deletions are accomplished by using the plus and
minus (hyphen) sign characters (+ and -).
As an example, several types of DNS objects have the GROUPS attribute, which has a
list of group names as a value. If you want to add the group names D and E to a list,
you would enter the commands shown in boldface type:
DNSCOM_SET GROUPS + (D, E)
DNSCOM_SHOW GROUPS
COMPOSITE
GROUPS A
B
C
D
E
If you later decide that A and C should be deleted from the list, enter:
DNSCOM_SET GROUPS - (A, C)
DNSCOM_SHOW GROUPS
COMPOSITE
GROUPS B
D
E
You can also use the plus and minus signs to manipulate a list-valued attribute in the
ALTER command. For example, suppose that group G is defined with members A, B,
and C, and you desire to add elements D and E. This is can be done with the following
command. User input is shown in boldface type.
DNSCOM_ALTER G, MEMBERS +(D, E)
GROUP G Altered
Similarly, if you later want to delete members A and C, use the following command:
DNSCOM_ALTER G, MEMBERS - (A, C)
GROUP G Altered