Distributed Name Service (DNS) Management Programming Manual

Overview of D-Series Operating System Changes Affecting EMS
Update for D-Series Operating Systems
I–6 46958 Tandem Computers Incorporated
New Process Identifiers A process identifier uniquely identifies a process in a network. A D-series operating
system uses the following process identifiers:
Process name
Process descriptor
Process handle
Process Name
A process name identifies a process or process pair in a system. The process name
consists of a dollar sign ($), followed by one to five alphanumeric characters. You can
specify a process name when you create a process, or you can request that the system
generate a process name. If you choose to specify the name, you do this when you use
the TACL RUN command or the PROCESS_CREATE_ procedure to create the process.
Examples of valid process names on either C-series or D-series operating systems are:
$ACOL
$FDIST
$DIST
Process Descriptor
A process descriptor is another way of identifying a process on a D-series operating
system. A process descriptor is a variable-length string that specifies a named or
unnamed process (or a named process pair). The length of the string, in bytes, is
specified as a separate integer variable. The process descriptor replaces the C-series
process file name used to identify a process. In event messages, the process descriptor
of the event creator is contained in the D-series token ZEMS-TKN-PROC-DESC.
Process Handle
A process handle is a ten-word structure that identifies a single named or unnamed
process in a network. It can be thought of as the address in a network at which a
process resides. It is best to use a process descriptor rather than a process handle as a
process identifier in an event message. When a process specified in an event message
is no longer running, the process name cannot be derived from the process handle.
However, the process name can be obtained from the process descriptor.
For compatibility with C-series operating systems, a D-series operating system also
supports C-series process names, process file names, and process IDs.