User Guide

73
Distributed An
alysis Mode
Using UNC Path Specifications
With the Windows NT server version of SPSS, relative path specifications for data
files are relative to the current server in distributed analysis mode, not relative to
your local c
omputer. In practical terms, this means that a path specification such as
c:\mydocs\mydata.sav does not point to a directory and file on your C drive; it points
to a directory and file on the remote server’s hard drive. If the directory and/or file do
not exist o
n the remote server, this will result in an error in command syntax, as in:
GET FILE='c:\mydocs\mydata.sav'.
If you are using the Windows NT server version of SPSS, you can use universal
naming con
vention (UNC) specifications when accessing data files with command
syntax. The general form of a UNC specification is:
\\servername\sharename\path\filename
 Servername is the name of the computer that contains the data file.
 Sharename is the folder (directory) on that computer that is designated as a
shared folder.
 Path is any additional folder (subdirectory) path below the shared folder.
 Filename is the name of the data file.
For example:
GET FILE='
\\hqdev001\public\july\sales.sav'.
If the comp
uter does not have a name assigned to it, you can use its IP address, as in:
GET FILE='\\204.125.125.53\public\july\sales.sav'.
Even with UNC path specifications, you can access data files only from devices and
folders de
signated as shared. When you use distributed analysis mode, this includes
data files on your local computer.
UNIX servers. On UNIX platforms, there is no equivalent of the UNC path, and all
director
y paths must be absolute paths that start at the root of the server; relative
paths are not allowed. For example, if the data file is located in /bin/spss/data and
the current directory is also /bin/spss/data,
GET FILE='sales.sav' is not valid;
you must s
pecify the entire path, as in:
GET FILE='/bin/data/spss/sales.sav'.