DEL MAR COLLEGE
CIS 306 - Managing NOVELL® Networks

Instructor: Michael P. Harris
NETWARE BASICS
Part 2 - Menu and Command Line Utilities

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WHAT ARE MENU AND COMMAND LINE UTILITIES?

You use NetWare utilities to perform network tasks. There are two types of utilities: menu utilities and command line utilities.

Menu utilities let you perform network tasks by choosing options from menus. Command line utilities let you perform tasks by typing commands at the DOS command line. This section explains how to execute both types of NetWare utilities.

 

I. WORKING WITH MENU UTILITIES

Access a Menu Utility

To access a menu utility, such as FILER, type the utility's name at the DOS prompt and press [Enter]. The utility's main menu is displayed along with a screen header showing the following:

• The utility's full name

• The current date and time

• The directory path leading up to your current directory (some utilities)

• Your username on your file server (some utilities)

• Your connection number (some utilities)

Exit a Menu Utility

There are two ways to exit a menu utility:

1. Press [Escape] until an exit confirmation box appears. Then highlight "Yes" and press [Enter].

2. Press the Exit key (usually [Alt][F10]). Do not press the Exit key to exit a menu utility if you have made changes within the utility; if you do, the changes are not saved. Exiting via the Escape key saves your changes.

Additional Information

Once you have accessed a menu utility and the main menu is displayed, you are ready to work. Menu utilities use certain keys to perform special functions. The utilities also have certain standard components. The keys, wildcards, and components are:

• [F1] (Help) Key. Displays help screens. If you press the help key once, a help screen that applies to the task you are currently working on appears. The help screen describes all the options on the screen. To get help on a specific option, highlight the option and press [Enter].

• If you press the Help key twice, your computer's function key assignments are listed. There are three screens containing function key assignments. Press the [PageDown] key to see subsequent screens.

• [F5] (Mark) Key. Allows you to mark multiple items in a list so you can add or delete several items at once.

• [Esc] (Escape) Key. Has three functions:
  1. If you are on a menu screen, pressing [Escape] allows you to return to a previous menu.

  2. If you are at the main menu, pressing <Escape> causes an exit confirmation box to appear. Highlight "Yes" and pressing [Enter], to exit the menu utility and return to the menu or command line prompt.

  3. If you are performing a process, pressing [Escape] allows you to continue.

• Wildcard characters (* and ?). DOS and NetWare recognize these characters as universal replacements for any other character or set of characters. Wildcards can be used to search for groups of volumes, directories, or files, or can be used to search for a particular file when you are unsure of the complete filename.
  1. An asterisk (*) in a filename indicates that any character can occupy that position and all remaining positions in the filename. For example, in the FILER utility, to copy all subdirectory's files with the extension .EXE to another directory, type "*.EXE" in the menu's entry box and press [Enter].

  2. In contrast, a question mark (?) in a filename indicates that any character can occupy that position, and that position only. So, if you were to type "ACCOUNT?.NEW", you would copy files like ACCOUNT1.NEW, ACCOUNT2.NEW, and so on.

  NetWare's use of wildcard characters differs from DOS's in one respect. To represent all files in a directory, DOS expects you to type "*.*", whereas NetWare only needs one asterisk (*).

• Components. When you first access a menu utility, the main menu is displayed. Menus contain options you can choose from. Options can be selected one of two ways:
  1. You can use the [arrow keys] to highlight the option you want. Then press [Enter].

  2. You can type the first letter of an option to highlight that option. If more than one option in the menu starts with the same letter(s), type enough additional letters to distinguish one option from the others. (For example, if both "Search" and "Select" were options, you would have to type "Sel" to highlight "Select.") Once the option you want is highlighted, press [Enter].

When you select an option from the main menu, additional menus and displays appear on the screen. These displays include lists, entry boxes, insets, forms, and confirmation boxes. Each type of screen display is explained below.

• Lists

  Lists are similar to menus, and items in the lists can be selected the same way menu options are. However, you can also add to and delete items from some lists. Lists may have more than one column, and they may extend below the screen display. Press the [Down arrow] key to see additional items. Pressing [Ctrl][PageDown] takes you to the bottom of the list. Pressing [Ctrl][PageUp] takes you to the top of the list.

• Entry boxes

  Entry boxes are boxes in which you can type information, such as a username or pathname. The [Delete], [Backspace], and [arrow keys] work in these boxes.

• Insets

  Insets display information that cannot be edited (except by the network supervisor). Regular users cannot add to or delete from the information in this window.

• Forms

  Forms are windows that contain fields. You can move around in a form using the arrow keys or the Enter key. (When you press [Enter], the cursor moves to the next field in the form.) To change the information in the field by highlight the field and press [Enter].
  
  What you do next depends on the type of field. Some fields allow you to type in information; others display menu items to select.

• Confirmation boxes

  Confirmation boxes are displayed whenever you exit a menu utility or whenever you create or delete items (such as directories or files). You can either confirm or cancel the action by selecting "Yes" or "No" and pressing [Enter].

 

II. WORKING WITH COMMAND LINE UTILITIES

Command Format

The command format displays the appropriate syntax for command line utilities. Command line utilities are typed in at the DOS prompt. The following are examples of the command formats for the NPRINT and the TLIST utilities:

• NPRINT path [option...] [Enter]

• TLIST [path [USERS | GROUPS]] [Enter]

Conventions

The conventions for these example command formats are explained below:

• NPRINT

  Words that appear in all capital letters must be spelled exactly as shown. Although they appear in capital letters, they can be typed in either upper or lower case.

• path

  Words that appear in lower case are variables. They should be replaced with the information pertinent to your task. In this case, "path" would be replaced with the path leading to and including the file you want to indicate, and you would replace "option" with any NPRINT options you want to specify.

• [ ]

  Square brackets indicate that the enclosed item is optional: you can enter a command with or without the enclosed item. In this case, "option" is optional.

• ...

  Ellipses indicate that more than one option can be used with the command. In this case, more than one NPRINT option can be entered in the command.

• [Enter]

  The key name within brackets indicate that you should press the key whose name appears between them. Always press [Enter] after typing the command format for command line utilities.

• [[ ]]

  Nested square brackets indicate that all enclosed items are optional. However, if you use the item(s) within the innermost brackets, you must also use the item(s) within the outer brackets.

• |

  A vertical rule or bar means "either, or." You can use either the item to the left of the vertical bar or the item to the right, but not both.

Wildcard Characters

DOS and NetWare recognize wildcard characters (* and ?) as universal replacements for any other character or set of characters. Wildcards can be used to search for groups of volumes, directories, or files, or to search for a particular file when you are unsure of its complete name.

• An asterisk (*) in a filename indicates that any character can occupy that position and all remaining positions in the filename. For example, to search for all filenames with the extension .EXE in your default directory, type "NDIR *.EXE" and press [Enter] to display the list.

• In contrast, a question mark (?) in a filename indicates that any character can occupy that position, and that position only. So, if you were to type "NDIR *.?", you would see a list of all files in your default directory with a single-character extension or no extension at all.

NetWare's use of wildcard characters differs from DOS's in one respect. For example, to represent all files in a directory, DOS expects you to type "*.*", whereas NetWare only needs one asterisk (*).

 

III. GETING HELP IN NETWARE

Use the NetWare HELP utility to view on-line information about NetWare utilities, NetWare system messages, and NetWare concepts. NetWare HELP allows you to search for and retrieve information from infobases (information databases). To access HELP, type:

HELP [Enter]

Press [Enter] again to bring up the main menu. For more information on how to use NetWare HELP, press the [Tab] key until you get to "How to use this reference." Then press [Enter].

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Part 1

Index

Parts 3,4,&5

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    This page is maintained by:   Michael P. Harris

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	viking.delmar.edu Last Updated: Aug 30		mpharris@surf.delmar.edu Copyright © 1998