HP 3000 Manuals

Controlling System Activity

The Components of the Account Structure 

The account structure consists of four components:  accounts, groups,
users, and files.

Accounts are the basic structure for organizing the users and information
in your system.  System users and system information belong to accounts.

A group is a device for further organizing users and information within
accounts.

Users belong to the account, but access files by logging on to a group.
If they know the appropriate group passwords, users can log on to any
group within the account.

Generally, users are associated with a home group that the system logs
them onto when they do not specify a group name in their logon command.

Files store the information with which you work.  Any time that you run a
program, use a spreadsheet, or compose a letter, you are using files.
Files belong to groups within an account.

The system directory is the system's internal list of accounts, groups,
users, and files.  It keeps track of their characteristics and their
relationships.

Figure 2-1 illustrates the relationship between accounts, groups, and
users.  Accounts (TECHNLGY, MARKTING.SYS, for example) are shown
horizontally, across the top of the diagram.  Groups (RESEARCH, SALES,
RECORDS, for example) are stacked vertically under their accounts.  Users
(KEVIN, CHARLES, DIANE, for example) appear under their home groups.  The
solid black lines in figure 2-1 indicate firm, primary relationships.
Notice that all users have their strongest relationships with their
accounts; and all groups have their strongest relationships with their
accounts.  The gray lines indicate less solid relationships; although
users have a solid relationship with the account, they also have a
convenience relationship with a home group.  Users are most likely to
work in and to have files stored in their home group.


          Figure 2-1.  Account Relationships 

Notice in figure 2-1 the occasional odd spellings, like TECHNLGY and
RECRUITG. All account, group, user, and file names must be eight
characters or fewer in length.

The Individual Account 

Figure 2-1 shows the structure of an individual account.  Not all
accounts look like the one in figure 2-2, but most are similar.  Every
account has a name, a PUB group, and an account manager.  When you first
create an account, the account manager has the PUB group as a home group.


          Figure 2-2.  An Individual Account 

The account manager is responsible for establishing the groups and users
within the account.  In the example above, the group named RESEARCH is
the home group for three users; ENGINRG is the home group of three users
and MFGENGG is the home group of three users.  In each case, the users
are likely to do their work in their home group, but, because their main
relationship is to the account, they can log on to any group in the
account.

You can also create users who do not have a home group.  These users can
log on to any group, but must specify, the desired group when they log
on.

Using Files 

When you do almost any kind of work with a computer, you work with files.
Reports, spreadsheets, program listings, letters, management tools, and
more all exist within the system in the form of files.

The files belong to the groups in an account as shown in figure 2-3.


          Figure 2-3.  Groups, Users, and Files 

The system stores the files necessary for operating the computer.  For
example, utilities, system libraries, program subsystems, languages,
compilers, user defined commands, and the system itself are in the SYS
account's PUB group.

The PUB groups in other accounts contain files that the users of those
accounts share.  Files in other groups are usually the private files of
that group's users.

Standard Characteristics 

Every system has standard accounts, groups, and users.  Each system has a
SYS (for system) account.  It contains the operating system, shared
programs, and files shared by the members of all accounts.  Each account
has a group named PUB (for public).  The PUB account contains certain
publicly accessible files.  For example, the PUB group of the SYS account
contains system programs available to all users.  The user MANAGER is
built in to the SYS account.  MANAGER is the initial system manager.

Creating Naming Conventions 

Notice that each account, group, and user in Figure 2-3 has a name.
Files also have names.  An account, group, user, or file name must be
eight characters or fewer in length.  It must begin with an alphabetic
character.  Subsequent characters can be alphabetic or numeric.

Account names must be unique, but notice that each account has a group
named PUB. Group names must only be unique, within an account.  Files
must have unique names within a group, but two files in different groups
might have the same name within an account, user names must be unique;
however, two users in different accounts might have the same name.

For example, in figure 2-1, there is a user named BOB in both the FINANCE
and MARKTING accounts.

User Names 

The system distinguishes between users with the same name by using both
the user and account name as the user's fully qualified name.  By
convention, fully qualified user names take the form:

     username.accountname 

For example, the fully qualified name of the user BOB in the FINANCE
account is BOB.FINANCE. The BOB in MARKTING has the full name
BOB.MARKTING. The two BOBs may or may not be the same person, but, to the
system they are different users.  When users log on to the system, they
use their fully qualified names.  For example:

     HELLO BOB.FINANCE

Group Names 

Groups have fully qualified names that are similar to fully qualified
user names.  A fully qualified group name has the following form:

     groupname.accountname 

For example, the PUB group of the TECHNLGY account has the fully
qualified name PUB.TECHNLGY. The PUB group of the SYS account has the
fully qualified name of PUB.SYS. Think of the notation PUB.SYS as short
for "the PUB group of the SYS account."

File Names 

Fully qualified file names include the file's name, its group, and its
account.  A fully qualified file name has the following format:

     filename.groupname.accountname 

For example, a file named FILEA in the RESEARCH group of the TECHNLGY
account has the fully-qualified name FILEA.RESEARCH.TECHNLGY. A file's
fully qualified name distinguishes it from any other file in the system.
You can use a file's fully qualified name to access it from anywhere in
the system (if you pass the file access restrictions described later in
this chapter).

Designing an Account Structure 

Your account structure should reflect your organization's structure and
the way in which you intend to use your system.  If your firm uses a
single computer system, an account structure similar to a corporate
organization chart (like the one in Figure 2-1), makes sense, Your
computer system uses the same structure as your organization, because it
identifies and tracks the same kinds of information.

If your system belongs to a functional division of your firm, for
example, Engineering or Purchasing, your accounts might correspond to
projects or products.  If your firm is a service bureau, your system
might have an account for each customer.

MPE/iX 5.0 Documentation