SAS Administration from the Ground Up. Anja Fischer
quick note about the Java Runtime Environment, as customers ask about it once in a while. In SAS 9.4, there is no need for a JRE because the Java environment is now part of SAS 9.4, compared to prior SAS 9 versions.
Other web services that you might notice are presented in Table 2.2:
Table 2.2: SAS Web Services
| SAS Server Name | VMware Hyperic Service |
| SAS Environment Manager | Apache Tomcat |
| SAS Environment Manager Agent | HQ Agent |
| SAS Web Server | Pivotal Web Server |
| SAS Web Application Server | SpringSource tc Run time |
| SAS Web Infrastructure Platform Data Server | PostgreSQL |
Knowing the services names helps when it comes to monitoring your environment, so you can recognize what process is actually running.
Wait for it – a link reference ... There is a great article called “SAS 9.4 middle tier architecture: need a map?“ which I would like to recommend. https://blogs.sas.com/content/sgf/2013/09/19/sas-9-4-middle-tier-architecture-need-a-map/
SAS Client Tier
There is not much to say about this tier: it is where your SAS desktop clients run and where your users access SAS web clients via browser.
Data Tier
The data tier “holds” all your data sources. This can be SAS data sets, DBMS tables, multi-dimensional data etc. – simply everything data. SAS offers many options for connecting and accessing data sources, some of which we will cover in Chapter 5, Metadata Library Administration.
Summary
We covered a lot of ground in this chapter. The idea is to provide you with basics, to help you understand the SAS architecture. If you know how it works, and what it includes, SAS administration will be much easier. Here are some good resources for general SAS architecture:
Concluding this chapter, I would like to point out one last find, called ”Grand Designs: Why It Pays to Think About Technical Architecture Design Before You Act”: http://support.sas.com/resources/papers/proceedings13/475-2013.pdf
When it comes to architecting SAS, or, adding or modifying an already existing SAS environment, be considered and think it through carefully, make sure you have a good plan in place.
Chapter 3: Administration Tools
The SAS Jedi: SAS Management Console
SAS Management Console Connection Profiles
Working in SAS Management Console
SAS Environment Manager
Monitoring your SAS Environment
Best Practices for Monitoring
Users, Groups and SAS Environment Manager
Administration Menu
SAS Management Console or SAS Environment Manager?
SAS Deployment Manager
Update Passwords
Rebuild Web Applications / Deploy Web Applications
Remove Existing Configuration
Renew SAS Software and Update SID File in Metadata
Manage SAS File Types
Update Host Name Reference
Apply Hot Fixes
Update Existing Configuration
Change Passphrase
Locale Setup manager
Uninstalling SAS Software
SAS Web Administration Console
Summary
Introduction
Now that you have the SAS architecture under your belt, you do need some administration tools to support your SAS deployment. In this chapter, I would like to share with you the how to use the four SAS administration tools, namely the SAS Management Console, SAS Environment Manager, SAS Deployment Manager and SAS Web Administration Console. SAS Management Console is a desktop client that provides you with control for your SAS deployment to create, manage and administer metadata, such as users, groups and roles, libraries, and more. SAS Environment Manager is a web client which can also be used to create, manage and administer metadata. In addition, it is a great monitoring and reporting tool for your SAS environment. It is a great tool for checking on the health of your environment. You can use the SAS Deployment Manager to manage your environment in such a way that it enables you to – for example – update your license file, add or remove products, backup, and so on. With the SAS Web Administration Console, you can monitor which users are logged on to SAS web applications, view audit reports of logon and logoff activities, manage web-layer authorization, and more.
Why did I choose to write a chapter about SAS admin tools where we have an abundance of documentation available, covering it all? Well, I believe that every newbie needs a sense of direction, info about the value a certain SAS tool provides, and to understand the purpose of the different SAS admin tool available to you. Enjoy the fact that there is one chapter covering the SAS tools that you need versus having to read through all the documentation. In the Appendix for this chapter, you will find some good supporting resources.
Let’s get started.
The SAS Jedi: SAS Management Console
Introduction
SAS Management Console is an admin desktop client – which, as the name suggests, is a client that is for admins, and should not be installed on users’ machines (except, of course, if they handle certain admin tasks). SAS Management Console enables you to create metadata and manage your SAS environment. As it is a desktop client, it requires that every admin has it installed.
| Note: Please consider carefully whether a user needs to have SAS Management Console installed. Always keep in mind that using SAS Management Console provides access to all your assets, such as users, groups, libraries, security, and so forth.If a user has some admin tasks, for example, creating certain libraries, then make sure you have the appropriate permissions in place to protect the rest of your SAS metadata. |
SAS Management Console consists of plug-ins, each of which has a different task. You have a User Manager plug-in to create users, groups and roles, a Library Manager to create libraries and register tables, and so forth.
The SAS Management Console plug-ins are:
Table 3.1 SAS Management Console plug-ins
| Plug-in Name | Plug-in Description |
| Authorization Manager | Define and maintain access rules to control how users and groups can access metadata definitions. |
| BI |