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 Workstation concepts
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 Exchanges between a shell and a file server are regulated by connections.
 When the shell is first started, it automatically attaches the workstation
 to the nearest file server. The shell establishes a connection by entering
 the name and address of a file server into the shell's Server Information
 table. The user can then attach to and log in to another file server. This
 can be done using the NOVLIB FSWSAttach() and FSWSLogin() functions.
 If the request is successful, the file server returns a connection number
 to the workstation. The connection number reflects the position of the
 workstation in the file server's own connection table.

 File Server Name Table

 The shell uses the Connection ID Table to keep track of the file servers
 with which it has established connections. The shell can maintain
 connections with up to eight file servers at once. A second, parallel
 table, the Server Name Table, holds the names that correspond to the
 entries in the Connection ID Table.

 Maintaining Multiple Connections

 The shell keeps track of exchanges between a connection and multiple
 servers, making decisions about which file server a request should be
 directed to. To single out the correct file server for a request, the shell
 uses the workstation's drive mappings along with a group of connection
 priorities.

 Connection Priorities

 For workstation requests that cannot be referenced through a drive letter,
 the shell maintains a group of connection priorities:

 .  preferred server
 .  default
 .  primary server

 The preferred server is the highest priority of shell requests. A preferred
 server must be specified by the client, using the NOVLIB
 FSPreferredConnSet() function. Once a preferred server is set, the shell
 will direct all requests to that server until the preferred server is
 changed.
 If no preferred server exists, the shell sends requests to the default
 server. The default server is the one implied by the default drive. If the
 default drive is mapped to a local drive, the shell directs requests to its
 lowest connection priority, the primary server. The primary server is
 typically the server the shell attached to when the shell started. The
 primary server is used only if the default drive is mapped to a local drive
 and no preferred server has been set.