Purpose of the NOF API

The CS Linux NOF API provides access to a standard set of commands, called NOF verbs, that can be used to administer the CS Linux system from within an application program. These verbs enable you to define and delete resources, specify CS Linux parameters such as diagnostics levels and file names, start and stop defined resources, query the definition or current status of resources, and manage which servers on the CS Linux LAN can act as backup controllers if the controlling configuration file server is not available.

In a client/server system, you can use any NOF verbs in an application running on a server. Applications running on Remote API Clients can use NOF verbs to query configuration or status information, but cannot use other verbs to modify the configuration or to start or stop resources.

The NOF verbs provide the same functions as commands issued to the command-line administration program snaadmin, or as records in a CS Linux configuration file. For example, the NOF verb DEFINE_LOCAL_LU is equivalent both to a define_local_lu command issued to the snaadmin program, and to a define_local_lu record in a configuration file; all three of them perform the same function, which is to specify the parameters of a CS Linux local APPC LU.

You can use the Motif administration program xsnaadmin to perform the same function as a NOF verb or an administration command (for example, to define a local APPC LU). However, this does not provide access to the full range of parameters included in some NOF verbs. For more information about using the Motif administration program, refer to the IBM Communications Server for Data Center Deployment on Linux Administration Guide.

You can issue NOF verbs to any of the following targets:

• A running CS Linux node - to manage its resources or to monitor its operation
• A server where the node is not running - to query the stored configuration or to modify it for use when the node is next started
• The CS Linux domain as a whole - to define, modify, or query the configuration of domain resources (resources used to support particular user programs, such as CPI-C side information entries, which are not associated with a particular node).
• The CS Linux invokable TP data file - to define information that CS Linux needs to start invokable (target) TPs, or to define other information relating to a TP (such as the level of security required to access the TP).

The NOF API enables you to do the following:

• Develop your own application programs to manage the CS Linux system
• Develop application programs that use the other CS Linux APIs so that they can also manage their own resources (for example, an APPC application can check that the communications link to its partner TP is active before attempting to allocate a conversation or can define the remote LU where its partner TP is located).