To display message at welcome screen

[Amit Phadnis]

Hi,
I want to display the message at the welcome screen of all the users whoevers login.

I want to know,in which file we can add or edit this and how.

For Example,there is server shutdown and I want to inform all the users well in advance. For that I want the message to be displayed at there welcome screen when they login.

Pls let me know the solution.

Regards,
Amit.

[Ian Miller.]

you can include the text of the message in a file (e.g SYS$MANAGER:WELCOME.TXT)

Then define SYS$WELCOME to refer to the file

$ DEFINE /SYSTEM SYS$WELCOME "@SYS$MANAGER:WELCOME.TXT"

Note the @ is required and the must be readable by all users.

[Hein van den Heuvel]

You can put a common text in a system logical name:

SYS$ANNOUNCE --> before Username prompt

SYS$WELCOME --> After succesful login


Typically SYS$WELCOME is defined as:
@SYS$MANAGER:WELCOME.TXT

This will cause that file to be printed.

You can of course also put some logic in:
SYS$MANAGER:SYLOGIN.COM.

Note... some login tools (SSH!) do not behave exactly the same. Be sure to test all methods.

hth,
Hein van den Heuvel.

[Hoff]

Or you can use a tool such as NOTICE, which might provide you with more flexibility than the more traditional (and static) SYS$ANNOUNCE and SYS$WELCOME mechanisms.

http://www2.encompassus.org/libcatalog/document_html/vs0174_98.html

There are almost certainly various ports around for the NOTICE tool, and the source code is available. The Encompass (formerly DECUS) library, the Process Software Freeware archives, and the OpenVMS Freeware likely all have copies of NOTICE. And probably other analogs.

If you are using DECwindows or X Windows displays, there are mechanisms that can be used to generate the usual corporate login display around the time of the process login. The best approach depends on the OpenVMS and DECwindows version. (If this is of interest, post what versions and systems and software you're using, and I or somebody else will look up the specific details.)


Stephe Hoffman
HoffmanLabs

[Jan van den Ende]

Amit,

I agree mostly with Hein.
SYS$ANNOUNCE & SYS$WELCOME are the traditionals, but they are becoming outlived by "progress" .
Nowadays SSH is here, and becoming more and more important. It has important feeatures, but it is, and behaves, ugly.
SYS$SYLOGIN now is (AFAIK) the only place that catches every interactive login. But here, be careful to ONLY display at interactive logins!

hth

Proost.

Have one on me.

jpe

[Anton van Ruitenbeek]

All things are sad, only the thing about SSH isn't all.
If you set the logical SYS$ANNOUCE to eg '@SYS$MANAGER:ANNOUNCE.TXT' and you normal login (using eg TELNET) the content of SYS$MANAGER:ANNOUNCE.TXT will be displayed.
If you login using SSH, the message '@SYS$MANAGER:ANNOUNCE.TXT' will be displayed and not the content.
I think this is a bug in SSH but didn't report it yet.

AvR

[Steven Schweda]

> I think this is a bug in SSH but didn't
> report it yet.

It's been noted here before, but I can't
remember if I ever complained more formally
(not that I have a support contract, or
anything like that).

http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=997539

[Todd Maurer]

Those wanting SSH to display the contents of the file pointed to by SYS$ANNOUNCE should log service calls. I know of at least one customer who has a solution in hand for this feature.

[Todd Maurer]

Found my notes. The solution isn't related to SYS$ANNOUNCE. You can edit TCPIP$SSH_DEVICE:[TCPIP$SSH]BANNER1.TXT

Todd

[Galen Tackett]

For DECwindows, at least on VMS V7.3-2 or greater and with DECwindows V1.3 or greater, you can put a DECW$GREET.TXT file in SYS$MANAGER. The contents of the file will be displayed on the screen IN FRONT of the username/password box. The user has to click the OK button before entering their username or password.

This feature was announced as working on VMS V7.3-1 with DECnet V1.3 a few years ago, but I was never able to get it to work even with a custom "fix" from the DECwindows support team.

I was told that the code was improperly conditionalized or something similar, but the fix apparently didn't have it all together, either. I don't know if another, real fix was ever released since then.

[Steven Schweda]

> The solution isn't related to SYS$ANNOUNCE.

But it should be.

A quick Google search for:
ssh banner1.txt
suggests that you really wanted to say
something about the BannerMessageFile directive in
"TCPIP$SSH_DEVICE:[TCPIP$SSH.SSH2]SSHD2_CONFIG.",
rather than "BANNER1.TXT" somewhere, right?

And this is better than fixing the program to
work as any VMS user would expect it to work?
I don't think so.

> Those wanting SSH to display the contents
> of the file pointed to by SYS$ANNOUNCE
> should log service calls.

Being a lowly hobbyist, I'm reluctant to
clutter up the free not-really-support
system with low-priority (whining)
complaints. (I try to reserve that for more
pressing problems with RMS and BACKUP.) But,
hey. If you really want to open the
floodgates, I'm sure that I can get my list
assembled.

[Steven Schweda]

And besides, BannerMessageFile looks more
like SYS$WELCOME than SYS$ANNOUNCE, anyway.
Perhaps you can fill in the details and
persuade me that this makes more sense than
it seems to right now.

http://h30266.www3.hp.com/odl/i64os/network/tcpip56/tcprn/tcp_rnpro_003.html

Normally, the translation of the system logical name SYS$ANNOUNCE is displayed after
authentication is complete. In this version of SSH, no automated mechanism exists for
displaying this text as a prelogin banner.
To provide a prelogin banner from a text file, create the file SSH_BANNER_MESSAGE.
containing the text to be displayed before login.
To enter multiple lines in the banner text, make sure each line ends with an explicit
carriage-return character except the last line.
Save the banner message file in the TCPIP$SSH_DEVICE:[TCPIP$SSH.SSH2] directory,
with privileges that allow it to be read by the user account [TCPIP$SSH].
If you do not use the default file name and location for the message banner file, define them
using the BannerMessageFile option in the
TCPIP$SSH_DEVICE:[TCPIP$SSH.SSH2]SSHD2_CONFIG. file. Specify the location
and file name of your banner message file as the argument to the option using one of the
following formats:
[...]

[Amit Phadnis]

Thanks Guys,

It have worked for me.

Amit.