Remote job entry, orRemote Batch, is the procedure for sending requests for non-interactivedata processing tasks (jobs) tomainframe computers from remoteworkstations, and by extension the process of receiving the output from such jobs at a remote workstation.
The RJE workstation is called a remote because it usually is located some distance from the host computer. The workstation connects to the host through amodem, digital link, packet-switching network[a] orlocal area network (LAN). RJE is similar touux andSSH, except that the workstation sends a complete job stream[b] rather than a single command and that the user typically[c] does not receive any output until the completion of the job.The termsRemote Batch,Remote Job System[citation needed] andRemote Job Processing are also used for RJE facilities.
Remote Job Entry (RJE) is also the name of anOS/360 component[1] that provided RJE services. An RJE workstation operator may have complete console control of the job flow between the workstation and mainframe, depending on local configuration and policy.
Houston Automatic Spooling Priority (HASP) initially supported job entry from terminals usingSynchronous transmit-receive (STR); eventually HASP II[2] supported onlyBinary Synchronous Communications (BSC), and added the Multi-leaving[3] protocol for BSC programmable work stations; this protocol is incompatible with that used by OS/360 RJE and is the basis for protocols used for job submission from programmable work stations for, e.g.,Attached Support Processor (ASP),JES2,JES3,OS/VS1Remote Entry Services (RES),VMRSCS, as well as the later protocols for Network Job Entry (NJE)[4] in, e.g., JES2, JES3, VM RSCS.
Conversational Remote Job Entry (CRJE)[5] is a component ofOS/360 andOS/VS1 that provides job submission, job retrieval and editing for a user at an interactive terminal.
Remote Entry Services][6][7] (RES) is a component ofOS/VS1 that provides RJE services. An RES workstation operator may have complete console control of the job flow between the workstation and mainframe, depending on local configuration and policy.
Remote Spooling Communications Subsystem (RSCS)[8] is, depending on the release, a component of or extra cost product inVM that provides RJE services. The RSCS in the free VM/370 only supported BSC;[d] IBM added support forSystems Network Architecture (SNA), NJE andTCP/IP over several chargeable versions.
Network Job Entry (NJE)[4] isStore and forward networking for transmitting, e.g., card files, jobs, printed output, among peers. The initial versions of NJE for JES2, JES3, VSE POWER and VM RSCS used BSC multileaving, but IBM quickly added support forChannel-to-channel adapters. IBM later added support for SNA and, ultimately,TCP/IP.[9]
NETRJS is the protocol developed by the Campus Computing Network atUCLA to deliver batch jobs to the Remote Job Service (RJS) on theirIBM 360 Model 91.[10][11] This protocol was originally assigned toARPANETInitial Connection Protocol sockets 71, 73, and 75,[12] and later reassigned toInternet ports 71–74.[13] RJS is asubsystem ofOS/360 MVS written by UCLA to support remote batch from card-reader/printer terminals.[10]
Early RJE workstations were "dumb" (non-programmable) devices usingbyte-synchronous communications protocols such as IBMBISYNC orSTR, or equivalents from other vendors. Later, programmable devices or small computers were used, and IBM developed a protocol called HASP multileaving for use withHASP, and later, e.g., ASP,JES2,JES3,RSCS. TheIBM System/360 Model 20 and1130, the Mohawk DataMDS 2400 and theUNIVAC 1004, were popular. Later still RJE workstations switched to bit-orientedfull duplex protocols such as IBMSynchronous Data Link Control,HDLC, orX.25. TheInternet Engineering Task Force has definedRFCs for internet remote job entry protocols, but they are now considered obsolete orlegacy.[14]
The200 USER Terminal is a remote batch terminal and protocol[15] developed by theControl Data Corporation for theirCDC 6000 series andCDC 3000 series mainframe computers in the 1960s. A 200 USER Terminal consisted of a low speed punched card reader, a line printer, and a CRT operators console. It typically communicated with a remote mainframe via synchronous modem. The software subsystem on the mainframe side was called Export-Import 200, and later, the Remote Batch Facility (RBF). Other remote batch terminals using the UT200 protocol included the CDC 731, 732, and 734.[16] Software emulators for the UT200 protocol were also written for a number of minicomputer systems.
RJE is well suited to organizations that had a single large central computer center. However, in large organizations with multiple data centers, there was an interest in a peer-to-peer transfer of, e.g., submitted jobs, printer output. Following customer requests, IBM developed a suite of facilities, derived fromBITNET andVNET, known as Network Job Entry. As part of that software, IBM provided commands to transmitdatasets among nodes (complexes of computers with a collective name). NJE allows a batch job to control where it would run and where its output would be processed; similarly, NJE allows an interactive user to send printed or punched output to a different node.
IBM has integrated NJE facilities into its mainframe software, and it is no longer available as separate products. However, the NJE support inJES3 requires the Batch Data Transmission (BDT)program product and the NJE support inz/VM requires the Remote Spooling Communications Subsystem (RSCS) program product. NJE supportsBinary Synchronous Communications (BSC),Channel-to-channel adapter (CTCA),Systems Network Architecture (SNA) andTCP/IP[17] connections among its nodes.[9]