TOPS-20 System Manager's Guide

This document is a comprehensive System Manager’s Guide for the TOPS-20 operating system, updated as of April 1982. It is designed to assist system managers and operators in setting up, maintaining, and managing TOPS-20 installations.

Key topics covered include:

• Documentation: Guidelines for establishing and maintaining system logs, mountable structure sign-up logs, and operator request/shift change forms.
• Initial Setup and Installation: Procedures for securing the computer room, managing user requests, ordering supplies, and scheduling operator tasks.
• System Management: Detailed instructions for directory administration, setting up accounting schemes, creating account databases, and managing disk storage quotas.
• System Operations: Procedures for system backups (full and incremental dumps), managing tape storage (archiving and migration), and recovery processes for system crashes and lost files.
• System Performance Tuning: Explanations of mechanisms for tuning system response, including the Class Scheduler for CPU allocation, bias controls for interactive versus compute-bound programs, and program name caching for improved startup times.
• Security and Access Control: Methods for controlling access to system resources, including defining user capabilities, directory protections, and implementing access control programs.