All new AS/400 users that have access to a command entry line know that they can execute a command that has a command line, execute another command from that command line, execute another command, ad infinitum.

In my shop we have seen the system operator use WRKACTJOB, WRKSPLF, WRKSBMJOB over and over without pressing F3 to exit. The operator just keeps keying in the command they want on the command line. We finally noticed this when cancelling a job at the console and we saw that it ended at level 65!

This nesting of invocations has a deleterious affect on AS/400 performance, especially when it occurs at the system console. The reasons for this are simple:

o More main storage is consumed

o More disk activity occurs when the job is paged in or out

o OS/400 does more work to maintain the integrity of the program stack as it increases

o At the console, this extra work occurs at a higher run priority--RUNPTY(10)

RRTJOB (Reroute Job) command entered at a command line with no parameters brings the interactive job back to its original level. Put another way, the job returns to the level it was at just after signon.

Note: Be aware that if your user profile has an initial program assigned to it, the program will be called when RRTJOB is executed. You may need to modify the initial program to allow it to be called repetitively.

Steve Kontos Patchoque, New York