Setting-up Interprocess Communication

Interprocess communication (IPC) includes a facility which enables DataBasic programs on Reality hosts to communicate over a network. This facility is also available between programs running on the same database, or different Reality databases on the same system. It is achieved by a set of six DataBasic statements - see Interprocess Communication in the DataBasic Reference.

Also, a C program interface enables C programs running on the host to communicate with DataBasic programs or other host applications as either a client or a server. For more details, see the Reality C API Reference Manual.

Set-up Procedure

In order to use the IPC facility you must:

1. On the client host, set up a destination (either UNIX or Windows)  entry for the remote host using the DDA protocol and, for the remote database, a Q-type (UNIX) or Remote Database (Windows) entry that references this destination entry.

   • On UNIX, use the ROUTE-FILE Maintenance Utility (netadmin option 2).
   • On Windows, use the netadmin Network Administration Utility.

   Notes:

   • If the remote database is on the local host, these entries will already exist.
   • When connecting to a remote database, the name of the Q-type entry must be specified in the CONNECT statement. For connection to a host application, the Destination entry must be specified; the Q-type entry is not needed.

2. For each local user that will run the client program, create a network user-id for the remote host, specifying the name of the Remote Database entry created in step 1 as the system name and a remote user-id and password to use:

   • On UNIX, use the USERS-FILE Maintenance Utility (netadmin option 4).
   • On Windows, add the network user-id to the user's profile (SSM Option 2 - Define User Profiles, option 17).

   Notes:

   • If the remote database is on a UNIX host, the remote user-id must be a host user-id that is the same as a Reality user-id on the remote database; the UNIX password must be used when connecting. If the remote database is on a Windows host, the remote user-id must be a Reality user-id on the remote database. See Differences between UNIX and Windows.
   • If connecting to a remote database on a UNIX host, if you prefer you can use User Equivalence on the remote host instead of network user-ids.
   • If the remote database has a user-id that is the same as that of the server program, this will be used for your connection to the Reality database. Note, however, that for a remote UNIX host you will still need to set up a network user-id in order to connect to the host. For Windows, a network user-id is preferred, because it provides better security.
3. Each user-id on the server database that is used for interprocess communication must be configured to operate in server mode (set SSM Option 2 - Define User Profiles option 14 to S  or *).