Open System Services Management and Operations Guide (G06.25+, H06.03+)

Managing Security
Open System Services Management and Operations Guide—527191-002
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Assigning an Initial Working Directory
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Initial working directory (if none is defined, the default value is null). Some servers
do not use this attribute value; instead, they provide alternative attributes.
•
Initial program (if none is defined, the default value is null). Some servers do not
use this attribute value; instead, they provide alternative attributes.
For detailed information about user groups, user definitions, aliases, the Safeguard
subsystem, and SAFECOM, see the Safeguard Administrator’s Manual and the
Safeguard Reference Manual. For detailed information about the equivalent concepts
and facilities in a third-party product, see the appropriate manual.
Assigning an Initial Working Directory
An initial working directory is the location in the OSS file system where a user is placed
upon entry to the OSS environment. An initial working directory is also known as a
home directory.
If you log in, remain in the same directory, and refer to a file without specifically
identifying any directory, Open System Services assumes that the file belongs to the
initial working directory. This concept is similar to the concept of the default volume and
subvolume in the Guardian environment.
You should provide each OSS user with an initial working directory in the OSS file
system. The initial working directory can be assigned in several ways:
•
You can use the Safeguard subsystem.
•
For Telserv indirect users only, you can use a TACLCSTM file.
HP recommends that you use the Safeguard subsystem and its INITIAL-DIRECTORY
attribute.
If you do not provide an initial working directory for a user, the effective default initial
working directory for the user depends on how the user gained access to the OSS
environment. For example, assume that a user logs in through a TACL prompt and
uses the OSH command when the Safeguard null default value is in effect for the initial
working directory. If OSH cannot find any other definition of an initial working directory,
it uses /G/volume/subvolume as the user’s effective initial working directory, where
volume is the user’s default volume and subvolume is the user’s default subvolume
in the Guardian environment.
Initial working directories should not be in the Guardian file system (the /G directory),
because the OSS environment creates history files in initial working directories. History
files can grow indefinitely and cannot be truncated or deleted if the directory is in the
/G directory. These history files could take up so much disk space that they could
waste system resources. If the initial working directory is in the OSS file system, the
history files are created in the OSS file system, where they can be truncated and
deleted.
The best way to provide a user with an initial working directory is:
1. Create an initial working directory in the OSS environment.