Duty3G/User Guide/Glossary

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Glossary

At-request duty

A manually initiated duty that is run as required, rather than to a regular schedule.

Some examples: changing a user password, listing active users, archiving source files.

Audit trail

A log file containing accumulated information which is used to verify the correctness and efficiency of system procedures.

Automatic duty

A duty that is run to a regular schedule and is initiated without operator action.

Some examples: removing core files, running security checks, polling another machine.

Backup

A procedure that allows files to be restored from a recent copy in the event of the original being lost or destroyed through accidental deletion, system failure, or some external disaster.

Capability

A capability is the right to use a duty3G feature or menu option. duty3G users have one or more capabilities, which define the parts of duty3G they can access. For example, to use the ‘Administration’ menu you need the dutysuper capability. A commonly used set of capabilities is defined as a Role (see below).

Dependent duty

A duty that must be performed successfully before another duty can be initiated. A duty can have any number of dependent duties, but can only have one other duty dependent on it. The only circumstance in which a dependent duty can be performed without the duty on which it depends being complete if where that latter duty is disabled (see Disabled duty).

Device

The UNIX device file name for a drive - e.g. /dev/tape, /dev/rfd0.

Disabled duty

A duty that remains defined within duty3G, but is invisible to users and cannot be performed. It remains so until it is re-enabled.

Drive (Removable media drive)

A tape or diskette drive which can be used to write backup data to a removable medium.

Duty audit trail

An audit trail that logs all commands executed by operators. This should be checked regularly to ensure that necessary duties have been run.

Duty command

One or more commands and scripts that are executed when the duty is run. These can be any commands that could be run from the shell prompt, including commands from the Functional Toolset and COSmanager environment variables.

Duty schedule

The list of duties that are scheduled to be run each day. Operators can work through the list in order, or skip some duties and perform them later.

Order number

Schedule times are automatically assigned an order number when defined. Each allocated number is 10 higher than the last, allowing you 9 numbers to use to group times together.

Outstanding scheduled duties

Duties scheduled for the current time-slot that have not been marked ‘Done’.

Scheduled duties are marked as done when they are run successfully (that is, with return status of zero) in the scheduled interval.

Role

Convenient structure for grouping types of users for the purpose of granting access privilege and allocating duties. Each role translates to a set of capabilities that determine user’s access to menus and functions in individual COSmanager applications.

Run time

The time(s) at which a duty will be run, expressed in 24 hour clock format, as exact times, lists of times, ranges or combinations of these.

Scheduled backup

A backup job that is scheduled to be run at a certain time and day. Usually a duty is defined to prompt the operator to load the tape, then the job starts at the scheduled time. This is generally used to run unattended backups overnight or on a weekend.

Schedule time

The name of a processing cycle – for example: daily, Friday, Monthly, first Monday.

duty3G uses the schedule time to find which scheduled duties are due to be run each day.

Scheduled duty

A duty that is run to a regular schedule following confirmation by the operator.

Scheduled duties should be run on the scheduled day, or carried forward to the next day. Some examples: running regular backups, cycling audit trails. Scheduled duties may also be run on request.

Sequence number

This number determines the order in which scheduled duties are presented to the operator to be performed, and the order in which at-request duties are listed. It is convenient to give frequently used at-request duties a low number, so that they appear near the top of the list.

Warning period

Configurable period during which a duty is ‘almost overdue’. Can be set to anything between 0 and 999 minutes. The warning period applies globally, it cannot be configured for individual duties.