Run Remote Command (AREXEC)

The Run Remote Command (RUNRMTCMD) command, also known as AREXEC when an SNA address is specified for the remote location name, allows users to run a command on a remote system that is running the target portion of this function.

The target portion of this function can be:

When the command is sent to the remote system, the local system waits for the command to complete and the output from the remote command will be placed in a spooled file.

Parameters

Keyword Description Choices Notes
CMD Command Character value Required, Positional 1
RMTLOCNAME Remote location Character value Required, Positional 2
RMTUSER Remote user ID Character value, *NONE, *CURRENT Optional
RMTPWD Remote password Character value, *NONE Optional
MODE Mode Communications name, *NETATR Optional
CCSID Coded character set ID 1-65533, *CALC Optional
WAITTIME Wait time (in seconds) 2-3600, *NOMAX, *NOWAIT Optional

Command (CMD)

Specifies a character string of up to 2000 characters that represents a command to be run on the target system. The maximum length supported by the target system may be less than 2000 characters. If you specify a command string that exceeds the maximum length supported by the target system, the command will fail.

The command must be enclosed in single quotation marks if it contains embedded blanks or special characters.

This is a required parameter.

Note: The normal rule of pairing single quotation marks in quoted strings on the local system must be doubled when the same string is submitted to a remote system on this CMD parameter; this is required because you are coding a quoted string within another quoted string. Therefore, when this parameter is being coded, wherever a single quotation mark would normally be paired with another single quotation mark, each occurrence in the inside set of single quotation marks must be doubled to produce the same results at the target system.

Remote location (RMTLOCNAME)

Specifies the remote location to connect with. Specify the remote location name using the format nnnnnnnn.cccccccc, where nnnnnnnn is the network identifier (ID) and cccccccc is the remote location name. If only the remote location name is specified, the local network ID (LCLNETID) network attribute is used as the value of the network identifier (ID).

Remote user ID (RMTUSER)

Specifies the user identifier (ID) for the target system. If a user ID is specified for this parameter and password security is active on the target system, RMTPWD(*NONE) is not valid.

*NONE
No user ID is sent. If security on the target system is configured to require a user ID, the command will fail.
*CURRENT
The user ID of the job (signed-on user) using this command is sent.
character-value
Specify a user ID to use that exists on the target system. If a user ID is specified and password security is active on the target system, a password must be specified.

Remote password (RMTPWD)

Specifies the password sent to the target system.

*NONE
The system does not send a password. If a user identifier (ID) is specified on the RMTUSER parameter and password security is active on the target system, the command will fail.
character-value
Specify a password sent to the target system to verify the sign-on of the user ID specified in the RMTUSER parameter. The password may or may not be substituted across the communication line depending on whether the remote system supports password substitution.

Mode (MODE)

Specifies the name of the mode to be used for the APPC conversation.

*NETATR
The mode in the network attributes is used.
mode-name
Specify a mode name. Specify BLANK for a mode name consisting of eight blank characters.

Note: SNASVCMG and CPSVCMG are reserved names and cannot be specified.

Coded character set ID (CCSID)

Specifies the coded character set identifier (CCSID) that will be used for conversions. When data is sent to the remote system, the data is converted using the CCSID of the job to the CCSID specified on the CCSID parameter. Similarly, when data is received from the remote system, the data is converted from the CCSID that was specified on the CCSID parameter to the CCSID of the job.

Restrictions:

  1. If the CCSID of the job is 65535 (indicating no conversion), the default CCSID of the job will be used.
  2. This command uses the round-trip conversion method when converting data from the source CCSID to the target CCSID and back. For more information about CCSID conversion methods, see the National Language Support book.
*CALC
The CCSID value sent from the target system is used if it is available. If a value is not provided from the target system, a default value of 00819 (ISO 8859-1 8-bit ASCII) will be used.
1-65533
Specify the CCSID value to use. This value is validated to ensure a valid CCSID has been requested.

Wait time (in seconds) (WAITTIME)

Specifies the time in seconds to wait for the return (echo) before declaring the remote location to be unreachable.

*NOMAX
The system waits forever.
*NOWAIT
The system returns immediately if there is a connection ready and available.
2-3600
Specify the number of seconds to wait.

Examples

Example 1: Run Remote Command (RUNRMTCMD) Using SNA Address Type 

RUNRMTCMD   CMD('dir')  RMTLOCNAME(APPN.RMTSYS *SNA)

This command runs the 'dir' command on the system specified by 'RMTLOCNAME' using an SNA address type.

Example 2: Run Remote Command (AREXEC) Using SNA Address Type 

AREXEC   CMD('dir')   RMTLOCNAME(APPN.RMTSYS)

This command is equivalent to the command in example 1.

Example 3: Run Remote Command Using IP Address Type and Host Name to Specify Target System 

RUNRMTCMD   CMD('ls')  RMTLOCNAME(MYSYS.NET1.LOCAL *IP)

This command runs the 'ls' command on the system specified by host name MYSYS.NET1.LOCAL.

Example 4: Run Remote Command Using IP Address Type and Internet Address to Specify Target System 

RUNRMTCMD   CMD('ls')  RMTLOCNAME('9.5.1.94' *IP)

This command runs the 'ls' command on the system specified by internet address '9.5.1.94'.

Example 5: Run Remote Command With Multiple Commands Using IP Address Type and Internet Address to Specify Target System 

RUNRMTCMD   CMD('ls; cat myfile; date')
            RMTLOCNAME('9.5.1.94' *IP)

This command runs multiple commands, first 'ls', then 'cat myfile', then 'date' on system specified by internet address '9.5.1.94'.

Example 6: Run Remote Command With a Wait Time Expiration Value 

RUNRMTCMD  CMD('dir')  RMTLOCNAME(APPN.RMTSYS *SNA)
           WAITTIME(15)

This command runs the 'dir' command on the specified system. The maximum wait time for the remote location to respond is 15 seconds. A wait time is only allowed when using *SNA address type value.

Example 7: Run Remote Command Using IP Address Type and IPv6 Address to Specify Target System 

RUNRMTCMD   CMD('ls')  RMTLOCNAME('2001:D88::1' *IP)

This command runs the 'ls' command on the system specified by IPv6 address '2001:D88::1'.

Error messages

*ESCAPE Messages

CPF91CB
Problems occurred on the command, but the command completed.
CPF91CC
Command did not complete successfully.
CPF91CF
Command failed on remote system.