An interfaces entry has the following form:
# put comments here<newline>
SERVERNAME[<tab>retry_count<tab>retry_delay]<newline>
<tab>{master|query} protocol network host port<newline>
<tab>[secmech mechanism1,..., mechanismn]<newline>
<blank line>
where:
SERVERNAME is an alias by which Open Client and Open Server recognize which interfaces entry to read. SERVERNAME must begin with a letter (ASCII a-z, A-Z), contain letters, numbers, and underscores only, and have a maximum of 11 characters.
retry_count (optional) determines the number of times a client tries to connect to a server after an initial failure to connect.
retry_delay (optional) determines the time interval between connection attempts.
“master | query” specifies the type of connection:
“master” specifies a master line, which is used by server applications to listen for client queries.
“query” specifies a query line, which is used by client applications to find servers.
The master line and the query line of an interfaces entry contain identical information. The dscp utility creates both types of lines for each entry. The resulting entry can be used by both clients and servers.
protocol is the name of the network protocol. Valid values are:
“tcp” for TCP/IP – all UNIX platforms
“decnet” for DECnet – HP Tru64 UNIX
network is a descriptor of the network.
Open Client and Open Server do not currently use network; it is a placeholder should Sybase need to define this information in the future.
host is the network name of the node, or machine, that the server is running on. The maximum number of characters for host depends on the protocol specified in the entry:
For TCP/IP, the maximum is 32.
For DECnet, the maximum is 6.
Use the /bin/hostname command to determine the network name of the machine you are logged in to.
port is the port used by the server to receive queries. The TCP/IP and DECnet protocols specify this element differently:
TCP/IP: Valid port numbers range from 1025 to 65535. However, the numbers 1025 to 7009, 9535, and 17007 are registered port numbers and may already be in use on your system.
DECnet: Valid object numbers range from 128 to 253. Object names are also valid.
Use the netstat command to check which port numbers are in use.
The optional SECMECH line contains the identifier used to list the security mechanisms that a server supports.
mechanism1,..., mechanismn are the security mechanisms that a server supports. You can specify multiple security mechanisms by using a comma separator.
A security mechanism is listed as its object identifier. An object identifier is a globally unique series of numbers that maps to the local name for a security mechanism in the global object identifiers file.
See “The objectid.dat file” for more information about object identifiers.
