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Transcoding data locally on a mainframe is a CPU-intensive process that results
in high million instructions per second (MIPS) consumption. To avoid this, you
can use Cloud Run to move and transcode mainframe data remotely on
Google Cloud to optimized row columnar (ORC) format and then move the data to
Cloud Storage. This frees up your mainframe for business critical tasks and
also reduces MIPS consumption.
The following figure describes how you can move your mainframe data to
Google Cloud and transcode it remotely to ORC format using
Cloud Run, and then move the content to BigQuery.
Create a service account or identify an
existing service account to use with Mainframe Connector. This
service account must have permissions to access Cloud Storage buckets,
BigQuery datasets, and any other Google Cloud resource that you want
to use.
Move mainframe data to Google Cloud and transcode it remotely using Cloud Run
To move your mainframe data to Google Cloud and transcode it remotely using
Cloud Run, you must perform the following tasks:
Read and transcode a dataset on a mainframe, and upload it to Cloud Storage
in ORC format. Transcoding is done during the gsutil cp operation, where a mainframe extended binary
coded decimal interchange code (EBCDIC) dataset is converted to the ORC
format in UTF-8 during the copy to a Cloud Storage bucket.
Load the dataset to a BigQuery table.
(Optional) Execute a SQL query on the BigQuery table.
(Optional) Export data from BigQuery into a binary file in
Cloud Storage.
To perform these tasks, follow these steps:
On your mainframe, create a job to read the dataset on your mainframe and
transcode it to ORC format, as follows. Read the data from the
INFILE dataset, and the
record layout from the COPYBOOK DD.
The input dataset must be a queued sequential access method (QSAM) file with
fixed or variable record length.
For the complete list of environment variables supported by
Mainframe Connector, see Environment variables.
If you want to log the commands executed during this process, you can enable load statistics.
(Optional) Create and submit a BigQuery query job that executes a SQL read from
the QUERY DD file.
Typically the query will be a MERGE or SELECT INTO DML
statement that results in transformation of a BigQuery table. Note
that Mainframe Connector logs in job metrics but doesn't write query
results to a file.
You can query BigQuery in various ways-inline, with a separate
dataset using DD, or with a separate dataset using DSN.
Additionally, you must set the environment variable BQ_QUERY_REMOTE_EXECUTION=true.
Replace the following:
PROJECT_NAME: The name of the project in which you
want to execute the query.
LOCATION: The location for where the query will be
executed. We recommended that you execute the query in a location close to the
data.
(Optional) Create and submit an export job that executes a SQL read from the
QUERY DD file, and exports
the resulting dataset to Cloud Storage as a binary file.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Hard to understand","hardToUnderstand","thumb-down"],["Incorrect information or sample code","incorrectInformationOrSampleCode","thumb-down"],["Missing the information/samples I need","missingTheInformationSamplesINeed","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-08-29 UTC."],[],[],null,["# Transcode mainframe data remotely on Google Cloud\n\nTranscoding data locally on a mainframe is a CPU-intensive process that results\nin high million instructions per second (MIPS) consumption. To avoid this, you\ncan use Cloud Run to move and transcode mainframe data remotely on\nGoogle Cloud to optimized row columnar (ORC) format and then move the data to\nCloud Storage. This frees up your mainframe for business critical tasks and\nalso reduces MIPS consumption.\n\nThe following figure describes how you can move your mainframe data to\nGoogle Cloud and transcode it remotely to ORC format using\nCloud Run, and then move the content to BigQuery.\n\n\u003cbr /\u003e\n\nRemotely transcode mainframe data\n\n\u003cbr /\u003e\n\nBefore you begin\n----------------\n\n- [Deploy Mainframe Connector on Cloud Run](/mainframe-connector/docs/deploy-mainframe-connector).\n- [Create a service account](/iam/docs/service-accounts-create) or identify an existing service account to use with Mainframe Connector. This service account must have permissions to access Cloud Storage buckets, BigQuery datasets, and any other Google Cloud resource that you want to use.\n- Verify that the service account you created is assigned the [Cloud Run Invoker role](/run/docs/reference/iam/roles#run.invoker).\n\nMove mainframe data to Google Cloud and transcode it remotely using Cloud Run\n-----------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\nTo move your mainframe data to Google Cloud and transcode it remotely using\nCloud Run, you must perform the following tasks:\n\n1. Read and transcode a dataset on a mainframe, and upload it to Cloud Storage in ORC format. Transcoding is done during the [`gsutil cp`](/mainframe-connector/docs/api-command-reference#gsutil_cp) operation, where a mainframe extended binary coded decimal interchange code (EBCDIC) dataset is converted to the ORC format in UTF-8 during the copy to a Cloud Storage bucket.\n2. Load the dataset to a BigQuery table.\n3. (Optional) Execute a SQL query on the BigQuery table.\n4. (Optional) Export data from BigQuery into a binary file in Cloud Storage.\n\nTo perform these tasks, follow these steps:\n\n1. On your mainframe, create a job to read the dataset on your mainframe and\n transcode it to ORC format, as follows. Read the data from the\n [INFILE dataset](/mainframe-connector/docs/reference#dataset-names), and the\n record layout from the [COPYBOOK DD](/mainframe-connector/docs/reference#dataset-names).\n The input dataset must be a queued sequential access method (QSAM) file with\n fixed or variable record length.\n\n | **Note**\n | - Not all Google Cloud commands support remote transcoding. For more information, see [Mainframe Connector API reference](/mainframe-connector/docs/reference).\n | - Variables with the suffix `FILLER` are ignored during the import process.\n | - From version 5.12.0 onwards, Mainframe Connector replaces hyphens (\"-\") with underscores (\"_\") in variable names. If you want to keep hyphens in your variable names, disable this automatic conversion by setting the database variable `BQSH_FEATURE_CONVERT_UNDERSCORE_IN_FIELDS_NAME` to `false`.\n\n For the complete list of environment variables supported by\n Mainframe Connector, see [Environment variables](/mainframe-connector/docs/environment-variables). \n\n //STEP01 EXEC BQSH\n //INFILE DD DSN=\u003cHLQ\u003e.DATA.FILENAME,DISP=SHR\n //COPYBOOK DD DISP=SHR,DSN=\u003cHLQ\u003e.COPYBOOK.FILENAME\n //STDIN DD *\n gsutil cp --replace gs://mybucket/tablename.orc --remote \\\n --remoteHost \u003cmainframe-connector-url\u003e.a.run.app \\\n --remotePort 443\n /*\n\n If you want to log the commands executed during this process, you can [enable load statistics](/mainframe-connector/docs/reference#enable_load_statistics).\n2. (Optional) Create and submit a BigQuery query job that executes a SQL read from\n the [QUERY DD file](/mainframe-connector/docs/reference#dataset-names).\n Typically the query will be a `MERGE` or `SELECT INTO DML`\n statement that results in transformation of a BigQuery table. Note\n that Mainframe Connector logs in job metrics but doesn't write query\n results to a file.\n\n You can query BigQuery in various ways-inline, with a separate\n dataset using DD, or with a separate dataset using DSN. \n\n Example JCL\n //STEP03 EXEC BQSH\n //QUERY DD DSN=\u003cHLQ\u003e.QUERY.FILENAME,DISP=SHR\n //STDIN DD *\n PROJECT=\u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003ePROJECT_NAME\u003c/var\u003e\n LOCATION=\u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eLOCATION\u003c/var\u003e\n bq query --project_id=$PROJECT \\\n --location=$LOCATION \\\n --remoteHost \u003cmainframe-connector-url\u003e.a.run.app \\\n --remotePort 443/*\n /*\n\n Additionally, you must set the environment variable `BQ_QUERY_REMOTE_EXECUTION=true`.\n\n Replace the following:\n - \u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003ePROJECT_NAME\u003c/var\u003e: The name of the project in which you want to execute the query.\n - \u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eLOCATION\u003c/var\u003e: The location for where the query will be executed. We recommended that you execute the query in a location close to the data.\n3. (Optional) Create and submit an export job that executes a SQL read from the\n [QUERY DD file](/mainframe-connector/docs/reference#dataset-names), and exports\n the resulting dataset to Cloud Storage as a binary file.\n\n Example JCL\n //STEP04 EXEC BQSH\n //OUTFILE DD DSN=\u003cHLQ\u003e.DATA.FILENAME,DISP=SHR\n //COPYBOOK DD DISP=SHR,DSN=\u003cHLQ\u003e.COPYBOOK.FILENAME\n //QUERY DD DSN=\u003cHLQ\u003e.QUERY.FILENAME,DISP=SHR\n //STDIN DD *\n PROJECT=\u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003ePROJECT_NAME\u003c/var\u003e\n DATASET_ID=\u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eDATASET_ID\u003c/var\u003e\n DESTINATION_TABLE=\u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eDESTINATION_TABLE\u003c/var\u003e\n BUCKET=\u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eBUCKET\u003c/var\u003e\n bq export --project_id=$PROJECT \\\n --dataset_id=$DATASET_ID \\\n --destination_table=$DESTINATION_TABLE \\\n --location=\"US\" \\\n --bucket=$BUCKET \\\n --remoteHost \u003cmainframe-connector-url\u003e.a.run.app \\\n --remotePort 443\n /*\n\n Replace the following:\n - \u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003ePROJECT_NAME\u003c/var\u003e: The name of the project in which you want to execute the query.\n - \u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eDATASET_ID\u003c/var\u003e: The BigQuery dataset ID that contains the table that you want to export.\n - \u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eDESTINATION_TABLE\u003c/var\u003e: The BigQuery table that you want to export.\n - \u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eBUCKET\u003c/var\u003e: The Cloud Storage bucket that will contain the output binary file.\n\nWhat's next\n-----------\n\n- [Move locally transcoded mainframe data to Google Cloud](/mainframe-connector/docs/local-transcoding)\n- [Transcode mainframe data remotely on Google Cloud](/mainframe-connector/docs/remote-transcoding)\n- [Transcode mainframe data moved to Google Cloud using a virtual tape library](/mainframe-connector/docs/vtl-transcoding)"]]