CONTENTS

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Preface

  Part I    Designing and Implementing a VTX Service

  1      Introduction

  1.1     VTX Concepts
    1.1.1      Who Are the Participants?
    1.1.2      Pages
      1.1.2.1      Menu Pages
      1.1.2.2      Display Pages
      1.1.2.3      Template Pages
      1.1.2.4      Form Pages
      1.1.2.5      Remote Pages
      1.1.2.6      Help Pages
      1.1.2.7      CBR Query Pages
    1.1.3      Keywords
    1.1.4      Navigation
    1.1.5      Personal Magazines
    1.1.6      Closed User Groups
    1.1.7      Content-Based Retrieval

  1.2     VTX Components
    1.2.1      Infobase
    1.2.2      Server
      1.2.2.1      Local and Remote Servers
    1.2.3      Update Server
    1.2.4      Workbench Server
    1.2.5      Subscriber Client
    1.2.6      Concentrator
    1.2.7      VTX Utilities
    1.2.8      Print Queue Services

  1.3     VTX Platforms

  1.4     Licensing
    1.4.1      Server Activity Licensing
      1.4.1.1      Grace Activity Unit
      1.4.1.2      Activity Licensing in a Distributed Environment
    1.4.2      Server Availability Licenses
    1.4.3      Licensing of Non-Server Components
      1.4.3.1      Licensing of ELK Applications

  2      Setting up a VTX System

  2.1     Designing an Infobase

  2.2     Deciding on a Strategy

  2.3     Establishing a Page Hierarchy

  2.4     Establishing a Page Numbering Scheme
    2.4.1      Relationship Between Page Ranges, Prefixes, and the Structure of the Information

  2.5     Establishing a Keyword Strategy

  2.6     Designing Menu and Display Pages
    2.6.1      Sketching the Main Menu Page

  2.7     Implementing a VTX Infobase
    2.7.1      Creating the VTU Files
    2.7.2      Constructing the Infobase
    2.7.3      Creating a Guest Account
    2.7.4      Establishing a Base Page
    2.7.5      Making the New Pages Operational
    2.7.6      Testing the Infobase

  2.8     Planning and Assigning Tools
    2.8.1      The Workbench
      2.8.1.1      Workbench Components
      2.8.1.2      Workbench Concepts
      2.8.1.3      Workbench Design Guidelines
        2.8.1.3.1       Workbench Prefixes and Page Numbering
        2.8.1.3.2       How the Workbench Assigns Prefixes
        2.8.1.3.3       Prefix Suggestions
        2.8.1.3.4       Prefixes and Page Access
      2.8.1.4      Infobase Design Walkthrough
        2.8.1.4.1       Organize by Common Theme
        2.8.1.4.2       Create Infobase Section Files
        2.8.1.4.3       Assign Prefixes to Structure
        2.8.1.4.4       Match Workbench IPs with Subjects and Prefixes
        2.8.1.4.5       Determine a Group Code Strategy
    2.8.2      Coexistence of Infobase Pages
    2.8.3      The Update Server
      2.8.3.1      Update Server Methods for Updating Infobase Files
      2.8.3.2      Update Server Modes of Operation
    2.8.4      The VTX Automatic Page Management System (VTXAPMS) Utility

  3      Enhancing the Infobase

  3.1     Creating a Corporate DEC VTX Service
    3.1.1      Infobase Standards

  3.2     Exchanging Data
    3.2.1      Identifying the Servers for DECnet
    3.2.2      Deciding on an Infobase Keyword Strategy
    3.2.3      Adding the Remote Page
    3.2.4      Adding Other Terminal Types
    3.2.5      Designing the Menu and Page Hierarchy
    3.2.6      Designing the NAPLPS Pages
    3.2.7      Creating a VTU File
    3.2.8      Creating a VTD File
    3.2.9      Pointing to the First Page
    3.2.10     Testing the Pages
    3.2.11     Summary of Adding Other Terminal Types or Desktops

  3.3     Providing VTX System Security
    3.3.1      Choosing a Numbering Strategy
    3.3.2      Modifying the Main Menu Page
    3.3.3      Returning the Page to the Infobase
    3.3.4      Adding the Group Number
    3.3.5      Adding Accounts to the Account File

  Part II    Operating a VTX Service

  4      Introduction to Operating a VTX Service

  4.1     Overview of VTX

  4.2     VTX Operator Utilities
    4.2.1      VTX Control Utility (VTXCTL)
    4.2.2      VTX Account Control Utility (VTXACU)
    4.2.3      VTX Infobase Verification Utility (VTXIVU)
    4.2.4      Getting Help

  4.3     VTX Information Provider Tools

  4.4     System Planning

  4.5     Selecting DECnet Object Numbers

  4.6     VTX Logicals
    4.6.1      Server Logicals

  4.7     Server Account Determination
    4.7.1      Receiving a Connect Request
    4.7.2      Responding to the Request
    4.7.3      Determining the Account
    4.7.4      Account Determination Algorithm

  4.8     Sample VTX System Configurations

  4.9     Local and Routed Sessions

  4.10    Commands for Starting VTX
    4.10.1     Starting VTX on VMS clients
      4.10.1.1     Format
      4.10.1.2     Parameter
      4.10.1.3     Qualifiers
    4.10.2     Starting VTX on ULTRIX clients
      4.10.2.1     Format
    4.10.3     Starting VTX on DOS clients
      4.10.3.1     Format

  4.11    Using DECtalk

  5      VTX Control Utility

  5.1     Managing VTX Communications

  5.2     Preliminary Tasks
    5.2.1      Preliminary Server Tasks
      5.2.1.1      Privileges and Quotas
      5.2.1.2      Considerations for CHANNELCNT
      5.2.1.3      Required Files
      5.2.1.4      Failover Local Servers
    5.2.2      Preliminary Concentrator Tasks
      5.2.2.1      Protection for Terminal Ports
      5.2.2.2      LAT Support Tasks
      5.2.2.3      Timeout
    5.2.3      Preliminary Update Server Tasks
    5.2.4      Preliminary Workbench Server Tasks
    5.2.5      Defining Logical File Names
      5.2.5.1      Defining a Logical Name for the Account File
      5.2.5.2      Defining a Logical Name for the Base Page Determination File

  5.3     Workbench Server Considerations

  5.4     DECnet Node Numbers in SHOW SESSION Commands

  5.5     VTXCTL Utility Flow

  5.6     Starting the VTXCTL Utility

  5.7     Control Mode
    CONNECT CONCENTRATOR
    CONNECT SERVER
    CONNECT UPDATE_SERVER
    CONNECT WORKBENCH_SERVER
    EXIT
    HELP
    SHOW CONCENTRATOR
    SHOW SERVER
    SHOW UPDATE_SERVER
    SHOW WORKBENCH_SERVER
    START CONCENTRATOR
    START SERVER
    START UPDATE_SERVER
    START WORKBENCH_SERVER
    STOP CONCENTRATOR
    STOP SERVER
    STOP UPDATE_SERVER
    STOP WORKBENCH_SERVER

  5.8     Server Mode
    CLOSE/ALL
    CLOSE/INDEX
    CLOSE/KEYWORD
    CLOSE/PAGE
    EXIT
    HELP
    LOAD BASE
    MODIFY CBR
    MODIFY/INDEX
    OPEN/INDEX
    OPEN/KEYWORD
    OPEN/PAGE
    REMOTE
    SHOW CBR
    SHOW COMMUNICATION
    SHOW FILE
    SHOW REMOTE
    SHOW SESSION
    START CBR
    START COMMUNICATION
    START LOG
    STOP CBR
    STOP COMMUNICATION
    STOP LOG
    STOP SESSION

  5.9     Concentrator Mode
    ASSIGN
    ASSIGN/X29
    ASSIGN/SNA3270DS
    DEASSIGN
    EXIT
    HELP
    SHOW COMMUNICATION
    SHOW SESSION
    START COMMUNICATION
    START COMMUNICATION/X29
    STOP COMMUNICATION
    STOP SESSION

  5.10    Update Server Mode
    CLOSE/ALL
    CLOSE/KEYWORD
    CLOSE/PAGE
    EXIT
    HELP
    OPEN/KEYWORD
    OPEN/PAGE
    SHOW COMMUNICATION
    SHOW FILE
    SHOW SESSION
    START COMMUNICATION
    STOP COMMUNICATION
    STOP SESSION

  5.11    Workbench Server Mode
    CLOSE/ALL
    CLOSE/KEYWORD
    CLOSE/LIBRARY
    CLOSE/PAGE
    EXIT
    HELP
    OPEN/KEYWORD
    OPEN/LIBRARY
    OPEN/PAGE
    SHOW COMMUNICATION
    SHOW FILE
    SHOW LIBRARY
    SHOW SESSION
    START COMMUNICATION
    STOP COMMUNICATION
    STOP SESSION

  6      VTX Account Control Utility

  6.1     Managing VTX Accounts

  6.2     Preliminary Subscriber Account Tasks

  6.3     Preliminary IP Account Tasks

  6.4     Preliminary Workbench IP Account Tasks

  6.5     Starting the VTX Account Control Utility
    EXIT
    HELP

  6.6     Subscriber Account Commands
    ADD
    DELETE
    MODIFY
    RESET
    SHOW

  6.7     VTXUPD IP Account Commands
    ADD/IP
    DELETE/IP
    MODIFY/IP
    RESET/IP
    SHOW/IP

  6.8     Workbench IP Account Commands
    ADD/IP=WORKBENCH
    DELETE/IP=WORKBENCH
    MODIFY/IP=WORKBENCH
    RESET/IP=WORKBENCH
    SHOW/IP=WORKBENCH

  6.9     VTXACU Workbench Prefix File Commands
    ADD/PREFIX
    CLOSE/PREFIX
    DELETE/PREFIX
    MODIFY/PREFIX
    OPEN/PREFIX
    SHOW/PREFIX

  6.10    Maintaining a Base Page Determination File
    6.10.1     Creating the Source File
    6.10.2     Base Page Determination Algorithm

  6.11    Account Usage Record Format

  7      Infobase Verification Utility

  7.1     Verifying the Integrity of an Infobase

  7.2     Starting the VTXIVU Utility
    EXIT
    HELP
    VERIFY

  7.3     Infobase Verification Report

  A   Generic Industries' VTU Files

  B   Server Log Record Format

  B.1     Format of the Page Number Field

  C   VAX VTX Workbench Library Files

  D   File Conversion

  D.1     Page File Conversion

  D.2     Workbench Library File Conversion

  D.3     APMS Index Assignment File Conversion

  E   Problem Solving

  E.1     DEC VTX Subscriber Problems
    E.1.1      Subscriber Cannot Access a Specified Page
    E.1.2      Subscriber Cannot Connect to Remote Server or Application
    E.1.3      Subscriber Cannot Connect to VTX-No Base Page
    E.1.4      Subscriber Cannot Connect to VTX-Object Does Not Exist

  E.2     DEC VTX Operator Problems
    E.2.1      Operator Cannot Access the VTXCTL Utility-Insufficient Privileges
    E.2.2      Operator Cannot Specify a Workbench Page in the BPDF
    E.2.3      Operator Cannot Start VTX Server-Unable to Access Startup Command Procedure
    E.2.4      Operator Cannot Start VTX Server-VTX Times Out, but Creates the Error Log File
    E.2.5      Operator Cannot Start VTX Server-VTX Times Out, but Does Not Create Error Log File

  E.3     DEC VTX Information Provider (IP) Problems
    E.3.1      All Keywords Are Not Deleted When a Page Is Deleted with VTXUPD
    E.3.2      All Keywords Are Not Extracted When a Page Is Extracted with VTXUPD
    E.3.3      IP Added Page Help on a Form Page, but Subscriber Cannot Access It
    E.3.4      IP Added Pages with VTXUPD, but Subscriber Cannot Access Them
    E.3.5      IP Cannot Connect to the Update Server-Object Does Not Exist
    E.3.6      IP Cannot Connect to the Workbench Server-Object Does Not Exist
    E.3.7      IP Cannot Remove a Page Using the APMS REMOVE Command
    E.3.8      Workbench IP Added Pages, but Subscriber Cannot Access Them
    E.3.9      Workbench IP Deleted Pages, but Subscriber Can Still Access Them
    E.3.10     Page Control Information on Menu, Form, or Display Pages Is Displayed to Subscriber

  E.4     DEC VTX TCP Command Procedure Problems
    E.4.1      Message "Undefined Symbol" Is Displayed After LINKPAD.COM and LINKCON.COM Are Run
    E.4.2      Object Files Not Found by LINKPAD.COM and LINKCON.COM

  E.5     Enhancing Infobase Performance

  F   VTXCTL Error Messages

  G   VTXACU Error Messages

  H   VTXIVU Error Messages

  Glossary

  EXAMPLES

  2-1        Sample VTU File-Main Menu Page

  2-2        Sample VTU File-Company News Section

  2-3        Sample Startup Command File

  2-4        Creating Infobase Files

  2-5        Sample Commands for Establishing Prefix Strategy

  3-1        Sample VTU File-Adding NAPLPS Pages

  5-1        Sample VTXCTL Workbench Server Mode Command Sequence

  6-1        Sample Base Page Determination File 1

  6-2        Sample Base Page Determination File 2

  7-1        Infobase Verification Report

  FIGURES

  2-1        A Menu Page Points to Other Pages

  2-2        Menus Can Point to the Same Page

  2-3        Page Hierarchy Sketch

  2-4        Assigning Page Numbers to the Hierarchy

  2-5        Main Menu Sketch

  2-6        Company News Menu Sketch

  2-7        Text of First News Story

  2-8        Sample Base Page Determination File

  2-9        General Infobase Organization

  2-10       High-Level Prefix Scheme

  2-11       Detailed Prefix Scheme

  2-12       Workbench IPs Matched with Infobase Sections

  2-13       Workbench Group Codes Assigned

  3-1        Distributing Keywords

  3-2        LONDON Main Menu Sketch

  3-3        Sample Hierarchy for NAPLPS Pages

  3-4        Base Page Determination File

  4-1        Basic VTX System Configuration

  4-2        Distributed VTX System Configuration

  4-3        Concentrator Linked to Remote Server

  4-4        Local Session for Terminal TTA2:

  4-5        Routed Session for Terminal TTA2:

  TABLES

  1-1        Database Versus Infobase

  2-1        Relationship Between Page Ranges, Prefixes, and Information

  4-1        VTXCTL Utility Mode Prompts

  4-2        DEC VTX DECnet Objects

  4-3        VTX Logical Name Reference

  5-1        Formulas to Determine Required Quotas

  5-2        VTXCTL Utility-Control Mode Commands

  5-3        VTXCTL Utility-Server Mode Commands

  5-4        VTXCTL Utility-Concentrator Mode Commands

  5-5        Supported Device Types and Protocols

  5-6        VTXCTL Utility-Update Server Mode Commands

  5-7        VTXCTL Utility-Workbench Server Mode Commands

  6-1        VTXACU Utility-General Commands

  6-2        VTXACU Utility-Subscriber Account Commands

  6-3        VTXACU Utility-VTXUPD IP Account Commands

  6-4        VTXACU Utility-Workbench IP Account Commands

  6-5        VTXACU Utility-Workbench Prefix File Commands

  6-6        Fields in the Account Usage Record

  B-1        Server Log Record Format for NEWSESS, CONNIN, CONNOUT, DISCON, and PAGE

  B-2        Server Log Record Format for DELSESS

  B-3        Server Log Record Format for DBSECT

  B-4        Server Log Record Format for LOG