Overview - Writing Scripts and dcecp Objects
The DCE control program supplies a number of objects that offer administrative access to each manageable component in a DCE cell. For instance, the principal object lets administrators manage principal information in the DCE Security Service registry database. Similarly, the rpcgroup object lets administrators manage group information in CDS.
Some DCE operations affect multiple components as when several operations must be performed to add a new user to a DCE cell. To meet this need, the DCE control program provides task objects that let administrators operate on multiple components with a single operation. For instance, the user task object performs several operations that include creating principal information in the registry, adding the principal to an organization and to relevant groups, creating a CDS directory for the user, and so on. Task objects look and behave just like other dcecp objects, implementing the same help system used by other dcecp objects. However, task objects are written using the dcecp language instead of the C programming language. This makes it easy for administrators to extend or customize existing scripts.
While the DCE control program provides task objects to handle some multicomponent operations, variations in cell configurations and differences in the ways administrators manage their cells make it impractical for the supplied DCE task objects to satisfy all the needs of every DCE cell. For instance, some cells may use DFS or GDS components or a cell may implement a cell directory naming scheme that differs from the standard OSF DCE implementation. Alternatively, some DCE implementations could have specialized administrative components such as services or repositories that need distinct dcecp objects for managing them.
To accommodate a cell's specific needs, the DCE control program language lets administrators create their own scripts. Administrators can also extend or modify existing task objects or they can create new task objects to manage specialized components in a DCE cell. This topic provides information for extending, modifying, or creating the following kinds of dcecp scripts:
· Informal administration scripts
· Formal task objects