| > Q. Do I need a workstation or a terminal at my end to manage remotely,
> using the command line interface?
A terminal will be sufficient to use the FCL PM.
> Q. What am I giving up in functionality being confined to the CLI?
A very nice graphical user interface.
>Can I manage the network effectively?
You can't do anything to managed entities from the Iconic Map that you can't
do from FCL. Presentation of the management information and access to
manageable entities is clumsier and less elegant using FCL. FCL is not known
for presenting information in a compact format, so a set host connection subject
to network delays or a slow modem connection may be quite frustrating at times.
You probably won't be as effective without the Iconic Map, but exactly how
much that will impact your effectiveness I can't say.
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As it stands right now (V1.1) the FCL and the Iconic Map PM's provide the user
with almost the same set of functions, though they are disjoint sets. This
is my QUICK attempt at enumerating the differences in functions supported:
FCL:
no mapping capabilities
does support both GETEVENT and NOTIFY directives to veiw events as
well as rule firings/exceptions
WITH clause supported
TO clause supported
IN DOMAIN must be explicitly stated on commands for historian...
wildcards supported
forms mode context sensitive help and command completion
Iconic Map:
no GETEVENT support
no direct access to the NOTIFY functions (though it does support
default NOTIFY DOMAIN x commands from a menu item)
domain based, IN DOMAIN information is defaulted
mapping capabilities
wildcarding in the form of multiple selections supported
management windows provide MB2 help for some data types
command procedures not supported
This is definitely not everything but should give you a feel for the
differences. What it comes down to though is that all of the AM functions
are available from both, and the FM functions are supported slightly differently
by each.
The PM's should NOT confine what you can do but simply how you do it. To
help in the how space, the FCL (command line) supports a function called
forms mode (USE MODE FORMS). This mode gives you a scrollable output buffer
with print and save capabilities as well as point and select (using function
keys to move around the output buffer you can pick up output data to use
as input data on future commands). The forms mode also give context sensitive
help to make learning and using the FCL easier (similar to the context sensitive
menus of the iconic map interface).
The FCL can be run from pretty much any terminal, I believe we state it as
at least a VT220 or later (VT100 doesn't have all of the function key
support needed for forms mode). I hope this helps. Both PMs are documented
in the DECmcc Director Use manual.
jill
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