You can include five types of instructions in a bulk input file: add, delete, exec, savevolume, and delvolume. The following sections discuss their uses.

Creating a User Account with the add Instruction

Each add instruction creates a single user account, and so is basically the equivalent of issuing one uss add command. There is no limit to the number of add instructions in the bulk input file.

As indicated by the following syntax statement, the order of the instruction's fields matches the order of arguments to the uss add command (though some of the command's arguments do not have a corresponding field). Like the uss add command's arguments, many of the fields provide a value for a variable in the uss template file. Each instruction must be a single line in the file (have a newline character only at its end); it appears on multiple lines here only for legibility.

add username[:full_name][:initial_password][:password_expires]
   [:file_server][:partition][:mount_point][:uid]
   [:var1][:var2][:var3][:var4][:var5][:var6][:var7][:var8][:var9][:]

For a complete description of the acceptable values in each field, see the uss Bulk Input File reference page in the OpenAFS Administration Reference, or the description of the corresponding arguments to the uss add command, in To create an AFS account with the uss add command. Following are some basic notes:

Deleting a User Account with the delete Instruction

Each delete instruction deletes a single user account, and so is basically the equivalent of issuing one uss delete command. There is no limit to the number of delete instructions in the bulk input file.

Like all instructions in the bulk input file, each delete instruction must be a single line in the file (have a newline character only at its end), even though it can cover multiple lines on a display screen. The curly braces ({ }) indicate two mutually exclusive choices.

delete username:mount_point_path[:{ savevolume | delvolume }][:]

For a complete description of the acceptable values in each field, see the uss Bulk Input File reference page in the OpenAFS Administration Reference or the description of the corresponding arguments to the uss delete command, in To delete an AFS account. Following are some basic notes:

Running a Command or Script with the exec Instruction

The exec instruction runs the indicated AFS command, compiled program, or UNIX shell script or command. The command processor assumes the AFS and local identities of the issuer of the uss bulk command, who must have the privileges required to run the command.

The instruction's syntax is as follows:

exec command

It is not necessary to surround the command string with double quotes (" ") or other delimiters.

Setting the Default Treatment of Volumes with the delvolume and savevolume Instructions

The savevolume and delvolume instructions set the default treatment of volumes referenced by the delete instructions that follow them in the bulk input file. Their syntax is as follows:

        savevolume
        delvolume
      

Both instructions are optional and take no arguments. If neither appears in the bulk input file, then by default all volumes and VLDB entries referenced by delete instructions are removed. If the savevolume instruction appears in the file, it prevents the removal of the volume and VLDB entry referenced by all subsequent delete instructions in the file. The delvolume instruction explicitly establishes the default (which is deletion) for subsequent delete instructions.

The effect of either instruction lasts until the end of the bulk input file, or until its opposite appears. To override the prevailing default for a particular delete instruction, put the savevolume or delvolume string in the instruction's third field. (You can also use multiple instances of the savevolume and delvolume instructions to toggle back and forth between default preservation and deletion of volumes.)

To create an authentication-only account, use an add instruction like the following example, which includes only the first (username) argument. The user's real name is set to match the username (anderson) and her initial password is set to the string changeme.

   add anderson 

The following example also creates an authentication-only account, but sets nondefault values for the real name and initial password.

   add smith:John Smith:js_pswd

The next two example add instructions require that the administrator of the Example Corporation cell (example.com) has written a uss template file with the following V instruction in it:

   V user.$USER $SERVER.example.com /vicep$PART 10000 /afs/.example.com/usr/$3/$USER \
       $UID $USER all

To create accounts for users named John Smith from the Marketing Department and Pat Jones from the Finance Department, the appropriate add instructions in the bulk input file are as follows:

   add smith:John Smith:::fs1:a:::::marketing
   add jones:Pat Jones:::fs3:c:::::finance

The new account for Smith consists of Protection and Authentication Database entries called smith. His initial password is the default string changeme, and the Protection Server generates his AFS UID. His home volume, called user.smith, has a 10,000 KB quota, resides on partition /vicepa of file server machine fs1.example.com, and is mounted at /afs/.example.com/usr/marketing/smith. The final $UID $USER all part of the V instruction gives him ownership of his home directory and all permissions on its ACL. The account for jones is similar, except that it resides on partition /vicepc of file server machine fs3.example.com and is mounted at /afs/.example.com/usr/finance/jones.

Notice that the fields corresponding to mount_point, uid, var1, and var2 are empty (between the values a and marketing on the first example line) because the corresponding variables do not appear in the V instruction in the template file. The initial_passwd and password_expires fields are also empty.

If you wish, you can specify values or empty fields for all nine number variables in an add instruction. In that case, the bulk input file instructions are as follows:

   add smith:John Smith:::fs1:a:::::marketing::::::
   add jones:Pat Jones:::fs3:c:::::finance::::::

The following example is a section of a bulk input file with a number of delete instructions and a savevolume instruction. Because the first three instructions appear before the savevolume instruction and their third field is blank, the corresponding volumes and VLDB entries are removed. The delete instruction for user terry follows the savevolume instruction, so her volume is not removed, but the volume for user johnson is, because the delvolume string in the third field of the delete instruction overrides the current default.

   delete smith:/afs/example.com/usr/smith
   delete pat:/afs/example.com/usr/pat
   delete rogers:/afs/example.com/usr/rogers
   savevolume
   delete terry:/afs/example.com/usr/terry
   delete johnson:/afs/example.com/usr/johnson:delvolume

The following example exec instruction is useful as a separator between a set of add instructions and a set of delete instructions. It generates a message on the standard output stream that informs you of the uss bulk command's progress.

   exec echo "Additions completed; beginning deletions..."