SCRSAVER

Purpose

Use to lock the server console and to activate a screen saver for the console display.

NOTE: The screen saver and the console-locking features were formerly part of MONITOR. Separating them from monitor.nlm allows the new utility to protect the console by using the stronger security of eDirectory authentication.

Syntax

SCRSAVER [option][;option][;option] [...]

When SCRSAVER is loaded, you can use any of the following command options as console commands.

Command options	Use to
(no parameters)	Default to SCRSAVER AUTO CLEAR DELAY=60; DELAY=600; ENABLE; ENABLE AUTO CLEAR; ENABLE LOCK.
ACTIVATE	Override the delay interval and activate the screen saver immediately. ACTIVATE also overrides both DISABLE and ENABLE modes. This means that if you enter ACTIVATE when the screen saver has been disabled, the DISABLE mode is changed to ENABLE so that the screen saver can appear.
AUTO CLEAR DELAY	Set the number of seconds to wait before clearing the unlock dialog box. The range is 1 to 300 and the default is 60, or one minute.
DELAY	Set the number of seconds to wait before activating the screen saver. The range is 1 to 7000 and the default is 600, or 10 minutes.
DISABLE	Disable the screen saver, thereby preventing it from activating and saving the console display.
DISABLE AUTO CLEAR	Disable the automatic clearing of the unlock dialog box. When this command is executed, the unlock dialog box remains on the screen until it is cleared by user input.
DISABLE LOCK	Disable the console lock. When the locking feature is disabled, you can retrieve the console display without a username or password simply by pressing any key.
ENABLE	Enable the screen saver. When enabled, the screen saver displays after the keyboard has been inactive for the number of seconds specified in the DELAY command option.
ENABLE AUTO CLEAR	Enable the automatic clearing of the unlock dialog box after the number of seconds of keyboard inactivity specified in the AUTO CLEAR DELAY command option
ENABLE LOCK	Enable the console locking feature. When enabled, the screen saver requires the username and password before restoring the console display. The user object must have appropriate rights
HELP	Display information about command options and their use.
NO PASSWORD	Unlock the console without requiring a password in the event that eDirectory becomes unavailable. You must set this option when you load SCRSAVER. Otherwise, the console cannot be unlocked when eDirectory is unavailable.
STATUS	Display the current status of screen saver features and command options.

Using SCRSAVER

When the screen saver is displayed, a snake-like figure---one for each online processor---appears on the blank console screen. The snake for processor 0 is red and the snake for processor 1, blue, etc. The snakes move randomly on the screen, and as processor utilization increases, the snakes move faster and their tails lengthen.

When scrsaver.nlm is loaded, the server console can be in one of three states.

Active. The console is active---you can enter console commands and monitor server activity.

Screen Saver. The console can be locked or unlocked.

If the console is not locked, the screen saver appears by default after 10 minutes of inactivity. To retrieve the console display, press any key.

If the console is locked, the screen saver appears by default after one minute of inactivity. To retrieve the console display, the console must first be unlocked.

Verifying. SCRSAVER verifies rights to the console through eDirectory authentication.

To unlock the console, you must supply an eDirectory username and password. SCRSAVER verifies that the user object has write rights to the ACL attribute of this particular server.

The chance of eDirectory^TM becoming unavailable is very slim, but you can load SCRSAVER with the NO PASSWORD option to ensure that you can (if necessary) unlock the console without a password. (Of course, a password would still be required when eDirectory was available.)

For example, you might decide to run DSREPAIR in manual mode. In such a case, the eDirectory database would be locked until there was manual intervention. If SCRSAVER were also active and locked the console on schedule, you would have a deadlock situation---unlocking the console would be dependent on eDirectory authentication---and making eDirectory available for authentication would be dependent on unlocking the console.

If you first load SCRSAVER with NO PASSWORD, you avoid having to power off the machine or break into the debugger to exit NetWare^®. To ensure that SCRSAVER is loaded when the server is started, you can use place SCRSAVER in the autoexec.ncf file.