JES2 remote job entry (RJE)

The remote job entry (RJE) facility allows JES2 to define and use RJE workstations. An RJE workstation is a workstation that is connected to a member by means of data transmission facilities. The workstation can be a single I/O device or group of I/O devices or can include a processor such as a System/36, or System/390®. Generally, RJE workstations either include a programmable workstation (such as a personal computer) or a communication terminal (such as a 3770, 2780, or S/360) connected to the z/OS® system through a telecommunication link. Such a link utilizes synchronous data link control (SDLC), or binary synchronous communication (BSC) for communicating between JES2 and remote devices. The remote device will be either a system network architecture (SNA) remote, that uses SDLC, or a BSC remote, that uses BSC. Figure 1 shows a simple RJE configuration.

Figure 1. Remote Job Entry Configuration

An RJE workstation is an extension of the local processing facility, except that work is sent across teleprocessing lines. Sending work across teleprocessing lines is convenient for an installation that needs to provide many data entry points at remote locations or route output to many diverse locations. The following illustrates the use of RJE in two familiar examples of daily business:

In a large department store, many sales clerks need to print output on printers located at the many customer check-out desks throughout the store. Because the location of the building prevents direct connection to the z/OS system located in the central office located several hundred miles away, each printer can be defined to JES2 as a remote printer.
Consider a clothing store chain in which the store managers at seven different stores all need to place orders, access inventory, and provide billing information, all the information for which is maintained on storage devices located in the computer center at the main office. An individual store's workstation is defined to JES2 as an SNA-attached remote to which the individual terminals are defined and as such become an extension of the JES2 configuration located at the main office.

Figure 2 presents a diagrammatic view of the RJE configuration as described in the preceding clothing store example.

Figure 2. Example of a Remote Job Entry (RJE) Configuration

In Figure 2 each of the clothing stores within a localized region of New York, the Hudson Valley (Highland, Hyde Park, Pleasant Valley, and so forth), is connected to the single processor located at the regional office in Poughkeepsie. One z/OS–JES2 system conducts the business of inventory control, shipping, and billing for all of the stores in the region.

JES2 processes remote jobs in the same manner as those received from a local reader. (Local devices are printers, punches, card readers, and lines directly attached to the system without the need for transmission facilities.) The terminals and printers located in the Poughkeepsie Regional Office are locally attached; all other I/O devices (terminals and printers) in all the other branch stores are defined to JES2 as remote terminals and printers.

To provide RJE processing, the RJE workstation must be defined to the local processor. There are two protocols available by which JES2 can communicate with the RJE workstations: synchronous data link control (SDLC), and binary synchronous communication (BSC).

An RJE workstation can have a processor, like the System/370, that runs a JES2-generated program. The JES2-generated program allows the processor to send jobs to, and receive data from, JES2. Such RJE workstations have generally been replaced by either a programmable workstation, such as a personal computer or a network job entry configuration, and they are rarely used in today's processing environment. Some RJE workstations do not have a processor. These workstations use a remote terminal, for example, a 2780 or 2770, to enter jobs into, and receive data from, JES2.

See z/OS JES2 Initialization and Tuning Guide for a more complete discussion of RJE concepts.