Update on NETRJS
RFC 599

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13 Dec 73
NIC 20854, RFC 599:  Update on NETRJS

Network Working Group                                   Robert T. Braden
NIC #20854                                                      UCLA/CCN
RFC #599                                               December 13, 1973

                            UPDATE ON NETRJS

A.  INTRODUCTION

   In July 1971, CCN published RFC #189 defining NETRJS, a private
   protocol for remote job entry.  NETRJS provides a Network interface
   to CCN's rje program called RJS (Remote Job Service).(3)  As noted in
   an earlier RFC,(6) "RJS" is the proper name of a software package
   existing ony at CCN, not a generic term for rje.

   For over two years now, CCN has provided rje service to the Network
   using NETRJS.  We know of the following distinct implementations of
   NETRJS user porgrams:

      RAND             OS/MVT on 370/158 (originally on 360/65)

      UCLA-NMC         SEX on Sigma 7

      Illinois         ANTS on PDP-11

      Utah             Tenex on PDP-10

      MIT-DMCG         ITS on PDP-10

      Harvard          DEC system on PDP-10

      UCSB             OS/MVT on 360/75

      ISI,BBN,NIC,I4   Tenex on PDP-10

   We apologize to anyone slighted by omission from this list.  Writing
   a new user process for NETRJS has proved to be a modest and
   straightforward task.

   During the month of October, 1973, CCN processed 1373 batch jobs via
   NETRJS.  The complete statistics are:

        1,373          Jobs submitted

        1,105          Jobs "printed"

            0          Jobs "punched"

Braden                                                          [page 1]


                                                               13 Dec 73
NIC 20854, RFC 599:  Update on NETRJS

       49,400          Cards "read"

      822,900          Lines "printed"

       18,907          Pages "printed"

        393.6          Connect hours

   The average job submitted was 360 lines ("cards"), and returned 745
   lines on 17.1 pages.  These figures are fairly typical.

B.  NEW ICP SOCKETS

   At the request of the Socket Czar, Jon Postel, (see RFC #433) we
   intend to move the NETRJS ICP sockets from 11, 13, and 15 to 71, 73,
   and 75, respectively.  At present, NETRJS is available from either
   socket subspace, so system programmers responsible for maintaining
   NETRJS user processes can switch over at their leisure.  We plan to
   "decommit" sockets 11, 13, and 15 on July 1, 1974.

   Those hosts which access NETRJS via socket 1 are unaffected.

C.  NEW NETRJS

   Last Fall, CCN installed a new implementation of its NETRJS server.
   An internal NETRJS rewrite was necessitated by other system changes
   and was timed to coincide with installation on September 5 of the
   "last release" of OS/360, Release 21.7.  The new version of NETRJS
   contains a number of internal improvements over the original version
   written two years ago.  There are also a few external differences, as
   follows:

      1. No More Squish

         The long-standing "squish" problem in NETRJS has been fixed.
         This problem arose because of the "squishiness" of Network data
         transfer, i.e. the variable delay between originator and
         receiver processes due to NCP buffering.  The result was that a
         short print output file could be "transmitted" by RJS,
         dequeued, and discarded at CCN before the first message had
         actually reached the remote host.  If the remote host crashed
         or the user tried to cancel (and save) the output stream, it
         was too late; the output was lost in the "squish".  We were
         careless about this in the first version.  Now NETRJS awaits
         the RFNM from the end-of-data mark before telling RJS to
         discard the job output.

Braden                                                          [page 2]


                                                               13 Dec 73
NIC 20854, RFC 599:  Update on NETRJS

      2. Timeouts

         The new verson is a little tougher on timeouts, to free CCN
         resources when users are slow.

            a. Signon Timeout

               If the user, after connecting to NETRJS and receiving the
               READY message, fails to send a valid SIGNON command
               within 3 minutes, CCN will close the Telnet connections.

            b. Data Transfer Timeout

               (1)  CCN will abort the READER data transfer connection
               if the user site leaves the connection open without
               sending any bits for 5 minutes.

               (2)  CCN will abort the PRINTER or PUNCH data transfer
               connection if the user site stops accepting bits for 5
               minutes.

      3. New Messages

         The NETRJS messages to the remote terminal have been revised to
         better distinguish problems at CCN, at the user site, or in the