OSF DCE Administration Guide--Core Components

Managing a DCE Cell

5.2 Testing Cell Operation

When client-server communication problems occur, it’s easy to suspect that one or more

DCE services is not operating in the cell. You can easily test whether a cell’s DCE

services are running by invoking a cell ping operation.

If called with no option, the cell ping operation performs a server ping operation on the

master security server, on the CDS server that has a master clearinghouse, and all the

DTS servers in the cell. Use the -replicas option to test CDS and security service

replicas as well as the masters. The -clients option tests every DCE host in the cell by

looping though the /.:/hosts directory in CDS and performing a host ping, with each host

name as an argument.

In case of failure, the operation generates an error and returns a list of servers or hosts

that could not be contacted. For any successes, the operation returns the message DCE

Services Available. For successes with the -clients option, the message is DCE Clients

Available.

The following example pings the names of all the conﬁgured master DCE servers in the

local cell:

dcecp> cell ping

DCE services available

The following example pings the names of all the conﬁgured DCE hosts in the local cell.

Depending on the size of a cell and timeout values set, this command can take a long

time (from several to many minutes) to complete.

dcecp> cell ping -clients

DCE clients available

If you have the necessary permission, you can ping the conﬁgured DCE servers and hosts

in another cell by including that cell’s name as an argument as shown in the following

example:

dcecp> cell ping /.../their_cell.goodco.com

DCE services available

5.3 Backing Up the Security Service Registry and CDS

As organizations increasingly depend on DCE cells for their day-to-day operations, they

can’t afford to lose the cell’s directory and security data. Organizations generally rely on

regular backup schemes to prevent the loss of this and other critical data. But backing up

these DCE databases by using traditional backup methods can cause security holes in

your cell if the archives aren’t properly protected.

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