PMDF Obsolete Features

Normally the Jnet Local Mail Delivery agent is a process running a specially doctored version of VMS MAIL. In order to have PMDF deliver local mail, this process must run BN_SLAVE instead.

BN_SLAVE is established as the Local Mail Delivery agent by copying a new version of the file lmd.com to JAN_SYS. For Jnet versions 3.7, 3.6, and 3.5 use the command

$ COPY PMDF_COM:lmd.com JAN_SYS:lmd.com

For Jnet version 3.4, instead use the command

$ COPY PMDF_COM:lmd.v34 JAN_SYS:lmd.com

or, for Jnet version 3.3 or 3.2, use the command

$ COPY PMDF_COM:lmd.v33 JAN_SYS:lmd.com

If you are running Jnet on more than one node in a cluster, then be sure that the PMDF lmd.com (or lmd.v34 or lmd.v33) file is seen by each Jnet node in the cluster (i.e., ends up in the cluster common JAN_SYS: directory) or is placed in the specific JAN_SYS: directories of each individual Jnet node which is to run PMDF's local mail delivery daemon.

lmd.com can require alteration for use with other versions of Jnet. Be sure to compare PMDF's lmd.com with the one provided with Jnet and check for any discrepancies. The only real difference between the two should be that PMDF's lmd.com defines the logical names PMDF_CHANNEL and SYS$OUTPUT and then runs BN_SLAVE instead of defining the logical names SYS$SCRATCH and JAN_MAILPROT and then running VMS MAIL. The code in lmd.com to start up the FANOUT and PROFS daemons is not directly related to PMDF. The function of these daemons is described fully in the Jnet documentation.

lmd.com will also have to be edited if a name other than "bit_local" is used for the local Jnet channel. Change only the line that defines the PMDF_CHANNEL logical name.

Once this is done Jnet's local servers should be shut down and restarted to activate the new agent. The following commands will usually suffice, but see the Jnet System Manager's Guide for complete information on restarting Jnet.

$ RUN JAN_SYS:JCP JCP> STOP local-host JCP> START local-host

where local-host is Jnet's name for the system running Jnet and PMDF.

If the BN_SLAVE daemon should fail for any reason, the conventional Jnet Local Mail Delivery agent will be started instead. A mail message will also be sent to the SYSTEM account indicating that this has happened. The file PMDF_LOG:bn_slave.log should be examined to determine the cause of the problem if BN_SLAVE does fail.

For efficiency reasons the BN_SLAVE program only reads the PMDF configuration file once at startup. If the configuration file is edited or recompiled the BN_SLAVE program needs to be restarted. A restart can be requested with the OpenVMS command:

$ PMDF RESTART BN_SLAVE

SYSLCK privilege is required to issue this command which will restart all BN_SLAVE processes across your cluster. Restarting Jnet entirely is not necessary; this command alone is sufficient if only PMDF configuration information has changed. Note, however, that this command does not reload Jnet routing tables; consult the Jnet documentation to find out how to reload Jnet's tables.

Delivery via BN_SLAVE can be temporarily disabled by defining PMDF_DISABLE_BN_SLAVE as a system logical name (the translation value does not matter as long as the logical is defined). lmd.com will invoke the regular Jnet mail delivery mechanism if this logical is defined. To revert from PMDF delivery to regular Jnet delivery on a running system, first define this logical and then use the PMDF RESTART BN_SLAVE command to restart BN_SLAVE. The switchover will actually occur the next time a class M message is received by Jnet. In a cluster, you must define this logical on each cluster member to be affected. Should you later want to restart BN_SLAVE, deassign the PMDF_DISABLE_BN_SLAVE logical, and then stop and restart the local Jnet link with JCP, as shown above. (The PMDF RESTART command will not restart BN_SLAVE if there is no BN_SLAVE process currently running; it only restarts an active process.)

To permanently shut down BN_SLAVE (until the system is rebooted or the Jnet link for the local node is restarted), you can use the PMDF SHUTDOWN command:

$ PMDF SHUTDOWN BN_SLAVE

This will cause all BN_SLAVE processes across a cluster to shut themselves down and exit. They will not "fail over" to the default Jnet LMD server: you are simply left without any LMD daemon running at all.