topic SAS takes so long to initiate, print even very small dataset. in SAS Programming

SAS takes so long to initiate, print even very small dataset.

leen — Sat, 02 Dec 2023 07:28:54 GMT

Hi, all. Each time I start SAS, it takes about a few minutes to initiate and it takes so long to even print a very small dataset (sometimes even 1 rows). This is the log that I just had:

3    proc print data=hw5.flowers;run;
NOTE: Writing HTML Body file: sashtml.htm

NOTE: There were 150 observations read from the data set HW5.FLOWERS.
NOTE: PROCEDURE PRINT used (Total process time):
      real time           3:33.29
      cpu time            0.62 seconds

Real time is much longer than cpu time. But if I print it again, it takes no time:

NOTE: There were 150 observations read from the data set HW5.FLOWERS.
NOTE: PROCEDURE PRINT used (Total process time):
      real time           0.01 seconds
      cpu time            0.01 seconds

Why is that? Is it because the Writing HTML Body file issue? How do I deal with that then?

Re: SAS takes so long to initiate, print even very small dataset.

Kurt_Bremser — Sat, 02 Dec 2023 10:00:52 GMT

Look at the library definition for library HW5. I suspect it points to something remote, either with a very slow network connection or badly misconfigured. After the first run, the data is read from your local cache.

Re: SAS takes so long to initiate, print even very small dataset.

leen — Sun, 03 Dec 2023 00:09:19 GMT

Sorry but when I tried to copy and paste this folder to a local directory, the same thing happened, just for this proc varclus process:

342  libname hw5 "D:\hw5";
NOTE: Libref HW5 was successfully assigned as follows:
      Engine:        V9
      Physical Name: D:\hw5
343
344  proc print data=hw5.flowers;run;

NOTE: There were 150 observations read from the data set HW5.FLOWERS.
NOTE: PROCEDURE PRINT used (Total process time):
      real time           0.05 seconds
      cpu time            0.03 seconds


345
346  proc varclus data=hw5.flowers proportion=.9 outtree=hw5.tree1;
347  var sl sw pl pw;
348  run;

NOTE: Clustering algorithm converged.
NOTE: Clustering algorithm converged.
NOTE: The data set HW5.TREE1 has 6 observations and 8 variables.
NOTE: PROCEDURE VARCLUS used (Total process time):
      real time           3:30.86
      cpu time            0.65 seconds

Real time is 3 min 30 sec, but the cpu time is only 0.65 seconds

Re: SAS takes so long to initiate, print even very small dataset.

Kurt_Bremser — Sun, 03 Dec 2023 06:53:32 GMT

Do you start your SAS software from a network location?

Re: SAS takes so long to initiate, print even very small dataset.

leen — Sun, 03 Dec 2023 20:26:02 GMT

No. I have ensured that all files needed for running sas code are in the local directory.

My SAS is installed in D:\software, my dataset and code is in D:\hw5 and the onedrive is in D:\Onedrive so I assume SAS won't be affected, right?

Re: SAS takes so long to initiate, print even very small dataset.

SASKiwi — Sun, 03 Dec 2023 21:03:18 GMT

What directory is your HW5 SAS library pointing to? If it is pointing to your cloud One Drive, that might explain the poor performance. Move the library to a folder that is on your PC hard drive and test your program again. I'm assuming here that D is a local drive on your PC.

Re: SAS takes so long to initiate, print even very small dataset.

Sajid01 — Mon, 04 Dec 2023 01:47:59 GMT

Hello @leen
The large difference between real time and cpu time typically indicates an I/O issue.
One possibility is that the D drive is not local to the machine that is running SAS i.e. it may be a remote or networked location.
is your SAS running on your local PC or on the server.

Re: SAS takes so long to initiate, print even very small dataset.

leen — Mon, 04 Dec 2023 03:38:21 GMT

It's:

libname hw5 "D:\hw5";

And i am pretty sure D:/ is a local drive, not a network location. This happens to me today as well, with no exception. But the most important point is that this problem will only happen at first output (I think it's HTML output because:

5
6    proc sql;
7    select * from myora.customer_t where customerstate="NY" or customerstate="PA";
NOTE: Writing HTML Body file: sashtml.htm
8    quit;
NOTE: PROCEDURE SQL used (Total process time):
      real time           3:30.67
      cpu time            0.28 seconds


9    proc sql;
10   select * from myora.customer_t where customerstate="NY" or customerstate="PA";
11   quit;
NOTE: PROCEDURE SQL used (Total process time):
      real time           0.03 seconds
      cpu time            0.01 seconds

)

Re: SAS takes so long to initiate, print even very small dataset.

andreas_lds — Mon, 04 Dec 2023 07:05:21 GMT

Having a local sas installation and processing locally stored data only, real time should be much lower using recent hardware. Can you post some details about the computer used: cpu, memory, harddisks

Re: SAS takes so long to initiate, print even very small dataset.

Patrick — Mon, 04 Dec 2023 07:15:49 GMT

If I run below command in a dos command prompt (cmd)...

c:\temp>wmic logicaldisk get deviceid, volumename, description

...I get output like below

Description         DeviceID  VolumeName
Local Fixed Disk    C:        Windows
Network Connection  I:        Data

If you run the same command on your computer what does it say for your D-drive?

Re: SAS takes so long to initiate, print even very small dataset.

Sajid01 — Mon, 04 Dec 2023 14:26:56 GMT

Hello @leen
In your first post you have mentioned
"Hi, all. Each time I start SAS, it takes about a few minutes to initiate and it takes so long to even print a very small dataset (sometimes even 1 rows). "
This indicates that either the laptop has insufficient resources OR the D drive is not physically installed in the laptop.
It is customary in corporate environment to mount a networked or shared drive at boot time with a drive letter. This gives the impression that it is a local drive.
It also happens often that a user works on a remote machine/VDI and the desktop is essentially a window to access those resources.
If there is a local IT support group / SAS Admin in your organization do approach them

Re: SAS takes so long to initiate, print even very small dataset.

leen — Mon, 04 Dec 2023 23:23:41 GMT

C:\Users\JselZ>wmic logicaldisk get deviceid, volumename, description
Description       DeviceID  VolumeName
Local Fixed Disk  C:        Acer
Local Fixed Disk  D:        ???

Sure this is the result.

Re: SAS takes so long to initiate, print even very small dataset.

leen — Mon, 04 Dec 2023 23:25:50 GMT

I do have a network location under this PC. But I used nothing from that location while running my sas code. (It even doesn't contain any information). And when I had that problem, I was at home, connected successfully to that local network drive.

Re: SAS takes so long to initiate, print even very small dataset.

SASKiwi — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 01:35:24 GMT

Try this to test your HTML theory:

proc sql noprint;
create table test as
select * from myora.customer_t where customerstate="NY" or customerstate="PA";
quit;

Given you are reading from Oracle, another explanation is database caching.

Re: SAS takes so long to initiate, print even very small dataset.

whymath — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 01:58:13 GMT

Use %put %sysfunc(pathname(work)); to see where your work library locate at.

Re: SAS takes so long to initiate, print even very small dataset.

leen — Wed, 06 Dec 2023 07:13:36 GMT

1    %put %sysfunc(pathname(work));
C:\Users\JselZ\AppData\Local\Temp\SAS Temporary Files\_TD16732_LAPTOP-S06C0GDM_

This is the output. I don't think this is a network location or an onedrive backup folder.

Re: SAS takes so long to initiate, print even very small dataset.

leen — Wed, 06 Dec 2023 07:59:23 GMT

Problem solved!

It's actually caused by a printer of my school, which is set by windows as default and is disconnected at home. It seems that SAS will check for printers while initializing so it also explains my another question on being stuck for using ods.

I found the solution here

Re: SAS takes so long to initiate, print even very small dataset.

Kurt_Bremser — Wed, 06 Dec 2023 08:45:33 GMT

Very good! I knew about that particular printer issue (it has come up here every now and then), but I had it buried too deep in the backyards of my mind. I take it that several of the senior users participating in this thread will have a similar moment: