The PVM console, called pvm,
is a stand-alone PVM task that allows the user to interactively
start, query, and modify the virtual machine.
The console may be started and stopped multiple times on any of the
hosts in the virtual machine without affecting PVM or any
applications that may be running.
When started, pvm determines whether PVM is already running;
if it is not, pvm automatically executes pvmd on this host,
passing pvmd the command line options and hostfile.
Thus PVM need not be running to start the console.
pvm [-n<hostname>] [hostfile]
The -n option is useful for specifying an alternative name for the
master pvmd (in case hostname doesn't match the IP address you want).
Once PVM is started, the console prints the prompt
pvm>
and accepts commands from standard input. The available commands are
add
followed by one or more host names,
adds these hosts to the virtual machine.
alias
defines or lists command aliases.
conf
lists the configuration of the virtual machine
including hostname, pvmd task ID, architecture type,
and a relative speed rating.
delete
followed by one or more host names, deletes these hosts
from the virtual machine.
PVM processes still running on these hosts are lost.
echo
echo arguments.
halt
kills all PVM processes including console, and then shuts down PVM.
All daemons exit.
help
can be used to get information about any of the
interactive commands. Help may be followed by a command name
that lists options and flags available for this command.
id
prints the console task id.
jobs
lists running jobs.
kill
can be used to terminate any PVM process.
mstat
shows the status of specified hosts.
ps -a
lists all processes currently on the virtual machine,
their locations, their task id's, and their parents' task id's.
pstat
shows the status of a single PVM process.
quit
exits the console, leaving daemons and PVM jobs running.
reset
kills all PVM processes except consoles,
and resets all the internal PVM tables and message queues.
The daemons are left in an idle state.
setenv
displays or sets environment variables.
sig
followed by a signal number and TID, sends the signal to the task.
spawn
starts a PVM application. Options include the following:
-count
number of tasks; default is 1.
-host
spawn on host; default is any.
-ARCH
spawn of hosts of type ARCH.
-?
enable debugging.
->
redirect task output to console.
->file
redirect task output to file.
->>file
redirect task output append to file.
-@
trace job, display output on console
-@file
trace job, output to file
trace
sets or displays the trace event mask.
unalias
undefines command alias.
version
prints version of PVM being used.
The console reads $HOME/.pvmrc before reading commands from the tty, so
you can do things like
alias ? help
alias h help
alias j jobs
setenv PVM_EXPORT DISPLAY
# print my id
echo new pvm shell
id
PVM supports the use of multiple consoles.
It is possible to run a
console on any host in an existing virtual machine and even
multiple consoles on the same machine. It is also possible to start
up a console in the middle of a PVM application and check on its
progress.