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Task Manager Installation and User`s Guide

1. 1 1 1 2 WHAT THE TASK MANAGER CAN DO FOR YOU 1 3 1 3 SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS 1 4 CHAPTER 2 CONTROL FILES 2 1 SPECIAL INPUT FORMATS 2 1 2 2 USING GON TROL FILES 44 0a Bane Nag Ode eas NA eae 2 3 2 24 Setting up a Permanent Repeating Task 2 5 2 3 THE LOGIFIEE mgka awe Han yale ted ges Reames Alcea ak heen 2 6 2 4 VIEWING THE QUEUEFILE 2 7 2 5 EXAMPLES Upa bana dati pee LG NP pth owes daa heen es 2 8 CHAPTER 3 SUBMITTING TASKS TO THE TASK MANAGER 3 1 THE SUBMIT SWITCHES 3 2 3 2 EXAMPLES aaah duces peated wa PD PERA E A RST N aK ats 3 4 CHAPTER 4 TROUBLESHOOTING 4 1 TROUBLESHOOTING CONTROL FILES 4 1 44 11 WARNINGSEL Su Ca aia aks Wack aly ciel ie hae Care ewe 4 1 4 1 2 Checking the Progress of a Task 4 2 APPENDIX A INSTALLING THE TASK MANAGER A 1 CREATING QUEUE FILES A 1 A 1 1 Creating BATQUE SYS A 2 A 1 2 Creating Other Queue Eles 00 A 3 A 1 3 Changing Existing Queue Files annann anaa A 3 A 2 CREATING JOB INITIALIZATION FILES A 4 A 2 1 Deciding How Many Jobs to Have a A 4 A 2 2 Contents of the Job INI File A 4 DSS 10010 00 Rev BOO Page ii A 3 A 4
2. Logoff the account LOGOFF Next suppose that you have an AlphaBASIC program to handle your employee files and that one of the options for that program is to search for the records of employees who are up for job performance reviews and to send the information to a file named REVUE DAT A control file could be set up to run the program Log on with a legal user name LOG SYSTEM SERVICE Compil the AlphaBASIC program COMPIL TEST BAS Get the date and time of the task run TIME DATE Run the AlphaBASIC program RUN TEST Input data for the option 3 Send a message to your terminal SOPR gt USER1 EMPLOYEE LIST IS COMPLETE Logoff the account LOGOFF Just in case the program TEST BAS has an error you should SUBMIT the task with ERROR FATAL specified so if the RUN command is unable to find TEST RUN the task will terminate See the next chapter for an explanation of the ERROR switch This control file compiles and runs the program using the 3 as the input to select the option It then writes the time and date into the log file Once the task is finished you can view or print the file REVUE DAT DSS 10010 00 Rev BOO Page 2 10 Chapter Two One handy use of the Task Manager is for performing routine backups of data Before you submit a backup control file it s a good idea to run DSKANA
3. 3 2 SEQUENCE 3 2 SUSPEND 3 2 Abbreviations 1 4 to 1 5 AlphaVUE 2 4 AMOS file locking A 3 ATTACH command A 9 BATCH processor 1 2 BATQUE SYS file 3 1 A 1 to A 2 Braces 1 4 DSS 10010 00 Rev B00 Page Index 1 INDEX Task Manager User s Guide Page Index 2 Caret 0 Ta saus suma 1 5 Changing existing queue filesA 3 Checking task progress 4 2 Circumflex 1 5 CMDLIN SYS file A 11 Control characters B 1 CORE 7 ET aa Lana Na 1 5 Control file 1 2 2 1 text statement 2 3 comment statement 2 2 SCHAIN statement 2 2 SJOB statement 2 3 SOPR statement 2 2 SPAUSE statement 2 2 SROUTE statement 2 2 SSLEEP statement 2 3 n statement 2 2 Examples 2 8 to 2 10 Format 2 1 Status codes 2 7 Creating BATQUE SYS A 2 Other queue files A 3 Queue files A 1 Definitions 1 1 Batch processor 1 2 Control file 1 2 Log file 1 2 Queue file 1 2 Task sya su d TR R 1 2 Device name 1 4 DOVAE z pu kakalas aala 1 4 Error messages C 1 to C 2 Examples of control files 2 8 to 2 10 File locking A 3 File specification 1 4 Filespec 1 4 FO
4. Status of AMOS L Version X XX XX on 26 SEP 88 Time 05 00 32 PM Job Term PPN Prog Bytes address CPU Time Status JOB1 TERM1 DSKO 45 2 VUE 68122 1572746 00 08 34 4 RN Ti JOB2 TERM2 DSK1 101 3 PRINT 68608 1044746 00 00 01 8 RN Ti JOB3 TERM3 DSK3 314 15 DIRSEQ 49152 646746 00 00 22 7 RN To JOB4 TERM4 LOGOFF 68608 430746 00 00 00 0 C Ti JOB5 PSEUDO DSK2 200 0 VUE 68608 1252746 00 03 36 0 RN Io TASK MANAGR DSKO 1 2 TSKIDL 8192 222746 00 02 59 9 RN S1 Qfree 109 Up time 50 20 22 Disk queue 0 The STAT printout shows which program each job is executing In this case JOB5 is executing inside AlphaVUE and the Task Manager is idle TSKIDL stands for TASK IDLE which means it is waiting for one command to be finished before it begins the next line of the command file The Status area is where to look if you suspect that your task is running in an infinite loop or is shut down If the printout under status for the TASK MANAGER is C then the Task Manager is not operating In this case you need to kill the task and examine your control file your system initialization file and your job initialization files for possible problems You can generally see what is occurring by looking at the status of the Task Manager and of the job it is executing in this case JOBS DSS 10010 00 Rev BOO APPENDIX A INSTALLING THE TASK MANAGER This appendix tells you how to set up the Task Manager and gives you step by step installation ins
5. Task Manager User s Guide MODIFYING YOUR SYSTEM INITIALIZATION FILE A 6 A 3 1 Setting Up the Worker Jobs A 9 A 3 2 Setting Up the Task Manager Job nananana A 9 A 9 3 MONTSTING GA ek aed arenas eit Gis ue a Pana dead nem ne A 11 TROUBLESHOOTING TASK MANAGER INSTALLATION A 12 APPENDIX B THE CONTROL CHARACTERS APPENDIX C ERROR MESSAGES DOCUMENT HISTORY INDEX DSS 10010 00 Rev BOO CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION The Task Manager is a software system that enables you to schedule and run programs on your computer without tying up your terminal No matter how fast your computer is or how much memory or disk storage is available programs that process large amounts of data or perform complex routines can normally tie up your terminal for quite a while For example it might take ten minutes or more to sort a large employee file And the procedure for generating the weekly payroll might involve many programs and routines and might take hours Waiting for such a task to finish so you can use your terminal again could be tedious and frustrating The Task Manager is designed to allow you to run specific tasks without tying up your terminal Performing repetitive tasks can be made automatic and your time can be spent on more challenging work You may already be familiar with the Task Manager Print Spooler If this spooler is in use on your computer system whenever you send a file
6. so read it carefully This symbol means hint It indicates a helpful bit of information This symbol means remember It indicates something you should keep in mind while you are following a set of instructions DSS 10010 00 Rev BOO CHAPTER 2 CONTROL FILES A control file contains the commands and data that you want to have processed by the Task Manager The control file needs to contain all input and commands that the task requires just as if you were typing them on your terminal Here is a simple control file that writes a system status messaoe to the log file Use AlphaVUE to create a file called SAMPLE CTL in any disk account you wish Type in the following three commands LOG SYSTEM SERVICE DIR W SYSTAT The first command should always be a LOG command and you should specify a user name if your computer supports them Otherwise you should specify a valid disk account such as DSKO 1 4 or an Ersatz device specification such as SYS You may optionally place a LOGOFF command at the end of the file The Task Manager automatically logs off when it finishes As you can see control files can be very simple They can also be very complex in size and in the number of things they do No matter how complex the task however the commands inside the control file are usually simple and most are exactly as you would enter them on a terminal 2 1SPECIAL INPUT FORMATS Certain commands have to be modifi
7. 2 00 PM the next day Do not use AFTER here since the job would be reset to run again one day after the task finished which could be a few seconds to a few hours after the task started The reason this command comes at the end of the CTL file is that if the system should crash while this task is running the queue entry will not have yet changed to the next day This way you know that the task is finished running before it is re scheduled for the next running The PERMANENT and RESTART switches are included here as a precaution in case the original submission did not specify them Once a control file with this JOB statement is submitted the task will be performed daily until you stop it DSS 10010 00 Rev BOO Page 2 6 Chapter Two The RESTART switch guarantees the running of the task even in the case of a system crash or a reboot Without RESTART a crash or reboot would cause the task to be lost until the next time it was scheduled to run When you first SUBMIT the control file therefore you should specify PERMANENT and RESTART The usual format is to also specify the date and time you would like the task to begin executing using the AFTER switch If this is not specified the JOB will use the current date and time That is if the job is first submitted at 3 15 PM it will then run daily at 3 15 PM Of course the JOB command can be set for any period you like daily weekly monthly every three days every 12 ho
8. For example if you are logged into account 200 0 that is where the queue file will be If you wanted to submit a task to that queue from say account 202 4 you would have to specify SUBMIT queue filespec 200 0 control filespec in order to submit the task This is a drawback of using other queues it simply takes extra time and effort to submit tasks to them Using command or DO files to submit the tasks can make this easier A 1 3Changing Existing Queue Files If you find that a queue file that you have created has too few or too many records to accomplish your tasks you can re create the queue file by running MAKQUE again and specifying the same name check that the Task Manager is not performing any tasks and be sure that you are in the correct account When you re create the queue file specify more or fewer records Remember that you will have to reboot your system in order for the new queue to be connected to the Task Manager This procedure involves a little more work if your computer uses LOKSER or the AMOS File Locking System integral to AMOS 2 0 or later Since both LOKSER and the AMOS File Locking System locks all of the Task Manager s queue files to prevent other programs and processes from harming the queue entries you or the MAKQUE program will not be able to erase the version of the queue file that is on the disk You will first have to use the LOKUTL program to remove the queue file then use MAKQU
9. Manager uses to organize and schedule the task requests If there are more tasks submitted than the Task Manager has worker jobs the queue file saves the task requests DSS 10010 00 Rev BOO Introduction Page 1 3 in the same way the printer queue holds print requests until the next available worker job is ready The Task Manager arranges the tasks in the queue file in order of their submission times and their priority levels When a worker job finishes one task the Task Manager selects the next appropriate task in the queue file for it to process Once the control file is in the queue no more human control is needed until the task is finished All output that would normally be displayed on a terminal is written to the log file After the task is finished this file can be viewed to make sure everything worked correctly The log file may also contain necessary output or data from the task The Task Manager also gives you the ability to keep specific tasks in the queue permanently set to run whenever you wish daily weekly monthly etc This saves you the trouble of setting up and submitting the tasks each time Tasks may be scheduled to run anytime you choose at any interval you choose The Task Manager queue file can be set up so that the permanent entries in the queue will remain there after the task is completed Tasks can also be set to restart if the system goes down while they are executing In this manual we ll show you how to
10. Print Spooler in your System Operator s Guide Check over the changes you made to your TEST INI and when you are satisfied that everything looks all right press to move to AlphaVUE command level and finish out of this file After you ve created the individual job initialization files as described in the next section you can MONTST the file to bring the Task Manager to life A 3 3MONTSTing Now that you ve made all of the adjustments to your TEST INI file you re ready to use the MONTST command to test your new system initialization command file before renaming it to AMOS32 INI or AMOSL INI See the MONTST command reference sheet in the System Command Reference Manual DSS 10010 00 Rev BOO Page A 12 Appendix A Use the STAT or SYSTAT command to find out if the Task Manager is defined correctly When you are sure the TEST INI file is up and running properly copy it to its standard name AMOS32 INI or AMOSL INI The Task Manager is installed A 4TROUBLESHOOTING TASK MANAGER INSTALLATION If you have just finished installing the Task Manager and you can t get it to work properly check the following 1Use SYSTAT or STAT to see if the Task Manager job TASK MANAGR is running If it is not indicated by a C symbol in the Status area check your system initialization command file for the following items aDid you add a SYSTEM QFLOCK SYS statement bHave you enough JOBS defined cAre the Task Manager jobs defined in the JOB
11. ROBOT LN T Set up ROBOT B ROBOT2 INI Set up ROBOT2 B MIKE IN Set up job MIKE S PRNTR N Set up printer PRNTRI1 S DIABLO Set up printer DIABLO G Next line blank to end FORCE sequence WAIT TASK AMOS executes the entire list of commands each time the computer reboots It attaches the terminal MANAGR to the job TASK and forces 38K of memory to it Be sure to leave one blank line after the G to end the FORCE sequence Then using the job initialization files it connects the jobs listed above ROBOT1 ROBOT2 and MIKE to the Task Manager as batch jobs the B stands for BATCH The Task Manager can only run tasks on jobs that are set up as batch jobs It will also connect the two printer initialization files to the print spooler the S stands for SPOOL The default file extension is INI for both BATCH and SPOOL files You can specify any job on your system to be used by the Task Manager but each job has to have an initialization file If you wish to use a job that s attached to an actual hardware terminal specify it here in the same way you would specify a job using a pseudo terminal including the B DSS 10010 00 Rev BOO Installing the Task Manager Page A 11 You may wish to do this if you are using most or all of your memory already for the jobs you have defined In such a case you can use your terminals normally during the day and have the Task Manager use them for running tasks at nig
12. copy one of the TRMDEF statements for a real terminal and modify it to access the proper I O port bWhen you get to the stage of attaching jobs to terminals see Section A 3 below attach the terminal you have defined to TASK as you would a pseudo terminal 5Add the QFLOCK SYS program system memory by adding this SYSTEM statement SYSTEM QFLOCK SYS before the final SYSTEM command QFLOCK SYS is the program that allows the Task Manager to communicate with all of the system functions and with the Task Manager queue file s The Task Manager will not operate if QFLOCK SYS is not loaded into system memory by your system INI file 6Make sure the TEST INI file contains a MSGINI statement If one already exists you don t need to change it If one does not exist add the following statement to your file MSGINI 8K The MSGINI program allows the Task Manager to communicate with the disk based spooler queue 8K is the recommended size if you are adding the MSGINI statement at this time For more information on MSGINI see your System Operators Guide or the System Operators Guide to the System Initialization Command File for AMOS 2 0 and later DSS 10010 00 Rev BOO Installing the Task Manager Page A 9 For more information about setting up printers to run under the Task Manager print spooler see the section Setting Up the Task Manager Print Spooler in your AMOS System Operator s Guide Now you need to set up the Tas
13. create control files and how to submit jobs to the Task Manager And if the Task Manager isn t already active on your computer system Appendix A of this manual explains how to install the Task Manager and set up the worker jobs To see if the Task Manager is active on your computer type SYSTAT If the job TASK is attached to MANAGR and is running the program TSKIDL is SL state the Task Manager is already up and running 1 2WHAT THE TASK MANAGER CAN DO FOR YOU The Task Manager can do just about anything you want it to Any program you can run from your terminal the Task Manager can run for you while you do other more creative things Every computer installation is unique and has its own requirements so it s difficult for us to anticipate the specific uses you might put the Task Manager to You can use the Task Manager to schedule all the programs you run on a regular basis If you have weekly file sort and print program you can have the Task Manager do it for you automatically And the Task Manager will remember to do it on schedule every week without your having to resubmit the request The Task Manager can run your monthly billing You can have the Task Manager automatically run the programs to calculate the amounts due print the statements create a file of overdue payments and do whatever else you need to do to keep your books in order If you do periodic mailings the Task Manager can schedule the printing of your mailing la
14. is the Task Manager job setup As part of this setup the initialization file will force TASK to run the TSKINI LIT program When TASK runs this program TSKINI connects the jobs you have just initialized with the Task Manager TSKINI LIT must be run AFTER the other jobs are initialized Therefore the statements that set up the Task Manager job must come after the statements that set up the jobs it will be connected to We recommend that you place the Task Manager job setup statements at the end of the TEST INI file just before the MEMORY 0 command DSS 10010 00 Rev BOO Page A 10 Appendix A TSKINI LIT TSKINI OVR and TSKMAN OVR are the actual programs that make up the Task Manager TSKINI LIT is the main program of the Task Manager It communicates with the queues and activates the programs TSKINI OVR and TSKMAN OVR when they are needed The OVR programs are overlays which means that they are only called into memory when they are needed which saves memory space TSKINI OVR is the module that handles the initialization files of the jobs that the Task Manager controls and TSKMAN OVR is the actual Task Manager processor The OVR programs do not require any set up procedure Here is an example of what you might enter in your TEST INI file to set up the Task Manager job ATTACH MANAGR TASK KILL TASK FORCE TASK MEMORY 38K LOG SYS TSKINI B
15. space in which to schedule tasks and it does not take up much of the disk area If you think you need to schedule more than that number of tasks allocate more records NOTE It is inefficient to allocate too many records If you need more than 100 try to estimate how many more you need and not go too much over that number in allocating records The program then displays Now initializing queue file please wait Initialization complete and returns you to AMOS command level When a queue file is made you need to reboot in order to get the Task Manager to recognize it Once you have rebooted your queue file in this case BATQUE SYS is ready DSS 10010 00 Rev BOO Installing the Task Manager Page A 3 A 1 2Creating Other Queue Files In considering the creation of other queue files you will need to let your circumstances and needs guide you There are some cases where other queue files would be desirable These usually involve tasks which are unusual in some way ones that require an excess of memory space ones that have unusual run time specifications etc You may also want to create a special queue file just for permanent jobs since you don t have to worry about submitting them This will make the BATQUE SYS display easier to read if you have a lot of tasks The majority of users will only need BATQUE SYS for their operations Remember that MAKQUE creates batch queue files in the account you are logged into
16. to the printer you are actually submitting a request to the Task Manager Each print request is stored in a queue file until the Task Manager finds a printer available When the printer is free the Task Manager takes each request in turn from the printer queue file and prints the requested file This manual will show you how to construct control files submit them to the Task Manager for processing and if the Task Manager is not already defined on your computer system this manual will give you detailed instructions for modifying your system initialization command file and creating the queue files and control files to make the Task Manager work for you 1 1HOW THE TASK MANAGER WORKS If you are familiar with the use of command files you know how they can simplify things by performing a series of AMOS commands when you type just the name of the command file The Task Manager is a similar but much more powerful extension of this concept as it enables you to perform commands and run programs at scheduled times by submitting control files to perform the specified tasks You can schedule the control files to run at whatever interval or frequency you choose When you want to process a control file you submit a request to the Task Manager who in turn stores your requests in queue files and uses dedicated jobs to process the control files behind the scenes so your terminal is free for you to use while the other tasks are running DSS 10010 00 Rev
17. 1 AMOS L Release 1 1 Printed 3 83 Corrected minor errors throughout the manual Added the NOOUTPUT switch for SUBMIT Included troubleshooting hints in Chapter 3 Revision A02 AMOS L Release 1 3 Printed 6 85 Added new information about the Task Manager controlled print spooler Updated troubleshooting sections and error message appendix Revision B00 AMOS L Release 1 3D and AMOS 32 Release 1 0D Printed 10 88 Revised and reformatted entire manual for Laser printing Removed reference to LIMIT switch which is no longer supported Added explanation that change of task priority by SJOB statement from within control file is not possible while task is executing DSS 10010 00 Rev BOO Task Manager User s Guide text statement 2 3 comment statement 2 2 SCHAIN statement 2 2 SJOB statement 2 3 SOPR statement 2 2 SPAUSE statement 2 2 SROUTE statement 2 2 SSLEEP statement 2 3 4n statement 2 2 AFTER 0 00 0 3 4 DEADLINE 3 4 ERROR 3 3 TRUELY oe oven lu p sZ in Seti 3 2 EIST K RR bei ada 3 2 LOGTIME 3 2 MEMORY 3 3 INEXT S tu ore see NG 3 4 NOLOGTIME 3 2 NOOUTPUT 3 3 NOPERMANENT 3 2 NORESTART 3 2 OUTPUT 3 3 PERMANENT 3 2 PRIORITY 3 3 RESTART 3 2 REVIVE
18. ALC statement s dAre the pseudo terminals for the Task Manager jobs specified in proper TRMDEF statements els there a MSGINI nK statement fls each Task Manager worker job set up properly Is each job initialization file correct gls the Task Manager job set up correctly Are all the jobs and printers defined in the TSKINI statement 21f the problem does not seem to be in the AMOS32 INI or AMOSL INI file check the individual job initialization files for errors Make certain that the job INI files have the correct names the name of the job as defined in the JOBALC statement not the name of its terminal 3f you find an error fix it and reboot your system If that does not correct the problem go through this list again and check for other errors 4Finally if you still cannot locate the problem try connecting the MANAGR terminal to a real terminal in the TRMDEF statement instead of to a PSEUDO NULL terminal and running a task on it This will allow you to see the error messages generated by TSKINI which are shown in Appendix C DSS 10010 00 Rev BOO APPENDIX B THE CONTROL CHARACTERS Char AMOS L Function Null Interrupt Line Feed Carriage Return Resume Display Interrupt display Erase command line A B C D E F G H J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z A DSS 10010 00 Rev B00 Function in VUE Null Last Word EOL to Next Line Delete Character End of Fil
19. BOO Page 1 2 Chapter One Before we go on let s define some special terms we use to discuss the Task Manager A task is what we call one or more commands that form a logical series of events to accomplish something When you use TXTFMT on a file and then print it you have accomplished a task When you log into an account erase all BAK files and run the commands necessary for backing up your files onto a disk floppy disk or tape that also is a task A control file is a special file with a CTL extension It contains all the instructions and commands that you would normally type on your terminal to perform a particular task It s quite similar to a command file but it lets you do a lot more A queue file is another special file which the Task Manager uses to store your requests to run the control files When you submit a task to the Task Manager you also have the opportunity to specify the task s priority as well as other characteristics which we ll discuss later A log file is the third type of special file associated with the Task Manager It has the same file name as the control file plus a LOG extension and it s used by the Task Manager to store the task s output which would normally be displayed on your terminal screen When a task is finished you can view this file to make sure everything worked as expected Batch processing means that the input to a particular program or series of programs is submitted all at once
20. E and finally reboot your system which will connect the queue file to the Task Manager and restore the File Locking System protection DSS 10010 00 Rev BOO Page A 4 Appendix A A 2CREATING JOB INITIALIZATION FILES First you should decide how many jobs you want the Task Manager to control and create a separate job initialization file for each one Then you can go ahead and set up both the Task Manager and those jobs in your system initialization command file A 2 1Deciding How Many Jobs to Have The number of jobs assigned to the Task Manager determines the number of tasks that can be performed at the same time Two or three jobs are usually enough For example if you give it three jobs the Task Manager can run three tasks at the same time There are no set limitations to the number of jobs you can specify Your decision depends on how much memory is available on your computer system and how much memory you give to your Task Manager and to each individual job You will have to balance your needs to your memory space and requirements The Task Manager controls which task it assigns to which job on the basis of several criteria It tries to match the option switches you specify when you SUBMIT the task with the characteristics you define for the jobs in the initialization files As you will see you can set up the jobs to accept only tasks of a certain memory or priority requirements For instance you might want to set up one job sp
21. IR display this message Since the Task Manager is another user it will be suspended also so that it cannot continue running the task DSKCPY is another command that the Task Manager cannot run Also do not use the STAT command inside of a control file Because the STAT command needs a Control C to terminate it it will wait for that input from the Task Manager The Task Manager will be waiting for an end signal from STAT and again nothing will happen You will have to kill the task take the STAT command out of the control file and resubmit the task 2 2 1Setting up a Permanent Repeating Task The control file for this type of task is the same as any other You merely add a JOB statement to it Place the JOB statement at the end of the CTL file ahead of the LOGOFF command if there is one Make sure the job is at monitor level when the JOB statement is executed Here is an example of the JOB statement that you might add to your CTL file Be sure to leave a space between JOB and the option switches JOB NEXT 0 1 0 PERMANENT RESTART This command will reset the SUBMIT specifications for the task This causes the task to be run again exactly one day after the time the task last ran The NEXT switch is explained more fully in the next chapter For example say that you submitted the task to run at 2 00 PM After the task is completed the JOB command will change the entry in the queue so that it will be scheduled to run at
22. Once as task has begun executing it is not possible to change its priority for example you cannot lower its priority to stop it and let another task go ahead of it Used to specify a different output file for the task The default output file is the input filename with a LOG extension Causes the output to be displayed on the terminal that the job is running on rather than being sent to a log file Useful for demonstrations or if you want to see the output as it happens This cannot be used on a pseudo terminal make sure the job that is running the task is connected to a real terminal Page 3 4 Chapter Three AFTER mm dd yy Indicates the specified task will only be run after the hh mm AM PM specified date time mm dd yy represents month day and year each two digits long while hh mm represents two digit hours and minutes The date and time can be specified either as absolute such as 04 13 89 3 17 PM or as relative such as 0 1 0 0 03 If is specified the specified date and time will be added to the current date and time to get the deferred run date and time The numbers in this case must be relative This does not guarantee that the job will start exactly at the specified time another task might be running but does guarantee that it will not run before the specified time NEXT mm dd yy hh mm Indicates the specified task will be run again after the specified amount of time mm dd yy represents month
23. RCE command 2 4 A 9 CD iis aah Aa ANA rie Mees 3 5 Halt symbol 1 5 Hint symbol 1 5 Installation A 6 Job initialization file A 4 DSS 10010 00 Rev BOO Task Manager User s Guide Page Index 3 Job initialization file Exampl amp 5 Keycap symbol 1 5 Killing a task 4 2 LOG command 2 1 Log ING BAE uuu as Ples 1 2 to 1 3 2 6 LOGOFF command 2 1 2 10 LOKSER file locking A 3 MAKQUE command A 1 to A 3 Format A 1 MONTST command A 11 MSGINI statement A 8 Permanent task setup 2 5 PRINT command 2 4 Print spooler 1 1 PRNT command 2 4 Pseudo terminal 1 2 QFLOCK SYS file A 8 Queue file 1 2 to 1 3 2 7 Display 2 7 queue records A 2 Remember symbol 1 5 Repeating task setup 2 5 DIAS us tsa Bie ae 1 4 Spooler 1 1 STAT display 4 3 SUBMIT command 2 3 3 1 Examples 3 4 to 3 5 Format 3 1 Option switches 3 2 to 3 4 Symbols 1 4 to 1 5 System initialization command fite Example A 10 Task sss hav deen ee nia 1 1 to 1 2 Task Manager Introduction 1 1 Status display A 5 Theory of operation 1 1 USES ssla hua s usa S 1 3 Task Manager job A 9 TEST INI f
24. RMANENT LOGTIME NOLOGTIME Chapter Three Where n specifies an existing queue file entry of sequence number n Specifying a sequence number signals to SUBMIT that you wish to edit an existing queue entry The Revision part of this option represents a switch or switches that revise the queue instruction For example you may want to change a permanent file to non permanent by using SEQUENCE n NOPERMANENT Removes the specified queue entry from the queue If the task is running the Task Manager will cancel the task immediately Lists the contents of the queue file This is the default if no control file is specified If a specific queue entry is specified it will list only that entry Suspends the specified task if it is running The Task Manager will cease forcing control file data while the task is suspended Revives the specified task if it is suspended Negates the SUSPEND switch Indicates the specified task is restartable if the system should crash or be rebooted while it is running When the system boots again the task will restart from the beginning as though it were resubmitted Indicates the specified task is not restartable Used to negate the RESTART switch This is the default setting Indicates the specified task is a permanent queue entry After the task is completed it will not be removed from the queue file The control file should use the JOB statement to re schedule the next run time Negates t
25. RT The task will restart after an interrupted run S SUSPEND The task is in suspended state K KILL The task is waiting to be killed The SUBMIT command will show you the BATQUE SYS queue file If you wish to see a different queue listing such as MYQUE you can view it by typing SUBMIT MYQUE 01 DSS 10010 00 Rev BOO Page 2 8 Chapter Two This will show you the queue listing for MYQUE Notice that the equal sign is included If it weren t the Task Manager would interpret it as an attempt to submit MYQUE CTL to the queue file If there are no tasks in the queue you will see Queue DSKO MYQUE SYS 1 4 SThe queue is empty 2 5EXAMPLES A typical control file to take a system status of the computer and log the date and time might look like the following Log on with a legal user name LOG SYSTEM SERVICE S Get the date and time of the task run TIME DATE Get system status SYSTAT End of task log off LOGOFF Here is an example of a program to send a file to the printer Log on with a legal user name LOG SYSTEM SERVICE S Text format the file TXTFMT HFADER TEST S Rename the fil RENAME D TEST LST HEADER LST ny Send the LST file to the printer PRNT TEST DSS 10010 00 Rev BOO Control Files Page 2 9 S Get the date and time of the task run TIME DATE
26. Task Manager Installation and User s Guide ALPHA MICROS YSTEMS RIGHT FROM THE ST DSS 10010 00 BOO 1995 Alpha Microsystems REVISIONS INCORPORATED REVISION DATE A00 July 1995 A01 March 1983 A02 June 1985 B00 October 1988 Task Manager User s Guide To re order this document request part number DSS 10010 00 The information contained in this manual is believed to be accurate and reliable However no responsibility for the accuracy completeness or use of this information is assumed by Alpha Microsystems This document applies to AMOS L Versions 1 3D and later and AMOS 32 Versions 1 0D and later This document may contain references to products covered under U S Patent Number 4 530 048 The following are registered trademarks of Alpha Microsystems Santa Ana CA 92799 AMIGOS AMOS Alpha Micro AlphaACCOUNTING AlphaBASIC AlphaCALC AlphaCOBOL AlphaDDE AlphaFORTRAN 77 AlphaLAN AlphaLEDGER AlphaMAIL AlphaMATE AlphaNET AlphaPASCAL AlphaRJE AlphaWRITE CASELODE OmniBASIC VER A TEL VIDEOTRAX The following are trademarks of Alpha Microsystems Santa Ana CA 92799 AlphaBASIC PLUS AlphaVUE AM PC AMTEC DART ESP MULTI inSight am inFront am All other copyrights and trademarks are the property of their respective holders ALPHA MICROSYSTEMS 2722 S Fairview St P O Box 25059 Santa Ana CA 92799 Task Manager User s Guide Page i TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1 HOW THE TASK MANAGER WORKS
27. amejtext Sends a message to the Operator Job the default setting or to the jobname specified The Operator Job is the job defined in the OPERATOR command in the initialization file for each job This is more powerful than a SEND command and guarantees the message will get through PAUSE gt jobname text Causes a message to be sent to the Operator Job specified in the job initialization file the default setting or the specified jobname When this message appears the task is suspended until the receiver enters a carriage return This is useful in a case where an external task such as mounting a disk drive needs to be performed before proceeding with the rest of the task DSS 10010 00 Rev BOO Control Files Page 2 3 JOB revision This command allows the CTL file to control itself The JOB statement expands at run time into SUBMIT queue filespec SEQUENCE This means that the CTL file will resubmit itself with different specifications The revision can be any switch or switches except PRIORITY that can be used with SUBMIT This command is used to change the way the task was originally submitted See the next chapter for the SUBMIT command and its switches The JOB command allows you to set up permanent repeating tasks See Section 2 2 1 for more information on JOB SLEEPnnn Suspends control of the task for a specified number of seconds This is useful for time critical control The Task Manager job will still be a
28. art DSS 10010 00 Rev BOO Submitting Tasks to the Task Manager Page 3 5 SUBMIT MYQUE SYS TEST RESTART PERMANENT AFTER 0 1 0 This next command instructs the Task Manager to change the memory requirement of whatever task is sequence 14 in the queue to 40K SUBMIT SEQUENCE 14 MEMORY 40K RETN You do not have to specify a task name since the sequence number is unique The sequence number appears next to the name of each control file in the queue The previous chapter explained how to display the contents of the queue using the SUBMIT command with no arguments The Task Manager allows you to specify the memory size as either 40 or 40K The next example shows how to submit the file TEST TXT to the queue as the control file SUBMIT TEST TXT ETA If you did not specify TXT the Task Manager would have searched for the file TEST CTL Here CENTRY CTL is submitted to the Task Manager with a deadline The task must be executed before the date and time specified SUBMIT CENTRY DEADLINE 12 31 99 11 30 PM EIR If you re editing your CTL file in AlphaVUE and you wish to save it and submit it immediately you can save a step by entering G meaning GO after the gt prompt in AlohaVUE command mode See the AlphaVUE User s Manual for information on the GO function DSS 10010 00 Rev BOO CHAPTER 4 TROUBLESHOOTING 4 1TROUBLESHOOTING CONTROL FILES If you have submitted a task and it does not run or runs improperl
29. at allows you to specify exactly how you want the control file you submit to be executed by the Task Manager The SUBMIT command format is SUBMIT queue filespec ctl filespec switchl switchN Where queue filespec Optional queue file specification The default queue file is DSKO0 BATQUE SYS 1 4 Any switches after it will affect only the specified queue file ctl filespec Optional control file specification This is the name of the control file you want to submit to the Task Manager switch Optional switch es The switches described in detail below determine how the Task Manager processes the control file The default command specification is DSKO BATQUE SYS 1 4 LIST In other words if you simply enter SUBMIT with no other specifications the screen will display the current contents of the BATQUE file All the optional switches for the SUBMIT command can be abbreviated to any unique name For example KILL can be abbreviated to K since no other switch starts with K REVIVE however cannot be abbreviated to RE but must be at least REV otherwise it will be confused with RESTART The default switches are LIST NORESTART NOPERMANENT NOLOGTIME ERROR NONE MEMORY 32K and PRIORITY 256 DSS 10010 00 Rev BOO Page 3 2 3 1THE SUBMIT SWITCHES The switches are SEQUENCE n Revision switches KILL LIST SUSPEND REVIVE RESTART NORESTART PERMANENT NOPE
30. bels DSS 10010 00 Rev BOO Page 1 4 Chapter One As long as you know in advance what data each application program is going to need as input you can create a control file with that data to run the program and print any report We encourage you to experiment and use your imagination to adapt your applications to run under the Task Manager 1 3SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS Like all the other manuals in the Alpha Micro Documentation Library this manual contains a number of standardized symbols and abbreviations that we hope will make the examples easier for you to read and understand SYMBOL MEANING Device Name The dev is the three letter physical device code and the n is the logical unit number Examples of device names are DSKO DSK5 WIN1 and MTU0 Usually device names indicate disk drives but they can also refer to magnetic tape drives and video cassette recorders filespec File Specification A file specification identifies a specific file within an account A complete filespec is made up of the devn the filename the file extension and the project programmer number For example devn filename ext p pn Or DSKO SYSTEM INI 1 4 Braces are used in some examples to indicate optional elements of a com mand line In the example DIR switch the braces tell you that switch is not a required portion of the DIR com mand line The slash symbol precedes a command line switch or option request For examp
31. cates that some part of the process is not hooked up This could be because the Task Manager is not properly installed or because the Inter Task Communication system is not set up See your System Operator Specified job not found in lt filespec INI gt initialization aborted The job you specified with the JOB jobnames command in your job initialization command file does not exist on your system Check the file for spelling errors or use SYSTAT to see which jobs are defined on your system Specified operator not found in lt filespec INI gt initialization aborted The operator jobname you specified in your job initialization command file does not exist on your system Check the file for spelling errors or use SYSTAT to see which terminal names are defined on your system Task Manager may only be executed from TASK MANAGR 23K job You did not specify enough memory for the TASK MANAGER job in the system initialization command file or you did not connect the Task Manager software to TASK MANAGR The Task Manager job requires 23K of memory plus 3K for each job or printer attached Only 16K 3K each is needed if CMDLIN SYS is loaded into system memory Increase the memory allocated to the job or make sure the TASK MANAGR job is properly set up DSS 10010 00 Rev BOO October 1988 Revision B00 AMOS L TASK MANAGER USER S GUIDE DOCUMENT HISTORY Revision A00 AMOS L Release 1 0 Printed 6 82 New Document Revision A0
32. ctive but the worker job will be inactive so that no data will be forced or retrieved until the sleep period is over text Forces the rest of the line to the task without forcing a carriage return This is a special application for sending data that is to be terminated unconventionally for example for some software applications the ASCII character Control D might be used instead of a carriage return to end the line 2 2USING CONTROL FILES The usual format for a control file name is a filename with a CTL extension The SUBMIT command defaults to that extension but that extension is not necessary The control file can have any extension it is just easier to have a CTL extension for submitting and identification purposes The job is not logged in at the start of the control file so you must log the task into a legal account But you do not need to LOGOFF the task at the end of the control file If you do not log in the job at the start of your control file each command is answered by the system with Login please At the end of the task the Task Manager automatically logs the job off DSS 10010 00 Rev BOO Page 2 4 Chapter Two When composing a control file try to visualize each step that you would execute on your terminal and enter it into the file in the same way You may want to do the task once manually and write down each step of the procedure since it is easy to forget steps especially if they are familiar on
33. cuting inside AlphaVUE due to the fact that the Task Manager is between one command and the next awaiting an end signal from AlphaVUE If you cannot kill the task for some reason rebooting the computer always works as a last resort If you have specified RESTART kill the task before you reboot when the system comes up again the Task Manager will then remove the task from the queue unless it is a permanent or restartable task 4 1 2Checking the Progress of a Task If you want to check on the progress of a task you can put a ROUTE filespec command inside the control file at certain points When the process reaches that point the output of the Task Manager will be routed to a new LOG file At this point you can enter AlphaVUE and examine the previous LOG file to see if the job has been executing properly up to that point This filespec will default to a LOG extension You can also check on the progress of a task by using the SYSTAT and STAT commands These displays will show you what is occurring in the Task Manager and the various jobs on the system The SYSTAT display is just a printout of this data The STAT display contains basically the same information but it constantly updates the data each second and runs until you press and C2 to return to monitor level DSS 10010 00 Rev B00 Troubleshooting Page 4 3 The STAT display might look like this
34. day and year each two digits long while hh mm represents two digit hours and minutes This is similar to the AFTER switch except that it counts from the beginning run time when the task was submitted rather than the current time The specified time can only be relative Used in permanent repeating tasks DEADLINE mm dd yy Indicates the specified task must run before the hh mm AM PM specified date and time otherwise the task will be removed from the queue Can be either absolute or relative mm dd yy represents month day and year each two digits long while hh mm represents two digit hours and minutes 3 2EXAMPLES The following command submits the file TEST CTL to the regular Task Manager queue BATQUE SYS and runs it as soon as the tasks ahead of it if any are through executing The default settings are NORESTART NOPERMANENT NOLOGTIME and ERROR NONE The memory allocated to the job is 32K the priority is 256 and the output goes to the file TEST LOG SUBMIT TEST UN In the next example the file TEST CTL is submitted to queue MYQUE SYS instead of BATQUE SYS It is placed permanently in the queue and runs each day after the current time The CTL file must contain a JOB NEXT command also For example if it is 3 23 PM when you submit the task the task will run now and at 3 23 PM tommorow and each day after that at 3 23 PM If the system crashed or was rebooted in the middle of this task it will rest
35. e Insert Character Next Character Text Cursor Left Horizontal Tab Cursor Down Cursor Up Cursor Right Carriage Return Cursor to EOL Concatenate Mark Block of Text Insert Mode Last Page Center Line Next Page Cursor to Start of Line Delete Word Cursor to Next Word Cursor to Next Marker Erase to EOL Delete Line Escape Line Insert Entry Mode Cursor Home ASCII Definition Null Start of Heading Start of Text End of Text End of Transmission Enquiry Acknowledge Bell Code Back Space Horizontal Tab Line Feed Vertical Tab Form Feed Carriage Return Shift Out Shift In Data Link Escape Device Control 1 Device Control 2 Device Control 3 Device Control 4 Negative Acknowledgement Synchronous Idle End of Transmission blocks Cancel End of Medium Special Sequence Escape File Separator Group Separator APPENDIX C ERROR MESSAGES The following error messages are generated by the TSKINI program and are displayed only on the TASK MANAGER job s terminal If you want to see these messages to locate problems in your AMOS32 INI or AMOSL INI file or your individual job initialization files you can redefine the MANAGR terminal to a real terminal See Chapter 4 for troubleshooting details 2Command format error You used a TSKINI command other than B S or G in the AMOSL INI file Check that file See the TSKINI reference sheet for more information Control C abort A Control C was used while running
36. ec KILL option the Task Manager will do everything it can to kill a task and sometimes it needs to erase the log file to terminate some tasks In such a rare case you would not have a log file to view DSS 10010 00 Rev BOO Control Files Page 2 7 2 4VIEWING THE QUEUE FILE To see what is in the queue file enter SUBMIT The display of the current Queue file looks something like this Queue DSKO BATOUE SYS 1 4 Control file Seq Mem Status Priority Log file DSK2 TEST TXT 56 32k ba 256 DSK2 T3 LO0G DSK2 MANUAL CTL 57 44k P 200 DSK2 T4 LOG Run date 22 Apr 82 16 50 29 Total of 2 tasks in queue The sequence number is the number that identifies the order of submission for the tasks and is used as a reference for the SEQUENCE switch when updating the file in the queue The Run date shown in the queue listing is the date and time when the task will run This defaults to the current date and time when the task was submitted if no run date time is specified The task that is currently running will not have this displayed rather it will have a status of which indicates that it is currently running All jobs waiting to run will show their run date and time Notice that the file MANUAL CTL is permanent in the queue file as indicated by a status of P The symbols you may see are RUNNING The task is currently executing P PERMANENT The task is a permanent entry in the queue R RESTA
37. ecifically for small tasks If you give the job 10K of memory in the system INI file a task would only run on that job if you specified a memory requirement of 10K or less when you SUBMIT the task The default memory for a task is 32K so the Task Manager would bypass that 10K job when normal tasks are submitted In order to get a task to run on that job you would have to specify MEMORY 10K or less when you SUBMIT a task This small job would be useful if you don t want small tasks taking up queue space and delaying larger tasks You may also wish to give one or more jobs extra memory say 128K These jobs can be specifically used for long and involved tasks that need more memory If you have a variety of jobs with different specifications you can tailor the tasks to the jobs and use memory more efficiently A 2 2Contents of the Job INI File For each worker job you want the Task Manager to use you must create a file with its jobname and an INI extension located in the System Library account DSKO 1 4 If you decide to call one of the worker jobs ROBOT1 here is an example of what the file for ROBOT1 INI might contain DSS 10010 00 Rev BOO Installing the Task Manager Page A 5 JOB ROBOT1 QUEUE DSKO BATQUE SYS 1 4 OPERATOR USER1 PRIORITY 100 IDLE 60 The first line defines the actual job that is to be controlled The second line specifies what queue file the j
38. ed slightly for batch processing and for this purpose the Task Manager interpretes lines which begin with a dollar sign as special input The following special control file statements are supported DSS 10010 00 Rev BOO Page 2 2 Chapter Two 4n Forces the control character n to the task where n is any ASCII character For example a C forces the ASCII value 3 Control C to the task More than one letter may be specified at a time for example CQB first forces the character Control C then Control Q and finally Control B to the task The legal control characters are ASCII 0 through the underline symbol _ ASCII 31 Appendix B of this manual lists the valid control characters and their functions comment Comment The rest of the line after the semi colon is ignored This feature is useful for adding descriptive comments to the control file Nothing is forced to the task SROUTEffilespec Reroutes the task output to a new log file If no filespec is specified the current file is closed and reopened for append SCHAINfilespec Reroutes the task input to a new control file This is NOT a subroutine call mechanism control of the job does not return to the control file after the new control file finishes so the SCHAIN should be the last command in a control file The filespec defaults to CTL and the account and device that the former control file was submitted from The log file remains the same SOPRf5jobn
39. er job is running that task will be terminated and removed from the queue unless it had RESTART specified because the memory space that the Task Manager was using to run the job was shut down in the middle of the task DSS 10010 00 Rev BOO Page 4 2 Chapter Four Since the Task Manager accesses the queue file on the disk and a worker job may also access the disk while performing a task you should not unmount or spin down the drive if you have a job running in the Task Manager queue It doesn t hurt to unmount or spin down the drive if there are jobs in the queue which are not running since the Task Manager will then wait until the drive is spun up again before starting a task a control file while the Task Manager is running it Two users yourself and the Task Manager trying to access the same file at the same time can cause portions of the bitmap to be destroyed Computers using AMOS File Locking are automatically prevented from doing this I SPECIAL WARNING You should never use AlphaVUE to look at or edit If you discover a problem in your control file that needs to be fixed kill the task before editing the control file For example SUBMIT SAMPLE CTL KILL EUN When the CTL file is fixed you can then resubmit it If you should submit a task which has an error in it that causes the task to be stuck in Alpha VUE you will have to reboot in order to reset the Task Manager The Task Manager cannot kill a task that is exe
40. es that you do without thinking about them You do not have to force a carriage return M after each line of input the Task Manager assumes a Carriage return unless you specify otherwise with the TEXT command You can input data at any point the terminal would normally ask for input This allows you to run programs and functions such as AlphaVUE AlphaBASIC etc Be careful however to put the data in the sequence that it would be input on the terminal or the task may not execute properly The FORCE command can be used inside a CTL file to force commands to other jobs You can also send messages to other jobs For instance if the task submitted has a long running time you can either use a SEND command or an OPR gt jobname command at the end of the control file to inform you when the task is finished The OPR command is preferrable to SEND since SEND can get the response Busy in some cases SOPR guarantees your message gets through You can send output to a printer as you normally would with the PRINT or PRNT commands and you may also use the SUBMIT command in a control file The job submitted will be placed in the proper queue and begin executing If there are other tasks in the queue however that task will wait until its tum comes The SCHAIN command can be used to execute another control file immediately Note that chaining between tasks rather than using one control file to SUBMIT another control file allows the task to run
41. existing TRMDEF statement for a real hardware terminal on the system For example TRMDEF TERM1 AM355 1 9600 ALPHA 100 100 100 bChange the terminal name to a unique name of six characters or less such as PTERM1 TRMDEF PTERM1 AM355 1 9600 ALPHA 100 100 100 c Then change the interface driver to PSEUDO TRMDEF PTERM1 PSEUDO ALPHA 100 100 100 Note that the unit AM355 1 9600 is a single interface driver name along with that driver s optional baud rate DSS 10010 00 Rev BOO Page A 8 Appendix A dChanger the last buffer size to 50 This makes it possible to kill a command which has very fast output such as TYPE or DUMP TRMDEF PTERM1 PSEUDO ALPHA 100 100 50 elf you are also setting up the Task Manager Printer Spooler define your printer s to the Task Manager TRMDEF PRINTR AM350 1 9600 ALPHA 25 25 25 fNow create as many TRMDEF statements like the one above as you need each with a unique terminal printer name One final hint Use any terminal driver you wish except NULL We used ALPHA above because that driver is already in use for other terminals on our system Using a driver that is already being used by another terminal saves room in your monitor The procedure for connecting a real terminal to the Task Manager is aUse one of the real terminals defined in a TRMDEF statement or if you are adding a new terminal for the purpose
42. he PERMANENT switch Default switch Outputs the current time to the log file at the beginning of each line of output Negates the LOGTIME command Default switch DSS 10010 00 Rev BOO Submitting Tasks to the Task Manager Page 3 3 ERROR NONE WARNING FATAL ALL MEMORY n PRIORITY n QUTPUT filespec NOOUTPUT DSS 10010 00 Rev BOO If you specify FATAL or WARNING the task will be aborted on a system generated error message If a occurs in the first column FATAL will kill the task If a occurs in the first column WARNING will kill the task For instance if you specified a non existent file for a program inside of your task an error message File not found will be written to the LOG file If ERROR FATAL is specified it would detect the and terminate the whole task NONE is the default value ALL specifies that the task will abort on either a WARNING or FATAL message Indicates the specified task needs a minimum of nK to execute The Task Manager will examine the available jobs and try to select one that has at least the specified memory available The default value is 32K Indicates the specified task has a queue priority of n The default value is 256 The higher the number the higher the position in the queue This value is also used by the Task Manager scheduler for scheduling tasks only to jobs that will run a specified priority The minimum value is 0 and the maximum is 511
43. ht or whenever they are free If you do use real terminals with the Task Manager be sure no one is using the Terminal at the time a task is submitted to run because the Task Manager will take over the terminal in order to run the task You can specify as many jobs as you like within your memory limits and end the specification with the end indicator G The minimum of memory necessary for the Task Manager to run is 23K This sets up the Task Manager to run itself For each additional job that you want the Task Manager to run you must specify an extra 3K of memory Thus in the above example the system initialization command file FORCEs 38K 23K for the Task Manager and 3K each for ROBOT1 ROBOT2 MIKE PRNTR1 and DIABLO If you want four jobs given to the Task Manager specify 35K and so on If you do not specify enough memory you will get an error message when you try to run the Task Manager NOTE If the command line processor program CMDLIN SYS is loaded into system memory you need less memory for the Task Manager only 16K minimum for the Task Manager itself plus 3K for each job printer TSKINI LIT is the Initialization program for the Task Manager it connects the jobs to the Task Manager and reads the specifications for each job The Task Manager uses this information to select a job when it needs to run a task For information on setting up printer initialization files see the document Setting Up the Task Manager
44. ile A 6 TRMDEF statement A 7 Example A 7 DSS 10010 00 Rev B00 Task Manager User s Guide Page Index 4 Troubleshooting 4 1 to 4 3 A 12 Control files 4 1 Installation A 12 Warnings 4 1 TSKINI LIT A 9 TSKINLONR A 10 TSKMAN OVR A 10 Worker jobs 1 2 A 4 A 9 DSS 10010 00 Rev BOO
45. in a batch Batch processing differs from interactive processing in that the batch processes take their input all at once in this case from the control file whereas interactive or Real Time applications require you to enter menu selections and type commands on your terminal at the same time they are running Because it processes the instructions in each control file as a batch the Task Manager is classified as a batch processor To process the instructions in your control files the Task Manager assigns each control file to one of its worker jobs These special jobs do not have terminals assigned to them instead each worker job is assigned a pseudo terminal which makes the instructions in the control file appear as though they were actually coming from a real terminal A pseudo terminal is a piece of the operating system software which is defined as if it were a physical terminal Likewise when the worker job thinks it s sending some output to a real terminal the output really goes to a log file A control file must contain all of the commands and input that you would normally enter on the terminal to complete a task Control files have a slightly different format than command files but do not have many of the command file s limitations Inside a control file you can do almost everything that you can do directly on your terminal When you submit the control file to the Task Manager it s placed in a queue file which the Task
46. k Manager job and the jobs that will be connected to it A 3 1Setting Up the Worker Jobs The next thing you must enter into your TEST INI file is the commands to initialize the jobs For example ATTACH MANAGR ROBOT1 KILL ROBOT FORCE ROBOT1 MEMORY 32K WAIT ROBOT ATTACH PTERM1 ROBOT This procedure will first ATTACH the job ROBOT1 to the Task Manager terminal temporarily and FORCE 32K of memory to it Then it will ATTACH the job to its pseudo terminal WRKER1 The reason you FORCE the memory while attached to MANAGR is because the driver used by the terminal WRKER1 is not a NULL driver whereas MANAGR does use a NULL driver The NULL driver allows you to FORCE in this manner whereas a non NULL driver will hang you up Therefore use the above format to initialize the jobs The system initialization command file goes through this procedure each time the system is brought up You must have a set of commands like this for each job you define to be used by the Task Manager If the job you are attaching is a real terminal use the procedure above except that you probably have the terminal defined already in your TEST INI file so you won t have to add a new TRMDEF statement If you are using a real terminal you do not need to attach the job to MANAGR before forcing memory to it A 3 2Setting Up the Task Manager Job The next thing you have to add to the system initialization command file
47. k has a problem like the ones shown above you have to either kill the task using SUBMIT and the KILL switch or change the memory requirements for the task using the SUBMIT command with the SEQUENCE n and the PRIORITY nnn switch or the MEMORY nnn switch If your task has requirements that no job connected to your Task Manager can satisfy you have to create a new job or modify an old one to meet those specifications This means modifying your system initialization command file and rebooting A 3MODIFYING YOUR SYSTEM INITIALIZATION FILE Now that you ve created the queue files and the job initialization files you re ready to activate the Task Manager by updating your system initialization command file You should be logged into the System Library account DSKO 1 4 1 Since it s not a good idea to modify the INI file directly a mistake could mean the system would not be able to boot up again you should make a copy of it and modify the copy For the purposes of this installation name the copy TEST INI For example if your computer runs under control of the AMOS 32 operating system you would type LOG SYS COPY TEST INI AMO32 INI Of course if your computer runs under the AMOS L operating system you would specify AMOSL INI instead DSS 10010 00 Rev BOO Installing the Task Manager Page A 7 2Use the AlphaVUE text editor to view the TEST INI file and change the JOBS command Increase the number of jobs allocated on the
48. le DIR WIDE 3 FU This command requests a directory display of the disk account you are currently logged into The switch WIDE 3 indicates that you want the display to be three columns wide DSS 10010 00 Rev BOO Introduction Page 1 5 SYMBOL MEANING Bold text in an example of user computer communication represents the characters you type Text like this in an example of user computer communication represents the characters the computer displays on your terminal screen In our examples the keycap symbol appears whenever you need to press a certain key on your terminal keyboard The name of the key you need to press appears inside the keycap symbol like this FE If you need to press the TAB key you would see 78 or the ESCAPE key Eag Sometimes the ESCAPE key is labeled ESC or ALT MODE This symbol in front of a capital letter means the letter is a control character That is you held down the key on your terminal key board while you typed the letter For example when you press cr _ _ it appears on your screen as c AC is the control character used like the key to cancel most programs and return you to AMOS command level You ll find out more about control characters in Chapter 2 This symbol means halt It indicates an important note you should read carefully before going further in the documentation Usually text next to this symbol contains instructions for something you MUST or MUST NOT do
49. ob will accept tasks from This is exclusive which means that the job will only execute tasks submitted to that queue file Next the operator is defined this must be a jobname that is defined on your system This is the default jobname to which messages generated by your control file or error messages generated by the Task Manager or AMOS will be sent if no other jobname is specified Then the priority number is specified The priority number allows you to give certain tasks precedence over other tasks Any tasks with a priority less than or equal to this number can be run on this job For instance ROBOT1 will run a priority 90 task or a priority 45 task but will not run a priority 120 task The minimum priority is O the maximum is 511 You should set up at least one worker job to process tasks of the highest 511 priority The ldle specification is the number of seconds that each job connected to the Task Manager will wait between attempts to search the queue for a new task In this case each job that is idle will check the queue file every minute to see if there are any tasks which are ready to be run The Task Manager uses this information when it s looking for a job to run a task on For instance you might have three worker jobs ROBOT1 ROBOT2 and MIKE When a task is submitted to the Task Manager it might look at ROBOT1 and find that ROBOT1 is already running a task It then looks at ROBOT2 ROBOT is not running a task curren
50. on the disks you will be backing up A typical backup file might look like this Log on with a legal user name LOG SYSTEM SERVICE Log into operator s account LOG DSK2 1 2 S Send a message to the user SPAUSE gt USER1 MOUNT BACKUP TAPE PRESS RETURN WHEN READY S Mount the tape drive MOUNT MTUO S Erase backup files ERASE BAK Send message to user SOPR gt USER1 MAKE SURE YOU AND ALL OTHERS ARE OFF THE DISK SPAUSE gt USER1 TYPE RETURN WHEN READY S Sequence the files on the disk DIRSEQ Copy from Disk to Magnetic Tape MTUSAV MTUO DSK2 Send a message indicating task is done SOPR gt USER1 Backup is complete Logoff the account LOGOFF The SPAUSE statement sends the message to the user and then waits for a carriage return before the Task Manager will resume execution of the task This give you the opportunity to ready your back up tape and check for disk errors before trying to copy your files The LOGOFF command in all these examples is optional DSS 10010 00 Rev B00 CHAPTER 2 SUBMITTING TASKS TO THE TASK MANAGER Whenever you want to enter change or delete control files from the Task Manager queue files you can use the SUBMIT command This is a versatile command with many optional switches th
51. r will look for it it uses the default queue specification DSKO BATQUE SYS 1 4 DSS 10010 00 Rev BOO Page A 2 Appendix A A 1 1Creating BATQUE SYS Log into DSK0 1 4 and enter MAKQUE after the AMOS prompt and press the RETURN key The program then asks you for some information to determine the characteristics of the queue file Enter type of queue file Batch B or Spooler S BT Enter the letter for the type of queue file you would like to create In this case we are creating a Batch queue if you select S MAKQUE wil create the file DSKO SPLQUE SYS 1 4 Enter name of queue file to create BATQUE TU Enter the name you wish to give your queue file The program assumes an extension of SYS You must specify a name for the queue file or you will get an error and MAKQUE will terminate The first time you use MAKQUE with the B option you should specify BATQUE Enter number of queue records to be allocated 100 GEA Your response defines the size of the queue and how many tasks it can handle In this case the file will be 100 records long and be able to schedule approximately 100 tasks This number also controls the sequence number rotation The sequence numbers in this case will increment to 100 before starting again at 1 If you do not enter a record allocation number MAKQUE simply prompts you again Generally 100 records is the recommended number to allocate to the queue file This is usually enough
52. system by the number of extra jobs you want to connect to the Task Manager also add one extra job for the Task Manager itself 3Provide names for these jobs by using the JOBALC command The Task Manager job MUST be named TASK and must be attached to a pseudo terminal named MANAGR The Task Manager will not operate on any other job This name is necessary because there are other programs that communicate with the Task Manager and these programs have to have a standard name to reference The worker jobs can have any name you wish Your new JOBALC statement might look like this JOBALC TASK ROBOT1 ROBOT2 MIKE Be sure to place this JOBALC statement after other JOBALC statements in your initialization file The first job defined in the first JOBALC statement automatically becomes the Operator Job and it is not possible for the Task Manager to be the Operator Job your computer will not boot correctly 4Define the terminals and the jobs used by the Task Manager Add the following TRMDEF statement for the Task Manager terminal TRMDEF MANAGR PSEUDO NULL 25 25 25 Now add a TRMDEF for each job that will be connected to the Task Manager Although you can attach a real hardware terminal to a job being used by the Task Manager you will usually want to define a pseudo terminal for each job so you don t tie up an actual terminal In general the procedure for setting up a pseudo terminal looks like this aCopy an
53. the TSKINI program Fatal error RES QFLOCK SYS not found The file QFLOCK SYS was not loaded into system memory at the time of system initialization This file is needed by the MAKQUE program in order to create queues Modify a copy of the AMOSL INI file to contain a SYSTEM QFLOCK SYS line then MONTST the file renaming it to AMOSL IN if it tests successfully File error during queue file initialization Not enough queue blocks were allocated increase the number of queue blocks Illegal command One of the commands specified in a job initialization command file is incorrect Check the file for errors DSS 10010 00 Rev BOO Page C 2 Appendix C No jobs defined No jobs were legally connected to the Task Manager in your system initialization command file Check the area of AMOSL INI in which you set up TASK MANAGR and make sure the TSKINI is properly connecting jobs to it No task job defined You did not define the jobname in the job initialization command file Edit the file to include a JOB jobname command Queue file not batch format Queue file error in lt filespec INI gt initialization aborted The queue file you specified in a job initialization command file or is in an improper format Check your spelling and make sure you are using a proper Task Manager queue file Print spooler is not installed The Task Manager communicates with the spooler through the Inter Task Communication system This error indi
54. tly so the Task Manager compares the task submitted with the characteristics of ROBOT2 as defined by ROBOT2 INI If the requirements memory space and priority level can be met by ROBOT2 then the Task Manager runs the task on that job If it does not because say the task needs more memory than ROBOT2 has allocated to it the Task Manager looks to job MIKE If that job does not meet the requirements the Task Manager leaves the task in the queue until ROBOT1 has finished its task and then matches the task against ROBOT1 And if that does not meet the requirements the Task Manager leaves the task in the queue and creates a display like this DSS 10010 00 Rev BOO Page A 6 Appendix A Queue DSKO BATOUE SYS 1 4 Control file Seq Mem Status Priority Log file DSK2 TEST CTL 47 32K 256 DSK2 TEST LOG Run date 11 Jan 83 03 24 PM Execution status Control file not found DSK2 TEST2 CTL 45 300K 256 DSK2 TEST2 LOG Run date 12 Jan 83 02 22 PM Execution status Task waiting for memory requirements DSK2 TEST3 CTL 46 32K 10 DSK2 TEST3 LOG Run date 12 Jan 83 02 22 PM Execution status Task waiting for priority requirements Total of 3 tasks in queue NOTE The first task TEST CTL displays Control file not found This can occur if a task is submitted to be run at a future time and then the CTL file is erased before the task executes If your tas
55. tructions The AMOS operating system already contains all the software necessary for setting up the Task Manager on your computer The programs involved are named QFLOCK SYS MAKQUE LIT SUBMIT LIT TSKINI LIT TSKINI OVR and TSKMAN OVR For the Task Manager to work you must create the queue files it will use to store your requests Then you must define the characteristics of each worker job in individual job initialization files And finally you must modify your system initialization command file to recognize the Task Manager job and the worker jobs A 1CREATING QUEUE FILES The first thing to do is to create the queue files the Task Manager uses for storing your requests MAKQUE is the command that creates queue files for use with the Task Manager The format is simply MAKQUE Your first use of this command will be to create a queue file called BATQUE SYS This is the name of the queue file that the Task Manager is programmed to default to If you do not create BATQUE you will get an error if you do not specify a queue file when you submit tasks Generally one queue file is all you will need for your system and it is much easier to use the default setting than to specify a queue file name every time you submit a job The MAKQUE program creates batch queue files in the account you are logged into Therefore when you create the BATQUE file make sure that you are logged into account DSKO 1 4 This is the place that the Task Manage
56. urs etc The one switch you should not use in the JOB command is the PRIORITY n switch Changing priority from within a task is not permitted You must submit the original task at the priority you want it to always have 2 3THE LOG FILE Since the Task Manager jobs don t have real terminals to send their output to they use disk files with LOG extensions instead This means that everything the task does will appear in the log file just as it would on a terminal screen For instance if you enter AlphaVUE inside your task the file will show the entire screen that you would normally see in Alpha VUE Be careful not to leave valuable data in the log file if the task is to be submitted again because the Task Manager will write over an existing log file if one of the same name exists The log file may contain some strange symbols such as terminal screen handling control characters and some displays that may be useless such as the field of asterisks that AlphaVUE uses to fill a blank file screen Normally when you kill a task that s in the middle of executing the log file will remain containing everything the task completed before it was canceled This can be useful since occasionally a task will run longer than it should or get into an endless loop inside a program Viewing the log file could show you just where the task went wrong This can be a great help in debugging a control file However when you use the SUBMIT filesp
57. without interruption and the output stays in a single log file Be especially careful when using control characters inside a control file Certain control characters have different functions in different situations A common example is that of Control S which suspends the terminal if used in monitor command mode but causes the text to be centered if used inside AlphaVUE If you use the wrong character in the wrong area you could have problems For instance using the Control S inside a control file while the task is at monitor command level causes the job to be suspended The Task Manager will be waiting for a return signal from the job and the job will be waiting for a Control Q from the Task Manager to release the job and neither will do anything In this case you would have to kill your task using the SUBMIT KILL switch correct the control file and resubmit it So be sure you are thoroughly familiar with the control characters and what they do before you use them inside a control file See Appendix B for a list of the control characters and their functions The Task Manager system does not work with any program that displays the statement DSS 10010 00 Rev BOO Control Files Page 2 5 All other users will be suspended while lt program gt is running Enter RETURN to continue or CTRLC to abort For example some of the Video Cassette programs VCRSAV VCRRES VCRDIR and the 1 4 Streamer programs STRSAV STRRES STRD
58. y check the following elf your task runs but does not work properly check the LOG file to determine exactly what did happen then revise your CTL file appropriately elf your task does not run type SUBMIT and see what the execution status of the task is Perhaps the task is waiting for a job to become free or perhaps the requirements specified for the task cannot be met by any of the jobs connected to the Task Manager elf that doesn t help use SYSTAT or STAT to see if the Task Manager job TASK MANAGR is running If it is not indicated by a C symbol in the Status area follow the instructions in Troubleshooting in Chapter 2 There are of course files that the Task Manager cannot process Ordinary text files containing text could be submitted to the Task Manager but nothing much would happen A control file whatever the extension must have commands inside to be the input for a task Otherwise you will just be filling a LOG file with the same text you submitted 4 1 1WARNINGS Do not use the program DSKANA inside a control file unless you can be absolutely sure that no other user will be accessing the specified disk when the control file runs You could seriously damage the file records and bitmap of the disk if this occurs This includes the Task Manager itself the queue file and the log file make sure that they are not accessing the disk being analyzed If the system goes down or if you reboot while a Task Manag

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