Technical data

Programming Features
5.12 RMS Locking Enhancements
With this release, you can optionally request that RMS set these flags in record
lock requests by setting the corresponding options RAB$V_NODLCKWT and
RAB$V_NODLCKBLK in the new RAB$W_ROP_2 field. For more information
about using these options, refer to the flag information in the $ENQ section of the
OpenVMS System Services Reference Manual: A–GETUAI.
5.13 OpenVMS Registry
Beginning in OpenVMS Version 7.3, the $REGISTRY system service and
the OpenVMS Registry server have been enhanced to use the Intra-Cluster
Communications (ICC) protocol. ICC provides a high-performance communication
mechanism that is ideal for large transfers. Using ICC eases restrictions on the
amount of data that can be transferred between the $REGISTRY system service
and the Registry server. These restrictions previously prevented large key values
from being stored and retrieved, and prevented full searches of large databases.
The changes made in OpenVMS Version 7.3 result in an incompatibility between
the OpenVMS Version 7.2 $REGISTRY service and Registry server and the
OpenVMS Version 7.3 $REGISTRY service and Registry server. However, these
changes substantially benefit OpenVMS customers in this release and in future
releases, when we plan to further reduce these restrictions.
Also in OpenVMS Version 7.3, registry operations are client/server based, and as
such require some length of time for the server to respond to a request. If the
server is too busy or the timeout value is too small, or both, the server will not
respond in time and the $REGISTRY service will return a REG$_NORESPONSE
error. This does not necessarily mean that the operation failed; it only means
that the server was not able to respond before the time expired. Most operations
complete immediately. However, Compaq recommends that you specify the
timeout value be a minimum of 5 seconds.
The new format of the $registry system service is:
$REGISTRY [efn], func, [ntcredentials], itmlst, [iosb] [,astadr]
[,astprm] [,timeout]
Note that astadr , astprm and timeout are optional arguments. These optional
arguments cannot be defaulted, which means that to specify the timeout
argument, you must specify astadr and astprm (or specify them as 0). Some
languages, such as Bliss and Macro, provide macros to do this for you.
5.13.1 REG$CP Registry Utility
The REG$CP Registry Utility has been enhanced to use the timeout argument.
REG$CP commands now support a /WAIT=numberofseconds qualifier, allowing
you to specify the number of seconds to wait for the Registry Server to respond to
the command.
/WAIT is negatable (by using /NOWAIT ). However, like the timeout
argument, Compaq recommends that you specify a minimum of 5 seconds.
The REG$CP Registry Utility has also been enhanced to display security
descriptors. The LIST command can now be used to display the security
descriptor associated with a particular key. This includes the security descriptor
structure itself, and may also include Security Identifiers (SIDs), System Access-
Control Lists (SACLs), and Discretionary Access-Control Lists (DACLs). You
must have access to the key to display the security descriptor; in other words, you
must have proper credentials to read the security information, or you must be
suitably privileged.
For more information, refer to the OpenVMS Connectivity Developer Guide, which
is available on the OpenVMS Alpha CD-ROM in directory [COM_ALPHA_011A].
5–16 Programming Features