The output of NCL commands varies somewhat depending upon the
operating system.
1 – Tru64 UNIX
After you enter a command, the system responds with a display
that includes a summary of the command you entered, the UID
of the entity (if enabled) referred to in the command, and a
timestamp showing when the output was gathered or the command
executed. With some commands (for example, show), the output
also includes a display of certain values.
Some of the timestamps displayed during ncl show commands are
returned with a value of undefined for some entities. This
indicates that the condition that causes the attribute to be
timestamped has not occurred yet.
The following is an example of a typical show display:
ncl>show session control application fal all chara
Node 0 Session Control Application fal
AT 1994-02-21-14:54:01.609-05:00I0.137
Characteristics
Addresses
{ number=17 =
}
Incoming Proxy = True
Node Synonym = False
Image Name = /usr/etc/fal
User Name = guest
Incoming OSI TSEL =''H
Data Abstraction = Message
Accept Mode = Deferred
Programming Interface = Phase IV
Maximum Instances = 0
Allow DECnet Internet Gateway Access = True
Exception messages
If a command does not complete successfully, you can get one or
more exception or error messages. There are three categories of
error displays:
o Errors caused by incorrect command syntax. In these errors,
NCL issues the error message immediately and does not send the
command to the entity itself. For example:
# ncl show tree all
SYNTAX ERROR: No match was found for this string.
show tree all
____ ^
o Validation errors, in which NCL accepts the command syntax
as valid, but subsequently returns an error message when the
command violates a constraint or rule. For example:
# ncl set routing probe rate = 0
RANGE ERROR: The minimum value for this attribute is 1.
set routing probe range = 0
_________________________ ^
In this case, the value 0 was outside the allowable range of
values for this attribute. NCL detected this after it had parsed
the command, but before it had issued the command to the entity.
o Errors returned from the remote entity's agent. In these
errors, NCL was able to interpret the command, but was unable
to perform it for some reason. For example:
Node 0 CSMA-CD
AT 1994-10-06-15:35:14.069-04:00I0.301
FAILED IN DIRECTIVE: Create
DUE TO: Error specific to this entity's class
REASON: Already Exists
Description: Already Exists
A response returned from the remote agent will be displayed
with an AT time stamp. See Appendix A of the DECnet-Plus Network
Control Language Reference for more information on responses.
Adjusting the Display Format
Use the following local commands to adjust the display format.
To define how far over the values can be indented (default=34),
use the commands:
ncl> set ncl name display width = 50
ncl> show ncl name display width
To control whether or not dots are filled in between the attribute
name and its value (for example, state ..... = On), use the
commands:
ncl> enable ncl dots
ncl> disable ncl dots
To control whether counters are displayed left justified or right
justified, use the commands:
ncl> set ncl counter justification = left
ncl> set ncl counter justification = right
To determine if backtranslation will be done or not, use the
commands:
ncl> enable ncl backtranslation
ncl> disable ncl backtranslation
The page width is used to intelligently wrap error messages and to
decide if the snapshot display will require 1 line or 2 lines per
counter. Normally, NCL tracks the page width automatically. To
override the value if necessary, use the commands:
ncl> set ncl page width = 50
ncl> show ncl page width
When NCL is processing an NCL script, use the following commands
to determine if each command should be echoed before it is executed:
ncl> enable ncl command echo
ncl> disable ncl command echo
2 – OpenVMS
After you enter a command, the system responds with a display
that includes a summary of the command you entered, the UID
of the entity (if enabled) referred to in the command, and
a timestamp showing when the command was executed. On some
commands, (for example, show), the output also includes a display
of certain values.
The following is an example of a typical show command and the
resulting display:
NCL> show nsp all <Return>
Node 0 NSP
AT 1992-06-03-10:35:12.234-04:00I0.277
Status
UID = 9AF8477A-407E-11CB-...
State = On
Currently Active Connections = 14
Characteristics
Maximum Transport Connections = 200
Maximum Receive Buffers = 2000
Delay Weight = 3
Delay Factor = 2
Maximum Window = 8
DNA Version = T4.2.1
Acknowledgement Delay Time = 3
Maximum Remote NSAPS = 201
NSAP Selector = 32
Keepalive Time = 60
Retransmit Threshold = 5
Congestion Avoidance = False
A command that executes appropriately and completes its assigned
task produces a Success Response. Success Responses are not
documented in the command description sections of this manual
unless the Success Response contains arguments or the response
indicates that something other than the expected action has
occurred.
If a command does not complete successfully, you can get one or
more exception or error messages. There are three categories of
error returns for NCL commands:
o OpenVMS NCL error messages; that is, errors that occur at the
level where OpenVMS is processing NCL commands.
o Common NCL exception messages; that is, errors that occur
within NCL and which apply to more than one command.
o Command-specific exception messages, which are described with
the commands that can produce them.
Each command description in this manual includes at least one
example that shows a typical successful command with possible
resulting output.
3 – Displaying UIDs
Any entity that has counters or generates events is assigned a
unique identification (UID) value. A UID is a 16-byte entity
attribute that is unique throughout the network and for all time;
that is, because the creation time of the entity is included as a
portion of the UID, no two identical UIDs will ever be created.
A UID identifies a unique instance of an entity. For network
management, UIDs provide a guaranteed way to track the
characteristics and status of that precise entity instance. Each
entity having counter attributes also has a creation timestamp
identifying, simply, when the entity was created.
The UID is included in any response or event from an entity that
has a UID. Any entity that generates events or has counters must
have a UID, which is also visible as a status attribute.
Both the UID and the creation timestamp are included in any event
logging report that returns one or more counters in its argument
list.
By default on Tru64 UNIX, UID values are not displayed. The UID
value for an entity is not always needed and can clutter a show
display or an event-logging report. Use the enable ncl uid display
command if you wish to see this attribute. To turn UID displays
back off, type disable ncl uid display.