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)