Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!ames!ucbcad!zen!ucbvax!lucy.wellesley.EDU!dhaskin
From: dhaskin@lucy.wellesley.EDU (Denis Haskin)
Newsgroups: comp.os.vms
Subject: re: Session Logs
Message-ID: <8801060021.AA04281@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>
Date: 5 Jan 88 15:01:11 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The ARPA Internet
Lines: 38

Danny Padwa ( Padwa@HUSC3.Harvard.Edu) asks:

> Does anybody know of any ways, short of something along the lines of
> 	SET HOST/LOG 0
> to get a copy of a terminal session (except, of course, a terminal printer).
>  
> We are having trouble here in that many users (students, at teacher's request)
> use the SET HOST/LOG command to save a session, and then, when things don't
> work try it again, without closing the first session. This creates tremendous
> overhead, both for them ("Why is the machine so slow?") and the staff ("Why
> is the machine so slow?") :-).

The problem is really not with SET HOST but with users forgetting that they're
already in a recorded session, and SET HOSTs inability to trap that.  There may
be a way to handle it by restricting network access in the new process, but you
would probably want to go with an alternate session recording utility, such as
PHOTO (which is public domain (I believe) and fairly easily available).

PHOTO creates a subprocess for the user and copies all terminal I/O into a
file.  To terminate the session, the user logs out.  The trick is that by
adding the PHOTO command in at login time ($ SET COMMAND PHOTO.CLD) rather than
having it reside in the permanent system DCL table, the subprocess created by
PHOTO does *not* have a PHOTO command!  So when someone tries to PHOTO again
(this is a PHOTO log file):

Lu$ show time
   5-JAN-1988 09:47:23
Lu$ photo
%DCL-W-IVVERB, unrecognized command verb - check validity and spelling
 \PHOTO\
Lu$ logox
  Process DHASKIN_1 logged out at  5-JAN-1988 09:47:30.16

Let me know if you need more info about getting PHOTO.


Denis Haskin, Network Manager      DHaskin@Lucy.Wellesley.Edu
Wellesley College
617-235-0320 x3123