Services for Data Exchange with Personal Computers

File Transfer Tools

There are many different data exchange protocols, most of them developed for the personal computer environment. Two that are supported by HP-UX are:

In the world of personal computers, ftp is usually found as a standalone utility. Kermit is usually part of a terminal emulation package, but standalone versions of kermit do exist for personal computers.

ftp

Originally a UNIX utility, ftp is now found in versions of Microsoft’s Windows NT Workstation and Windows NT Server operating systems. Third-party, public domain, and shareware versions of ftp software can also be found.

Because ftp is supported by HP-UX and available on many PC-based operating systems, it is an ideal tool to use for transferring data between HP-UX systems and your personal computers.

On HP-UX systems, the ftp utility can be found in the executable file: /usr/bin/ftp.

	CAUTION: When you are using ftp every character you type, including those representing your passwords to accounts on remote systems, travels across the network unencrypted. This is an important security issue as it is possible for someone to “listen” to the network traffic and obtain your passwords. For this reason it is best to use the “anonymous” login when connecting to remote systems via ftp.

For details on how to transfer files using ftp, see “Configuring HP-UX Systems for File Transfer”.

Terminal Emulators

Terminal emulators allow you to log in to one computer from another. A wide variety of terminal emulators exist that run on personal computers. They can be used to connect to HP-UX systems either via a modem or, in some cases, via network connections. HP-UX includes the terminal emulator known as telnet which can be used to connect to network based personal computers, provided that the PC’s are running a telnet server application.

Many terminal emulators offer built-in or plug-in file transfer features; most offer session logging to your local disk which is another way that you can share data between PCs and HP-UX systems.

Examples of terminal emulators include:

Versions of UNIX-like Operating Systems

Although it is not difficult to exchange data between HP-UX and personal computers running either a Microsoft operating system or an Apple Macintosh operating system, the fact that the computers are running different operating systems tends to limit the number of ways to exchange your data between them. Those operating systems were not designed to be a lot like UNIX, and therefore their compatibility with UNIX-based operating systems such as HP-UX is minimal.

However, there are operating systems available for personal computers that were specifically designed to be highly like UNIX: most notably, an operating system called LINUX. Such operating systems, by design, have a lot more in common with UNIX, and your options for sharing data between these UNIX-like operating systems and HP-UX are likely to be more abundant.

Versions of the X Window System for PCs

Running applications on a remote computer and displaying the results on your own computer’s screen is as easy as using a terminal emulator (see “Terminal Emulators”) if you are working only with text. But, what if you need to run a program that uses a graphical user interface (GUI)?

Between UNIX workstations that support the X Window System, the solution can be as easy as setting your DISPLAY environment variable (on the remote computer), and making sure that the remote computer has permission to display things on your screen. And, if your personal computer is running an operating system that supports the X Window System (for example, LINUX), the solution is the same.

Windows NT operating systems do not include a native version of an X Window server, but many vendors market X Window servers for PCs. With an X Window server running on your personal computer, you can run applications with GUIs on your HP-UX systems and have their output displayed on your personal computer’s screen.

Although this is not a complete list^[2], the following companies / products support X Window displays on personal computers running Windows NT operating systems:

Versions of the PC Windows Systems for HP-UX Systems

Running applications on a remote computer and displaying the results on your own computer’s screen is as easy as using a terminal emulator (see “Terminal Emulators”) if you are working only with text. But, what if you need to run a PC-based program that uses a graphical user interface (GUI) and want that program’s interface displayed on your X Window display?

Although this is not a complete list^[3], the following companies / products support PC Windows displays on HP-UX systems running X Window servers:

NFS Mounts

NFS mounts are possible between personal computers and HP-UX systems. Usually, an HP-UX-based file system is mounted as a drive letter under a PC Windows-based operating system.

The PC NFS daemon must be running on the HP-UX system for that system to service requests from personal computers.

For more details on NFS and its use on HP-UX systems, see “Sharing Files and Applications via NFS and ftp ” and “CIFS/9000”.

Network Operating Systems

Network Operating Systems such as Novell NetWare, AppleShare by Apple Computer, Inc., or Microsoft’s LAN Manager are still another way that you can share data between HP-UX systems and your personal computers.

With a network operating system (NOS), a portion of the HP-UX directory tree is allocated for use by PC clients. PC clients of a network operating system cannot access HP-UX files outside of the portion of the HP-UX directory tree that is allocated to the NOS.

Although each may do it in a different way, every NOS has the responsibility of handling differences between the HP-UX operating system’s access permissions for each file or directory, and your personal computer’s access permissions for the same files and directories.

Electronic Mail

Data can also be exchanged between a personal computer and an HP-UX system by electronic mail. Most electronic mail programs are now able to handle binary data such as graphics, animations, and sound files through a system known as MIME (for Multimedia Internet Mail Exchange); therefore, it is possible to include these in an electronic mail message when mailing the message between HP-UX and a personal computer.