OSF DCE Administration Guide--Core Components

Chapter 10. DCE Application Administration

As DCE evolves, commonly needed functions are being included in the DCE

infrastructure. As an example, DCE Version 1.1 includes server control capabilities that

can manage server operation and help servers exit in a controlled and efﬁcient manner.

Application developers can rely on these capabilities rather than implement special

mechanisms to handle them independently in every server.

Moving commonly needed functions out of applications and into the DCE infrastructure

provides important beneﬁts. Applications can be smaller and easier to develop and

maintain. Even more important, because applications are not encumbered with lots of

special code, they are easier to reconﬁgure and reconnect with different kinds of clients.

This adaptability is critical as organizations strive to keep up with changing business

needs.

DCE applications have always had administrative aspects. Often, programs include the

necessary functions to manage their own administrative needs, but this approach can be

awkward and somewhat inﬂexible for administrators. Now, virtually all administrative

functions are available to programmers and administrators alike through dcecp. This

does not mean programmers no longer need to deal with these issues. We expect some

programmers to provide scripts written with dcecp that conﬁgure client and server

programs to start and stop under speciﬁed conditions.

Although this approach offers a convenient and consistent way to administer

applications, it also creates an area where programming and administrative concerns

overlap. Our discussions in this chapter will include this area of overlap, noting

circumstances where administrative action might be needed.

10.1 Controlling Server Operation

The conventional notion of a DCE application server assumes that a server is running,

waiting for client requests to service. While this is an effective model for some general

server operations, it does not offer the ﬂexibility needed by DCE applications.

Commercial environments will likely have many kinds of servers. Some may need to be

constantly available, while others may be needed only at certain times of the day. Still

others may be needed on an infrequent or unpredictable basis.

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