NAME

       dntask - Execute VMS command procedures

SYNOPSIS

       dntask [options] command-procedure
       Options:
       [-biVh] [-t timeout]

DESCRIPTION

       dntask runs command procedures on a remote VMS system.
       It  takes advantage of the ability of the TASK object in DECnet to execute an arbitrary command procedure
       located in the users' login directory. The remote command procedure should output to SYS$NET rather  than
       SYS$OUTPUT and (if interactive) read it's input also from SYS$NET.
       The VMS equivalent of the (non-interactive version) command would be

       TYPE node::"TASK=command-procedure"

       For  some example command procedures see the tasks directory of the source distribution.  show_system.com
       is a non-interactive task that simply displays the output of the VMS "SHOW SYSTEM"  command  on  standard
       output.   interactive.com  is an interactive task that allows you to enter DCL commands to be executed on
       the host VMS system. Be careful which commands you enter because they will expect input to come from  the
       network connection, for instance programs that do screen orientated input or output will almost certainly
       not work.
       Task names can be up to 16 characters in length because that's the limit on DECnet object names.

OPTIONS

       -b     Send  the  output  in  binary  mode.  By  default the output from the DECnet task is assumed to be
              records. This option sends the data "as is" so you can put commands like BACKUP in  the  task  and
              backup to your Linux box.

       -i     Interact  with  the  command procedure. The command procedure must be written to be interactive by
              reading from and writing to SYS$NET. Specifying -i for a non-interactive  command  procedure  will
              cause dntask to time-out waiting for input. Not specifying -i for an interactive command procedure
              will cause it to exit prematurely at the VMS end.

       -t timeout
              Specifies the timeout in seconds for interactive command procedures. If no input has been received
              from  either  standard  input or the VMS end in this time then dntask will exit. The default is 60
              seconds. If the value 0 is given then dntask will wait forever (or until you kill it).

       -T connect timeout
              Specifies the maximum amount of time the command will wait to  establish  a  connection  with  the
              remote node. a 0 here will cause it to wait forever. The default is 60 seconds

       -h -?  Displays help for using the command.

       -V     Show the version of the tools package that dntask comes from.

NOTES

       The command procedure that you write MUST ALWAYS write something to SYS$NET or you will get a "connection
       refused" message. This is a limitation with DECnet objects.
       eg. If you write a task to start a remote DECterm it would look something like this:

       $ remnode=f$element(0, ":", "''f$trnlnm("sys$rem_node")'")
       $ set display/create/node='remnode'
       $ create/term/detach
       $ def/nolog sys$output sys$net
       $ write sys$output "DECterm started on ''remnode'"
       $ exit

       The "write" command near the end is essential.

EXAMPLES

         dntask 'myvax::show_system'

         dndir -i 'tramp"christine pjc123"::interactive'

         dndir -i 'tramp"christine -"::interactive'

       Specifying "-" in the password field will prompt for the password.

SEE ALSO

       dntype(1), dndir(1), dncopy(1), dndel(1)

DECnet utilities                                September 25 1998                                      DNTASK(1)