HP NonStop G-Series - Manual (Page 68)

5 Interoperability Between OSS and Guardian Environments
On the user level, several types of interoperability between the OSS and Guardian environments
exist:
•
Some OSS user commands issued from the OSS environment can act upon objects, such as
files, in the Guardian environment. For example, you can use the OSS cp command to copy
OSS files into the Guardian environment and to copy Guardian files into the OSS environment.
•
OSS user processes can be started from within the Guardian environment with the osh utility.
For example, at a TACL prompt you can enter the command osh -c ls to list files in the
OSS environment.
•
Guardian processes can be started from within the OSS environment with the gtacl command.
For example, from the OSS environment you can issue the command
gtacl -c ‘fup secure filename “security-string”’
to change the permissions on a Guardian file.
Not all of the OSS and Guardian commands and utilities interoperate between environments, and
those that do vary in the extent to which they function in their nonnative environment. Limitations
also exist in how file and directory names are translated between the two environments.
Interoperability on the programmatic level is discussed in the Open System Services Programmer’s
Guide.
The objectives of interoperability are to enable:
•
Open applications to be written for and ported to the OSS environment to take advantage of
NonStop operating system functions
•
Guardian applications to migrate to the OSS environment
•
Guardian applications to use OSS functions
Two Different File Systems
The OSS file system and the Guardian file system are independent of each other. They are also
fundamentally very different.
The OSS File System
The OSS file system consists of directories, subdirectories, and files organized in a hierarchical
structure. Pathnames define a pathway through the OSS file system that identifies a specific file,
directory, or subdirectory. An OSS pathname can include numerous levels of directories and
subdirectories. OSS filenames and directory names can be 248 characters in length. Absolute
OSS pathnames can be a maximum of 1023 characters in length.
The OSS file system includes a directory named /G. While you are in the OSS environment you
can access Guardian volumes, subvolumes, and files by entering the /G directory, where they
appear as regular OSS files, directories, and subdirectories.
The OSS file system also includes a /E directory for the Guardian Expand network. This network
provides name mapping for OSS and Guardian files on remote NonStop nodes.
The Guardian File System
The Guardian file system consists of volumes, subvolumes, and files. Subvolumes can exist only
within volumes, and files can exist only within subvolumes. Compared to the complex hierarchy
of the OSS file system, the three-level organization of the Guardian file system is flat. Guardian
file identifiers can be up to eight characters in length.
68 Interoperability Between OSS and Guardian Environments