OSF DCE Administration Guide--Core Components

OSF DCE Administration Guide—Core Components
and probably setting some ACLs on CDS directories. All of these operations can be
accomplished using a single task object.
1.1 Flexible, Portable, and Extensible Administration
The DCE control program is built on a portable command language called Tcl
(pronounced "tickle"), which stands for Tool Command Language developed by John K.
Ousterhout at the University of California at Berkeley, California. Most computers
provide a command language of some sort to give users a flexible and extensible way to
access and use system capabilities. For instance, many UNIX systems offer shell
language interpreters, and Digital Equipment Corporation’s OpenVMS operating system
offers the Digital Command Language (DCL). But these command languages aren’t
always portable. Commands and scripts based on one command language might not
work in other command language environments.
Tcl, on the other hand, is a platform-independent command language that runs on every
system where DCE Version 1.1 is installed. A Tcl command interpreter and the DCE
control program that uses it are provided as part of the DCE Version 1.1 software.
Note: The DCE implementation of the Tcl command interpreter is called the
DCE control program language. From now on we’ll refer just to the DCE
control program language. The Tcl command interpreter is designed
expressly to support the DCE control program language. You will likely
have difficulty if you try to execute generic (not DCE) Tcl scripts using the
dcecp command interpreter.
The availability of both the DCE control program and the DCE control program
language offer important benefits to DCE administrators:
• You can perform virtually all routine DCE operations from within a single
administrative interface.
• Most DCE administrative operations are consistently and uniformly executed from
any DCE Version 1.1 platform, allowing administrators to manage just about all DCE
operations from any DCE Version 1.1 system in the cell. DCE Version 1.1 platforms
that are not UNIX systems might not handle all DCE control program file operations.
• The DCE control program provides administration objects with names like
clearinghouse, principal, and endpoint. This direct approach makes DCE
administration intuitive and consistent. While for now this has only the appearance
of being object oriented, it is an important step toward a true object-oriented
administration interface.
• Task objects (high-level dcecp scripts that perform complex DCE operations) reduce
the training requirements for DCE administrators. One needn’t be a DCE guru to
perform routine DCE administrative tasks.
• You can adapt the supplied task objects to new uses or write new task objects or
scripts by using the dcecp operations along with more general commands provided
within Tcl.
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