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4    Overview of DIGITAL UNIX System and Network Administration

The DIGITAL UNIX system and network administration environment is similar to the ULTRIX administration environment. You can use most administration tools on a DIGITAL UNIX system in the same way as on an ULTRIX system. However, some differences do exist. This chapter is an overview of the DIGITAL UNIX system and network administration environment, describing the differences from the ULTRIX environment.

This chapter does not give detailed information about administering a DIGITAL UNIX system or using DIGITAL UNIX system administration tools. Administering a DIGITAL UNIX system is described in the System Administration manual and the Network Administration manual.

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4.1    Installation and System Setup

Installation and system setup are similar on DIGITAL UNIX and ULTRIX systems. The DIGITAL UNIX installation procedure, like the ULTRIX installation procedure, can use both the setld software and Remote Installation Services (RIS) software to install a bootable system from media. Both systems have setup scripts that you use in similar ways to set up systems after an installation.

The DIGITAL UNIX installation supports configuring a system after installation. This feature allows you to install software on several system disks at one machine. You can then move each system disk to its own machine and configure it for use there. Take note of cabling inconsistencies and possible logical unit address changes (which affect the /etc/fstab file) when moving disk devices between systems.

Unlike an ULTRIX and UWS system, where you choose whether to install UWS, when you install a DIGITAL UNIX system, the mandatory windowing software is automatically installed. The Installation Guide lists the subset names. If you do not need the windowing software, you can use the setld -d command to remove its subsets after the installation is complete.

Like the ULTRIX system, the DIGITAL UNIX system is organized into software subsets. Some subsets are required at installation time, while others are optional. The contents of various DIGITAL UNIX subsets might be different from ULTRIX subsets. For information about the DIGITAL UNIX subsets, see the Installation Guide.

The DIGITAL UNIX installation procedure creates log files that record the result of the installation. These log files are created in the /var/adm/smlogs directory. On ULTRIX systems, the log files are created in the /var/adm directory.

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4.2    Available System Setup Scripts

Like the ULTRIX system, the DIGITAL UNIX system includes setup scripts that you can use to complete the installation and configuration of your system's environment. You should use these setup scripts to set up various DIGITAL UNIX utilities. The scripts are similar to the ULTRIX scripts that have the same name, but some differences might exist. For information about using the setup scripts, see the Network Administration manual.

Table 4-0 lists the scripts available on a DIGITAL UNIX system.

Table 4-0:  Setup Scripts Available on DIGITAL UNIX Systems

Setup Script Purpose
addgroup Adding groups to your system
adduser Adding users and creating users' home directories
bindsetup Setting up the Berkeley Internet Name Domain (BIND) service
latsetup Setting up the local area transport (LAT) service
lprsetup Adding local and remote printers to your system
mailsetup Setting up mail
MAKEDEV Installing device-special files
netsetup Establishing and adding nodes to a local area network (LAN)
nfssetup Setting up a Network File System (NFS) file system
nissetup Setting up the Network Information Services (NIS, formerly called YP)
ntpsetup Configuring the Network Time Protocol (NTP) daemon
snmpsetup Setting up the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) Agent
strsetup Configuring STREAMS special device files
svcsetup Modifying the name service configuration file, /etc/svc.conf
uucpsetup Configuring your system for uucp connections

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4.3    System Customization Files

Both the DIGITAL UNIX and ULTRIX systems have files that you use to customize your system. You can use some of your ULTRIX customization files on your DIGITAL UNIX system with little or no modification. Typically, the only changes you must make are to remove references to ULTRIX specific features. The following are some of these files:

In addition, a number of configuration files are the same on ULTRIX and DIGITAL UNIX systems, except that the DIGITAL UNIX system does not support the Hesiod naming service. Once you remove references to Hesiod from the following files, you can use them on your DIGITAL UNIX system:

Other configuration files are different on ULTRIX and DIGITAL UNIX systems. For example, the DIGITAL UNIX system does not have the following configuration files:

Information about the differences between most other ULTRIX and DIGITAL UNIX customization files is in this chapter. For information about creating and modifying those files, see the Network Administration manual and the System Administration manual.

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4.4    System Configuration

When you install the DIGITAL UNIX system, the distribution software includes the files that the system needs to create and build the core kernel and the kernel subsystems. You might need to reconfigure your system, on occasion, to align and tune it to meet the changing conditions of your site.

The DIGITAL UNIX configuration procedure is similar in many ways to the ULTRIX procedure. The procedure consists of the Berkeley Standard Distribution Version 4.3 (BSD 4.3) configuration scheme, which includes the mechanism for configuring a kernel according to the definitions found in the static system configuration file, /sys/conf/NAME, where NAME is the name of your system, in uppercase letters. The kernel calls the autoconfig routine at startup time to configure physical devices that are defined in the configuration file and are connected to the system. Devices that are defined in the configuration file, but are not connected to the system, are not configured and cannot be used. Other subsystems (file systems and network protocol families, for example) are initialized and configured if they are defined in the /sys/conf/NAME file, and if the corresponding subsystem framework is present and activated.

Like the ULTRIX configuration file, the DIGITAL UNIX configuration file contains a number of parameters that you can use to tune your system. The parameters on the DIGITAL UNIX system differ from the ULTRIX parameters. For information about using the DIGITAL UNIX parameters, see the System Administration manual.

As with ULTRIX, you build a new kernel on the DIGITAL UNIX system automatically by using the doconfig program. You can also build a new kernel manually by using the config program. The only difference is that the config program on DIGITAL UNIX systems is in the /sys/bin directory. On ULTRIX systems, the program is in the /etc directory. When you build a kernel on the DIGITAL UNIX system, the doconfig or config program places the newly built kernel in the directory /sys/NAME, where NAME is your system name. For more information about building a new kernel, see the System Administration manual.

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4.5    System Security Features

The DIGITAL UNIX system has elementary features that allow you to control access to your system. For example, you can create and remove accounts and set permissions for files and directories. These system security features included in the DIGITAL UNIX system are the traditional UNIX security features. For information about using these security features, see the System Administration manual.

The DIGITAL UNIX system also contains more sophisticated security features. These features are described in the Security manual.

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4.6    Print Services

The DIGITAL UNIX system includes the traditional BSD UNIX capabilities for printing files. The system supports a print spooler for queuing print jobs to one or more printers. The /etc/printcap file describes the printers available, including their characteristics. You can print files on a remote DIGITAL UNIX system over the TCP/IP network, just as you can on an ULTRIX system. You can print files on a local or remote PostScript printer, files on a printer connected to a LAT port, and files that contain the appropriate PostScript prologue print without modification.

Although the DIGITAL UNIX system supports basic print capabilities, it does not support the PrintServer for ULTRIX software to print files on the DIGITAL family of PrintServer network laser printers. DIGITAL offers an optional software package for supporting PrintServer printers on DIGITAL UNIX systems; licenses for this software are bundled with the printers themselves, and the software is available separately. Contact your local DIGITAL salesperson for further information about PrintServer support. See the System Administration manual and Network Administration manual for information on setting up printers.

The following list compares the basic printing capabilities of the DIGITAL UNIX system and the same capabilities on an ULTRIX system:

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4.7    Terminal Capability Handling

The DIGITAL UNIX system supports the termcap and terminfo mechanisms for describing terminal capabilities in essentially the same manner as on the ULTRIX system. These generic terminal-handling mechanisms are broken down into the following two parts:

This section describes database capabilities. Section 7.7 discusses using the curses and termcap libraries.

The termcap capabilities in DIGITAL UNIX are comparable to those in BSD 4.3-5. The terminfo capabilities are comparable to those in System V Release 3.0 (SVID 2). DIGITAL UNIX termcap and terminfo databases support the following terminals:

VT52 VT220 VT330
VT100 VT240 VT340
VT102 VT241 VT400
VT125 VT300 VT420
VT200 VT320 Xterm

In addition, these databases support a number of common generic devices, including:

ansi lpr plugboard
arpanet network pmconsole*
bussiplexer minansi* printer
dialup mransi* switch
dumb patchboard unknown
ethernet    

All entries contain only 7-bit control codes. Names marked with an asterisk ( * ) are in the terminfo database only.

The termcap file is located in the /usr/share/lib directory; the /etc/termcap file is a link included for ULTRIX compatibility. The terminfo database is located in the /usr/share/lib/terminfo directory instead of in /usr/lib/terminfo as on ULTRIX systems.

The terminfo database sources are also located in /usr/share/lib/terminfo instead of in /usr/src/usr.lib/terminfo.

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4.8    Disk and File System Maintenance Features

Basic maintenance of disks is similar on a DIGITAL UNIX system and an ULTRIX system. Both systems support the UNIX File System (UFS) and the Network File System (NFS). For information about configuring your type of file system (UFS or NFS), see the System Administration manual.

Most commands you use to manage disks are the same on a DIGITAL UNIX system as they are on an ULTRIX system. This section compares disk and file system maintenance on the two systems, and points out differences.

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4.8.1    DIGITAL UNIX Directory Structure

The directory hierarchy on a DIGITAL UNIX system is different from that on an ULTRIX system. Figure 4-1 shows many of the directories in the DIGITAL UNIX directory structure.

Figure 4-1:  DIGITAL UNIX Directory Structure for System Administrators

As Figure 4-1 shows, many of the directories in the DIGITAL UNIX file system structure are identical to the ULTRIX file system structure. The following list points out important differences:

  1. On DIGITAL UNIX systems, the /bin directory is a link to the /usr/bin directory.

  2. Many system administration commands have moved out of the /etc directory and into either the /sbin or /usr/sbin directory.

    The /etc/ifconfig command is linked symbolically to ../sbin/ifconfig.

  3. The DIGITAL UNIX directory structure contains the /home directory, intended as a root for users' home directories. However, on DIGITAL UNIX systems, the home directories for most users are subdirectories of the /usr/users directory, which is the default location for adding a user (typically, with the adduser command). The actual location of user subdirectories is at the discretion of the system administrator.

  4. The /lib directory is a link to the /usr/lib directory. In addition, the /usr/lib directory contains links to libraries stored in the /usr/ccs/lib directory.

  5. The /sbin directory contains the set of executables required to boot and initialize the system successfully in single-user mode. When you are in single-user mode, you can use only the commands in the /sbin directory because shared libraries are unavailable. The commands in the /sbin directory are not linked with shared libraries.

    Note

    The /sbin directory contains only a subset of the commands that are available on an ULTRIX single-user mode system. You can do less on a DIGITAL UNIX system from single-user mode than you can on an ULTRIX system.

  6. The /sys directory is a link to the /usr/sys directory.

  7. The /usr/bin directory contains binaries and links to binaries in other directories, such as /usr/ccs/bin.

  8. The /usr/sbin directory contains commonly used system administration commands. The commands in this directory are linked with shared libraries. When the system is in multiuser mode, you should use the commands in /usr/sbin directory, rather than the commands in the /sbin directory.

  9. The /usr/ucb directory is a link to the /usr/bin directory on DIGITAL UNIX systems.

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4.8.2    Differences in Creating a UNIX File System

To create a UNIX File System (UFS) on a DIGITAL UNIX system, you use the newfs command. This command builds a new file system on a specific device, using information in the disk label as its default values. If there is no disk label, newfs uses information from the /etc/disktab file. DIGITAL recommends that you create disk labels with the disklabel command before running the newfs command. (See disklabel(8) for more information.) You can specify options to redefine the standard sizes for the disk geometry.

The newfs command is similar on DIGITAL UNIX and ULTRIX systems. The DIGITAL UNIX command omits the -v option. For more information about newfs, see newfs(8).

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4.8.3    Differences in Checking a UNIX File System

To check the integrity of a UNIX File System (UFS), use the fsck command. The fsck command checks the integrity of UFS file systems. This command can determine the type of a particular file system by using information in the /etc/fstab file. Alternatively, you can specify options on the fsck command line to indicate what type of file system you are checking. The following table describes differences between the ULTRIX and DIGITAL UNIX fsck command:

ULTRIX fsck Command DIGITAL UNIX fsck Command
Repeats the checking operation if it makes repairs to the file system. Does not perform this rescanning operation.
Has file system clean byte aging, which forces the file system to be checked with fsck periodically. Does not have clean byte aging; you should run fsck on all file systems periodically, even though fsck says the file system is clean. Use fsck -o to force checking.

For more information about fsck, see fsck(8).

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4.8.4    Differences in Mounting and Unmounting a File System

You mount and unmount file systems on a DIGITAL UNIX system by using the mount and umount commands. Like the ULTRIX mount command, the DIGITAL UNIX mount command mounts the file system you specify or file systems described in the fstab file. The mount and umount commands are similar on DIGITAL UNIX systems and ULTRIX systems. For more information, see mount(8). You can mount an ULTRIX file system on a DIGITAL UNIX system as described in Section 5.1.

Note

You cannot mount a file system with a 4 kB block size on a DIGITAL UNIX system. If you have any data that you need to access and the data is on auxiliary disks in a file system with a 4 kB block size, you must dump the disk to tape or to a disk that has a file system created with an 8 kB block size.

The format of the DIGITAL UNIX fstab file is different from the format of the ULTRIX file. Like the ULTRIX fstab file, information about each DIGITAL UNIX file system is contained on a separate line in the fstab file. The contents and field ordering of the line are different between DIGITAL UNIX and ULTRIX systems. On DIGITAL UNIX systems, you separate fields on a line with spaces or tabs. On ULTRIX systems, you separate fields by using a colon. See fstab(4) for more information.

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4.8.5    Differences in Monitoring File System Use

Use the df and du commands to monitor file systems use. The DIGITAL UNIX df command is similar to the ULTRIX df command, except that by default the DIGITAL UNIX command displays statistics in 512-byte blocks while the ULTRIX command displays them in units of 1024 bytes. Use the -k option to display statistics in 1024-byte units. The DIGITAL UNIX command supports options that are unavailable on an ULTRIX system, including a -t option that allows you to specify that statistics be displayed for a particular file system type. The DIGITAL UNIX du command is the same as the ULTRIX du command, except that the DIGITAL UNIX command supports options that are unavailable on ULTRIX systems. For more information about these commands, see df(1) and du(1).

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4.8.6    Specifying Disk Quotas

You can specify file system disk quotas on a DIGITAL UNIX system. The steps you take to activate file system disk quotas on a DIGITAL UNIX system are similar to those on an ULTRIX system. For information about activating disk quotas, see the System Administration manual.

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4.8.7    Differences in Setting Up and Maintaining NFS Software

The DIGITAL UNIX Network File System (NFS) software is a facility for sharing files in a heterogeneous environment of processors, operating systems, and networks. The NFS software on a DIGITAL UNIX system is similar to the NFS software on an ULTRIX system.

Sharing on a DIGITAL UNIX system is accomplished by mounting a remote file system or directory on a local system and then reading or writing the files as though they are local. You can use the DIGITAL UNIX NFS software to mount remote ULTRIX file systems. You can also use NFS software to mount DIGITAL UNIX file systems on an ULTRIX system. However, if there are files greater than 2 gigabytes (GB) in size, the ULTRIX users will be able to perform file operations only on the first 2 GB.

The DIGITAL UNIX NFS software supports two versions of the NFS protocol: Version 2 and Version 3. NFS Version 2 protocol limits remote file access to 2 GB, because of the 32-bit file size and offset fields in the protocol. NFS Version 3 protocol does not have this file access limitation. NFS Version 3 protocol supports 64-bit remote file access. Therefore, the maximum file offset that can be accessed by Version 3 clients is 16 exabytes (2**64-1 bytes).

Whether NFS Version 3 or Version 2 protocol is used is transparent to the client: no action needs to be taken. When a DIGITAL UNIX Version 3.0 client mounts a file system from a server, it will use the Version 3 protocol if the server supports it. However, the client will use the Version 2 protocol when it mounts a file system from a DIGITAL UNIX Version 2.0 (or earlier) server, or is mounting an ULTRIX file system.

To set up the NFS software, you use the nfssetup command. This command operates the same on DIGITAL UNIX systems as it does on ULTRIX systems.

Like an ULTRIX system, you list the files that you want to export to remote systems in the /etc/exports file. This file has the same general format on a DIGITAL UNIX system as it does on an ULTRIX system, with some changes in the export options. However, the old ULTRIX export options are accepted. See exports(4) for more information.

If you want to have certain NFS file systems mounted automatically when you boot your DIGITAL UNIX system, list those file systems in the /etc/fstab file. The format of the DIGITAL UNIX fstab file is slightly different from the format of the ULTRIX file. As in the ULTRIX fstab file, information about each DIGITAL UNIX file system is contained on a separate line in the fstab file. The contents and order of the line are the same on DIGITAL UNIX and ULTRIX systems. The difference is that on DIGITAL UNIX systems you separate fields on a line with spaces or tabs. On ULTRIX systems, you separate fields by using a colon.

To mount an NFS file system, you enter the DIGITAL UNIX mount command. You also use this command to display the list of file systems that are currently mounted on the local system. This command is the same as the ULTRIX mount command. For more information about this command, see mount(8).

You can display information about NFS servers by using the showmount command. This command lists all mount points on the remote server, displays the remote hosts current export list, and so on. This command is the same on DIGITAL UNIX and ULTRIX systems. For more information about the command, see showmount(8).

To get the status of NFS activity, use the nfsstat command as you do on an ULTRIX system. For more information about this command, see nfsstat(8).

As on ULTRIX systems, the following four daemons implement the DIGITAL UNIX NFS service:

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4.8.8    Differences in Partitioning Disks

Like ULTRIX disks, DIGITAL UNIX disks are divided into partitions. Disk partitions are logical divisions of a disk that allow you to put files of the same type into separate areas of varying sizes. Partitions have default sizes that depend on the type of disk; the installation process uses these default sizes unless it finds an ULTRIX partition table on the disk. To specify alternative partition sizes as part of the installation, you must boot the system into standalone mode and use the disklabel command to create a partition table before running the normal installation procedure. After the system is installed, you can change partition sizes with the DIGITAL UNIX disklabel command.

The disklabel command reads and writes the disk pack label. The disk pack label contains the partition table for the disk and information about the geometry of the disk. The disk label is located on one of the first sectors of the disk, usually in block 0.

You use the disklabel command to create, modify, and display the label on a disk. This command is the equivalent of the chpt command on ULTRIX systems. For more information about the disklabel command, see disklabel(8).

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4.9    Event-Logging Features

The DIGITAL UNIX system event-logging and binary event-logging facilities both record information about system events. On DIGITAL UNIX systems, the system event-logging facility uses the syslogd daemon to collect the information logged and distribute it; the binary event-logging facility uses the binlogd daemon to collect information. (On ULTRIX systems, the system log daemon is syslogd daemon and the error-logging daemon is the elcsd daemon.) The syslogd daemon can collect and report the messages logged by the various kernel, command, utility, and application programs.

The system logs messages as specified in the /etc/syslog.conf file. This file is different from the ULTRIX error-logging configuration file, /etc/elcsd.conf. You use the DIGITAL UNIX /etc/syslog.conf file to specify the parts of the system, or facilities, for which event logging is enabled. Examples of facilities are the kernel, a user process, and the Mail system. The file also specifies the event message severity level, and the location of the log file to which messages are written.

On the DIGITAL UNIX system, the system event-logging facility writes its output to a number of log files, often one file for each facility being logged. You can specify that the system event-logging system create the log file on the local system or a remote system. In most cases, the remote system can be any system that runs the syslogd daemon, including an ULTRIX system. However, the log file for the binary event-logging facility, which logs binary errors, must reside on a local or remote DIGITAL UNIX system. Also, you cannot log errors from an ULTRIX system on a DIGITAL UNIX system.

For more information about error logging, see the System Administration manual.

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4.10    Disk Shadowing Facilities

Although the ULTRIX system has no mechanism for replicating data, DIGITAL offers a separately licensed ULTRIX product that replicates data, called ULTRIX Disk Shadowing. The ULTRIX Disk Shadowing product is not available on DIGITAL UNIX systems. To replicate data on a DIGITAL UNIX system, use the Logical Storage Manager (LSM) subsystem.

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4.10.1    Logical Storage Manager

The DIGITAL UNIX Logical Storage Manager (LSM) is an integrated, host-based disk storage management tool that protects against data loss and improves disk I/O performance. System administrators use LSM to perform disk management functions including disk concatenation, data mirroring or shadowing, and striping.

LSM builds virtual disks, called volumes, on top of UNIX system disks. LSM permits dynamic reconfiguration of its disk volumes, making it easy to adapt to changes in I/O load and application needs, and to maximize system availability. LSM features a high degree of flexibility in the way volumes can be mapped to disk and partition devices. This flexibility allows you to optimize performance, change volume size, add mirrors, and perform backups or other administrative tasks without interrupting system applications and users.

LSM includes a command-line interface, a menu interface, and a windows-based interface that a system administrator can use to transparently optimize I/O performance, change volume size, add plexes, and perform backups or other administrative tasks.

Migration information is contained in the Logical Storage Manager manual.

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4.10.2    Logical Volume Manager

To replicate data on earlier versions of DIGITAL UNIX systems, the Logical Volume Manager (LVM) subsystem was used. This subsystem has been retired in favor of the LSM subsystem.

Note

The LVM subsystem and the ULTRIX Disk Shadowing product use incompatible on-disk metadata formats. Consequently, you cannot mount an existing ULTRIX shadowed file system on an LVM mirrored logical device without converting.

Table 4--4 shows some of the differences between the ULTRIX Disk Shadowing product and the LVM subsystem.

Table 4--4:  Differences in Disk Shadowing Facilities

  ULTRIX Disk Shadowing LVM
Description A layered product that enables you to replicate data on disk partitions. A kernel subsystem that enables you to create and manage logical volumes. Additionally, you can replicate data and create logical volumes that span multiple disks.
Partitions Supports root, swap, and data partitions Supports data partitions, but does not support root and swap partitions
Metadata Size 4kB 70kB-4MB
Terminology Disk shadowing Data mirroring
  Shadow device Logical volume
  Disk partition Physical volume
  Metadata Metadata
  Shadow set Set of physical volumes used in a mirrored logical volume
  Two-member shadow set Single mirrored data
  Three-member shadow set Double mirrored data
  None Physical extent (contiguous disk region)
  None Logical extent (contiguous logical region that maps to 1, 2, or 3 physical extents)
  None Volume group (set of physical and logical volumes)

For information on migrating shadowed data from an ULTRIX system to a DIGITAL UNIX system, see Section 5.2.

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4.11    Networking Support

The DIGITAL UNIX system includes the following networking support:

The DIGITAL UNIX system does not support the packet filter pseudodevice driver.

The following section gives an overview of the DIGITAL UNIX Internet network environment by describing similarities and differences from the ULTRIX environment.

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4.11.1    TCP/IP Network Management Commands

When you manage a TCP/IP host, you use a number of commands to set up, determine the status of, and modify network parameters. This section gives an overview of some of the commonly used commands and explains how the commands differ from their ULTRIX equivalent commands. For a list of all command differences between ULTRIX and DIGITAL UNIX, see Appendix A.

The following list describes commonly used network management commands:

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4.11.2    Simple Network Management Protocol Agent

The DIGITAL UNIX system employs the snmpd daemon as a Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) Agent. Like an ULTRIX system, the DIGITAL UNIX system can be managed by a Network Management Station (NMS) using SNMP. No changes are required for the NMS software to manage a DIGITAL UNIX system.

The DIGITAL UNIX system does not include the ULTRIX Extended SNMP Agent. Because this software is unavailable, you cannot define a private Management Information Base (MIB) on a DIGITAL UNIX system.

In addition, the MIB on the DIGITAL UNIX system is an extended version of the MIB on an ULTRIX system. The MIB contains all the variables that are defined on an ULTRIX system and some new variables. The DIGITAL UNIX MIB implements the Internet MIB-II standard and the proposed Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI) MIB Version 1.1 standard.

You set up SNMP on a DIGITAL UNIX system by using the snmpsetup command, just as you do on an ULTRIX system. This command creates the snmpd.conf and the inet_momd.conf files. The contents of these files differ between DIGITAL UNIX and ULTRIX systems. The DIGITAL UNIX /etc/netman/snmpd.conf file contains only community information. SNMP reads other information, such as interface speed and interface type, from the DIGITAL UNIX kernel. The /etc/netman/inet_momd.conf file is a new file that contains the system location and system contact variables for the Internet MIB-II standard.

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4.12    Local Area Transport

Like an ULTRIX system, the DIGITAL UNIX system uses the local area transport (LAT) protocol.

The following list compares the LAT on the DIGITAL UNIX system and LAT on an ULTRIX system:

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4.13    Diskless Management Services

The DIGITAL UNIX system does not include the Diskless Management Services (DMS) software. You cannot configure a diskless DIGITAL UNIX system. However, dataless clients are supported starting with DIGITAL UNIX Version 3.0 systems. See the DIGITAL UNIX Software Product Description for more information.

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4.14    Remote Installation Services

Like an ULTRIX system, the DIGITAL UNIX system includes the Remote Installation Services (RIS) software. However, the RIS software on the DIGITAL UNIX system uses the bootp protocol instead of the Maintenance Operations Protocol (MOP). This means that DIGITAL UNIX systems can only be servers for other DIGITAL UNIX systems, but ULTRIX systems can be servers for ULTRIX systems and DIGITAL UNIX systems. See the Sharing Software on a Local Area Network manual for more information.

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4.15    Distributed System Services

The DIGITAL UNIX system has many of the distributed system services you are used to using with your ULTRIX TCP/IP network. In particular, the system supports the Berkeley Internet Name Domain (BIND) service, the Network Information Service (NIS), and the Network Time Protocol (NTP) Time Synchronization Protocol (TSP) time services.

The DIGITAL UNIX system does not support the Kerberos authentication service. You cannot use Kerberos for password security, data encryption, or authentication services. It also does not support the Hesiod naming service.

This section gives an overview of the BIND, NIS, and NTP services available on DIGITAL UNIX systems.

As does the ULTRIX system, the DIGITAL UNIX system has an /etc/svc.conf file that determines how your system uses the BIND and NIS services to find host information. You can use the svcsetup command to maintain the svc.conf file. Because the DIGITAL UNIX system does not include the Hesiod name server, you can specify bind only in the hosts database entry.

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4.15.1    Berkeley Internet Domain Service

Like an ULTRIX system, the DIGITAL UNIX system has the Berkeley Internet Name Domain (BIND) service. However, the BIND service on DIGITAL UNIX does not include the Hesiod name server. Because DIGITAL UNIX systems do not support the Hesiod naming service, you cannot use the BIND service to distribute the following databases on a DIGITAL UNIX system:

You can use the Network Information Service (NIS) to distribute these databases. See Section 4.15.2 for information about NIS.

Like the ULTRIX BIND service, the DIGITAL UNIX BIND service is based on a server/client model. Servers maintain databases of host names and addresses. When client systems require information about a host, they query the resolver file, resolv.conf, for the IP address of a BIND server to service their request. The BIND server runs a daemon, named, that services the client's requests.

The DIGITAL UNIX system has the bindsetup command, which allows you to configure your system as a BIND client or server.

The DIGITAL UNIX system has the nslookup and nsquery commands to allow you to get host information from BIND. For information about these commands, see nslookup(8) and nsquery(8).

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4.15.2    Network Information Services

The Network Informtion Service (NIS) is a distributed database lookup service for sharing information between systems on a network. The DIGITAL UNIX NIS supports the network distribution of the following databases:

These databases have the same format on a DIGITAL UNIX system as they do on an ULTRIX system, with one exception. On a DIGITAL UNIX system, only the root account is allowed to have a user identification (UID) of 0. On ULTRIX, other accounts can also have a UID of 0.

You can use the nissetup command on a DIGITAL UNIX system to set up NIS interactively. On ULTRIX systems, you used the ypsetup command. This command operates the same on DIGITAL UNIX systems as it does on ULTRIX systems, but it has some additional features. You can also set up NIS by manually using the following commands:

You must also start the NIS daemons, such as the ypserv, ypbind, and yppasswdd daemons. The steps you take, daemons you start, and commands you use to set up NIS manually are different on a DIGITAL UNIX system. For example, on the DIGITAL UNIX system, you edit the /etc/rc.config file by using the /usr/sbin/rcmgr utility to automatically start the NIS daemons when the system boots. On ULTRIX systems, this is done by editing the /etc/rc.local file.

The DIGITAL UNIX system also has commands, such as ypcat, ypmatch, and ypwhich, that allow you to get information from NIS. In addition, the system has commands, such as yppasswd and yppush, that allow you to maintain your NIS databases. These commands are the same on DIGITAL UNIX systems as they are on ULTRIX systems.

Like an ULTRIX system, the DIGITAL UNIX system has a /etc/svc.conf file that determines how your system uses NIS to find information. You can use the svcsetup command to maintain the svc.conf file.

See the Network Administration manual for more information on NIS configuration.

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4.15.3    Time Services

The DIGITAL UNIX system includes the Network Time Protocol (NTP) and Time Synchronization Protocol (TSP) for time synchronization.

NTP allows accurate, dependable, and synchronized time for hosts on both wide area networks (WANs) (like the Internet) and local area networks (LANs). In particular, NTP provides synchronization traceable to clocks of high absolute accuracy, and avoids synchronization of clocks keeping incorrect time.

The time daemon for the DIGITAL UNIX NTP is xntpd. This daemon is an implementation of the NTP Version 2 standard as defined by the Internet Request For Comment (RFC) 1119, omitting authentication. The daemon is compatible with Version 1 servers, including the ntpd daemon available on ULTRIX systems. For more information about the daemon, see xntpd(8).

You normally use two commands to set and monitor time for the xntpd daemon. The ntpdate command sets the locale date and time by polling the NTP server you specify to determine the correct time. The ntpq command monitors NTP servers that are running the xntpd daemon. For more information about these commands, see ntpdate(8) and ntpq(8).

The DIGITAL UNIX system has the ntpsetup command to help you configure and run the xnptd daemon on a DIGITAL UNIX system. For information about setting up NTP, see the Network Administration manual.

The DIGITAL UNIX system also includes the ntp and ntpdc commands to allow you to monitor ULTRIX systems that run the ntpd daemon. For more information, see ntp(8) and ntpdc(8.)

TSP is the protocol used by the /usr/sbin/timed daemon. In its simplest application, the TSP servers on a broadcast network (for example, an Ethernet) periodically broadcast TSP packets. The hosts on the network elect one of the hosts on the network running TSP as a master. The master then controls further operation until it fails and a new master is elected.

The master collects time values from the other hosts and computes an average. Each host then synchronizes its clock with the master host.

TSP quickly synchronizes all participating hosts, but it does not trace time back to its sources to determine how accurate the time is. Therefore, the time distributed by a TSP host can be incorrect.

The DIGITAL UNIX /usr/sbin/timed daemon is the same as the ULTRIX /etc/timed daemon, with one exception. The DIGITAL UNIX daemon does not support the -E option. On ULTRIX systems, this option allows you to force the master time server to distribute its local time to the network, while the network time is controlled by an outside agent, such as NTP.

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4.16    The sendmail Utility

The sendmail utility is a general-purpose internetwork mail router. It enables you to send mail to other users on the system and to users on other systems. In most cases, the mail, mailx, and mh commands rely on the sendmail utility to parse mail addresses and to resolve system aliases. The DIGITAL UNIX sendmail utility is the same as the ULTRIX sendmail utility, except for the following differences:

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4.17    The uucp Utility

The DIGITAL UNIX system has the uucp utility for copying between UNIX systems. The uucp utility allows you to transfer data from one system to another, and to execute commands on a remote system. Connections using the uucp utility can handle data communication over a wider geographic area than a LAN and usually transmit the data through telephone connections.

The uucp utility on DIGITAL UNIX systems is different in some ways from the uucp on ULTRIX systems. On DIGITAL UNIX systems, the uucp utility is the HoneyDanBer uucp. (The name HoneyDanBer is derived from the names of the authors of this version of uucp, Peter Honeyman, David A. Nowitz, and Brian E. Redman.) Also, uucp communications is supported over the TCP/IP protocol.

On both systems, you use the uucpsetup command to set up the uucp utility. The DIGITAL UNIX command is similar to the ULTRIX command, except that it has been modified to be consistent with the DIGITAL UNIX version of uucp. For information about using the uucpsetup utility, see the Network Administration manual.

The files that store uucp information and the scripts that control uucp on a DIGITAL UNIX system are in different locations and, in some cases, have a different format from the files and scripts on an ULTRIX system. The following list details the differences:

For information about managing the uucp utility on DIGITAL UNIX systems, see the Network Administration manual. Also, see Appendix A for a list of commands not supported by the DIGITAL UNIX system.

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4.18    The tip and cu Utilities

In the DIGITAL UNIX system, tip and cu are separate utilities, using separate configuration files. In ULTRIX systems, cu is a front end to the tip utility.

The tip utility enables you to connect to a remote system. This allows you to work on the remote system as if you logged in directly. In addition, you can transfer files by using the tip utility. To configure the tip utility, you modify the /etc/remote, /etc/phones, and /etc/acucap files. The cu utility enables you to connect directly or indirectly to a remote system. This gives you capabilities similar to the tip utility, including the ability to transfer files. To configure the cu utility, you modify the uucp configuration files in the /usr/lib/uucp directory.

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