What is the Job Entry Subsystem (JES)
The Job Entry Subsystem (JES) is a component of IBM’s
We at Phoenix Software International are doing everything possible to make JES3plus the obvious choice for existing IBM JES3 clients. It’s the easiest path. It’s the least risky and most cost-effective option. Moving to JES3plus allows you to focus on your business objectives and not your infrastructure. It’s what the JES3 community asked us to do.
We always strive to listen to our clients and work closely with them to provide functionality that brings real value to them. This can be illustrated through our work with the JES3plus Client Advisory Council and our work with the ISV community supporting products that intersect with JES3.
This approach equals client success and here is an example of that success.
A Global Media Company
- The client considered the migration to JES3plus to be one of the most crucial migrations they have ever done as JES3 underpinned the entire operating system.
- They implemented JES3plus on their test LPARs before rolling it into production.
- The client is in a global only environment.
The Client Reaction
- The most major issue was interfacing with another vendor’s automation software. We left the problem with said vendor for a couple of weeks without resolution. Once we told Phoenix about the problem they quickly sprang into action and looked at the dumps. They then arranged a three-way company call (themselves, us, and said vendor) and due to their connections in the industry had the right people on the call straight away. Following this meeting, and due to Phoenix expertise of JES3, we had the problem identified and a vendor fix all in less than two weeks.
- In all, we raised four tickets with Phoenix over different issues regarding JES3plus and we got extremely prompt and accurate replies in every case.
- Consequently, the JES3 to JES3plus migration went extremely smoothly and was on time which was not how I envisaged such a major migration.
- We have worked with Phoenix for many years now with (E)JES & z/HISR and now we have added JES3plus to the contract. Phoenix is a valued partner of ours and is always responsive and knowledgeable, it is a pleasure having them as a partner in the mainframe environment.
A Large Swiss Bank
- JES3 only shop with 2 CPCs and ~25 LPARs.
- Customer went with a big bang roll out over one weekend.
The Client Reaction
- We truly went live on September 19th and replaced JES3 with JES3plus in all sysplexes at the same time.
- We migrated without an issue. (Almost scary isn’t it?)
- All of our OEM products support JES3plus.
- As you (Phoenix) say: ‘JES3 is dead, long live JES3plus’.
A Large U.S. Automobile Manufacturer
- Mixed use customer JES2 & JES3 across 3 CPCs and ~20 LPARs.
- Customer reached out in advance of starting a Proof of Concept and requested Passphrase support in JES3plus (something that IBM JES3 did not support) which the Phoenix team discussed with the Client Advisory Council and subsequently added.
- Performed an extensive formal Proof of Concept before production implementation.
The Client Reaction
- We were very pleased with the way that the Proof of Concept and implementation went. It was uneventful and “as advertised.”
- We purposely did not tell our users that we were implementing JES3plus in place of IBM JES3 because we wanted to see if they would be able to tell. The answer was, no one knew anything had changed.
- We monitor system performance closely and we have seen no negative performance impact. In fact, we are starting to look at the performance enhancements Phoenix has made to JES3plus.
A Large U.S. Insurance Carrier
- JES3 only shop with 2 CPCs and ~6 LPARs.
- Rolled JES3plus into production two LPARs at a time over the course of several weeks.
The Client Reaction
- We'll be migrating two LPARs to JES3plus this weekend. Tested in our DR environment earlier this week and it went well.
- Both systems converted smoothly tonight. Two down, four to go.
- I've learned a lot about JES the last few months and feel confident I can troubleshoot a problem should one come up. Now that we've shown it works, I think anything else that comes up would be more of a one off.
- Next weekend we're going to do two more LPARs. One of which is our primary global backup and we're going to roll the global to test printing before and after the change. Once we check that off that will be the last real roadblock to wrapping this up.
- Migrated two more LPARs successfully last night. We rolled the global to test printing and got a VTAM error. We weren't able to test print as we didn't have any more held jobs so I'm not sure whether it would have worked or not.
- We have the global print patch on and rolled in to our migrated LPARs.
- Last two LPARs migrated: We completed the migration last night! We are now officially a JES3plus shop!
A U.S. State Government Agency
- JES3 only shop with 1 CPC and 2 LPARs.
- ~19 legacy exits in place.
- BDT SNA/NJE user.
The Client Reaction
- Downloaded the product late Friday.
- Basic install done on Saturday.
- Eliminated ~10 exits leaving 9 (2 of which were questionable).
- Monday, IPLed our sandbox system with JES3plus and it is operational!
- PHX-BDT® SNA/NJE has been implemented in both our test and development subsystems. I had a little issue on the test system when I had not applied all maintenance prior to trying to use it. Other than that, the installation and implementation has been very smooth.
- Our implementation of PHX-BDT in production went well with no issues. Thank you for your support. We are happy to be able to continue using the BDT functions with PHX-BDT.