  DCL, PING and a captive username? 
 The Question is:
 
Can I execute tcpip ping from within a captive account?
 
We are running Version 5 on 7.2-1H1.
 
I have the account set for oper and cmkrnl privileges, but when I try to
 execute the command: tcpip ping &lt;host&gt; /number_packets=2 from within a command
 file for the captive account it breaks and logs out.  I do not get
an error message.
 
Its not just the ping command, it appears that I can't access tcpip at all from
 the captive account.
 
 The Answer is:
 
  The following output:
 
 
$ set hos 0
 
...
 
pinging
PING [otherhost] ([ip address]): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from [ip address]: icmp_seq=0 ttl=63 time=9 ms
64 bytes from [ip address]: icmp_seq=1 ttl=63 time=2 ms
 
 
----[otherhost] PING Statistics----
2 packets transmitted, 2 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip (ms)  min/avg/max = 2/5/9 ms
pinged; pinging again
%TCPIP-E-LOOPERROR, error processing loop request
-CLI-E-CAPTSPAWN, captive account - SPAWN command not allowed
ping error:
%DCL-E-CAPTINT, captive account - interactive access denied
  [username]       logged out at...
%REM-S-END, control returned to node...
 
 
 
  was generated by the following DCL command procedure:
 
 
$ on warning then goto err
$ write sys$output "pinging"
$ ping :== $TCPIP$PING
$ ping -c 2 star.zko.dec.com
$ write sys$output "pinged; pinging again"
$ tcpip ping star.zko.dec.com /number_packets=2
$ write sys$output "pinged.  bye!"
$ exit
$err:
$ savestat = $status
$ write sys$output "ping error: ''savestat"
$ exit
 
 
  The cause of the captive command procedure exit that you report should
  be clear based on the DCL example and the output and messages generated,
  as should the alternative approach demonstrated within the procedure.
 
  This example was generated and tested on:
 
  DIGITAL TCP/IP Services for OpenVMS Alpha Version V5.0A - ECO 1
  on a AlphaStation 255/300 running OpenVMS V7.2-1
 
