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Introduction to the Compaq FTAM Responder
OSI/FTAM Responder Manual—425199-001
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Compaq FTAM Services
FTAM users communicate with the FTAM service provider by way of primitives, the
smallest units of interaction between the FTAM user and the FTAM service provider. An
operation like any of those mentioned above requires the exchange of multiple
primitives, which the FTAM software encodes as protocol data units (PDUs).
FTAM file handling is defined in terms of initiator and responder functions. The
initiator provides application programs with access to the FTAM protocol so that you
can request services to be performed by a responder across the network. The remote
responder acts as a file server and performs the requested services.
Compaq FTAM Services
Compaq FTAM provides most of the FTAM services specified in ISO 8571.
The Compaq FTAM implementation separates the initiator and responder functions into
two processes. The Compaq FTAM initiator process implements the initiator function,
while the Compaq FTAM responder process implements the responder function.
The initiator and responder processes provide the FTAM functions required for your
applications. These processes manage the FTAM communications among your
application and other FTAM applications on the local or remote computer systems on an
OSI network.
Compaq FTAM can handle the following types of files, where the corresponding FTAM
document types are listed parenthetically:
•
Unstructured text files (FTAM-1)
•
Structured text files (FTAM-2)
•
Binary files (FTAM-3)
•
Directory files (NBS-9)
FTAM Applications
This manual focuses on the FTAM services available to remote ISO FTAM applications
through the Compaq FTAM responder. There is no programmatic interface to the
Compaq responder; you request the services of the responder by means of the FTAM
interface on your remote system, which may or may not be a Compaq system.
ISO FTAM protocol defines a common model of the file system (the virtual filestore,
described later in the manual), which allows all computer systems on an open network
to share the same file-handling conventions. Because the Compaq FTAM responder
manages its own local file system, you do not need to learn how to program file
handling for the Compaq NonStop Kernel (the operating system) or the Guardian
environment (the application program interface and the Compaq NonStop tools) when
using the Compaq responder. In writing FTAM applications that use the services of the
Note. The initiator and responder functions of remote FTAM implementations are not
necessarily performed by separate processes. In this manual, the term “remote initiator” refers
to the entity in the remote implementation that performs the initiator function.