diff --git a/src/server/distrenjob.c b/src/server/distrenjob.c
--- a/src/server/distrenjob.c
+++ b/src/server/distrenjob.c
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 
 #include <libxml/parser.h>
 #include <libxml/tree.h>
+#include <libxml/xmlwriter.h>
 
 void distrenjob_free(struct distrenjob **distrenjob)
 {
@@ -76,7 +77,7 @@ int distrenjob_new(struct distrenjob **d
 /**
    writes struct from xml
 */
-int xml2distrenjob(struct distrenjob **distrenjob, char *pathtoxml)
+int distrenjob_unserialize(struct distrenjob **distrenjob, char *pathtoxml)
 {
   struct distrenjob *dj;
 
@@ -155,3 +156,87 @@ int xml2distrenjob(struct distrenjob **d
   return 0;
 }
 
+int distrenjob_serialize(struct distrenjob *job, char *outfile)
+{
+  xmlTextWriterPtr writer;
+  char *tmp;
+  char *tmpfile;
+  int tmprtn;
+
+  /**
+     transactional FS access for POSIX systems...
+     (probably not implemented correctly)
+   */
+  _distren_asprintf(&tmpfile, "%s_", outfile);
+
+  /* create xml document at the location tmp with no compression */
+  writer = xmlNewTextWriterFilename(tmpfile, 0);
+  xmlTextWriterStartDocument(writer, NULL, "utf-8", NULL);
+
+  /**
+     write distrenjob element and add its attributes */
+  xmlTextWriterStartElement(writer, (xmlChar*)"job");
+  xmlTextWriterWriteAttribute(writer, (xmlChar*)"name", (xmlChar*)job->name);
+  xmlTextWriterWriteAttribute(writer, (xmlChar*)"submitter", (xmlChar*)job->submitter);
+  _distren_asprintf(&tmp, "%d", job->priority);
+  xmlTextWriterWriteAttribute(writer, (xmlChar*)"priority", (xmlChar*)tmp);
+  free(tmp);
+
+  /**
+     write resolution element and add its attributes */
+  xmlTextWriterStartElement(writer, (xmlChar*)"resolution");
+  _distren_asprintf(&tmp, "%d", job->width);
+  xmlTextWriterWriteAttribute(writer, (xmlChar*)"width", (xmlChar*)tmp);
+  free(tmp);
+
+  _distren_asprintf(&tmp, "%d", job->height);
+  xmlTextWriterWriteAttribute(writer, (xmlChar*)"height", (xmlChar*)tmp);
+  free(tmp);
+
+  xmlTextWriterEndElement(writer);
+
+  /**
+     write video element and its attributes */
+  xmlTextWriterStartElement(writer, (xmlChar*)"video");
+  _distren_asprintf(&tmp, "%d", job->frameset[0].num);
+  xmlTextWriterWriteAttribute(writer, (xmlChar*)"start_frame", (xmlChar*)tmp);
+  free(tmp);
+
+  _distren_asprintf(&tmp, "%d", job->frameset[(job->total_frames - 1)].num);
+  xmlTextWriterWriteAttribute(writer, (xmlChar*)"end_fame", (xmlChar*)tmp);
+  free(tmp);
+
+  xmlTextWriterWriteAttribute(writer, (xmlChar*)"output_format", (xmlChar*)job->output_format);
+  xmlTextWriterEndElement(writer);
+
+  /**
+     write watchdog forgiveness element */
+  _distren_asprintf(&tmp, "%d", job->watchdog_forgiveness);
+  xmlTextWriterWriteElement(writer, (xmlChar*)"wd_forgiveness", (xmlChar*)tmp);
+  free(tmp);
+
+  /**
+     end document */
+  xmlTextWriterEndDocument(writer);
+
+  /**
+     free writer and save xml file to disk */
+  xmlFreeTextWriter(writer);
+
+  /**
+     This is the key to transactioanl POSIX
+     FS programming.
+   */
+  tmprtn = rename(tmpfile, outfile);
+  if(tmprtn == -1)
+    {
+      fprintf(stderr, "%s:%d: Error renaming ``%s'' to ``%s''\n",
+	      __FILE__, __LINE__,
+	      tmpfile, outfile);
+      perror("rename");
+      tmprtn = 1;
+    }
+  free(tmpfile);
+
+  return tmprtn;
+}