Record Management Services

Record Management Services (RMS) are procedures in the VMS, RSTS/E, RT-11 and RSX-11M operating systems that programs may call to process files and records within files.[1][2] Its file formats and procedures are similar to of those in some IBM access methods[a] for several of its mainframe computer operating systems[b] and by other vendors for file and record management. VMS RMS is an integral part of the system software; its procedures run in executive mode. (RMS was not initially integrated into RT-11 and RSTS/E, but was available as an added charge "layered product". It was later added to RSTS/E and was a part of its standard documentation set.)

RMS supports four record access methods:

  • Sequential Access
  • Relative Record Number Access
  • Record File Address Access
  • Indexed Access

RMS supports four record formats:

  • Fixed length
  • Variable length
  • Variable record length with fixed-length control blocks
  • Stream files (records separated by termination characters)
    • STREAM: Records terminated by CRLF
    • STREAM_CR: Records terminated by CR
    • STREAM_LF: Records terminated by LF

Digital provided the File Definition Language (FDL) which could be used to define the structure of an RMS file.[3]

  1. ^ VAX-11 Record Management Services Reference Manual (PDF). DEC. February 1979. AA-D031B-TE.
  2. ^ OpenVMS Record Management Services Reference Manual. June 2002. p. 23. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
  3. ^ "This URL has been excluded from the Wayback Machine". itec.suny.edu. April 2001. Retrieved 20 August 2023.[permanent dead link‍]


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