topic Re: creating a link to a sas program folder on a linux server (not home directory) using SAS EG 7.1 in SAS Enterprise Guide

creating a link to a sas program folder on a linux server (not home directory) using SAS EG 7.1

newtolinux — Wed, 15 Jun 2016 13:28:55 GMT

Hi, I am a SAS admin, and one of our end user requests is to create a progam folder for each user.

For backup and recovery purposes, they do not want to use the home folder to store their programs.

I cannot figure out how to create a link in EG to that server program folder. Any suggestions?

Note: this folder would only contain SAS code. We are using Enterprise Guide 7.1 on Windows 7 and connecting to a Linux Server running SAS 9.4M3.

Re: creating a link to a sas program folder on a linux server (not home directory) using SAS EG 7.1

TomKari — Wed, 15 Jun 2016 14:06:06 GMT

I haven't done this myself, but I don't see any problems.

When you say "SAS programs", I assume this means that you want to store your SAS code nodes externally to the EG project.

To do this, select "File | Save Program As...". In the tabs on the left, you can select "Servers", and from there navigate to any folder location you want. Make sure to have your Linux admin apply restrictions so that only the user can access the folder assigned to them.

Tom

Re: creating a link to a sas program folder on a linux server (not home directory) using SAS EG 7.1

CaseySmith — Wed, 15 Jun 2016 14:13:07 GMT

Hi, you can control the root folder that users see in their server->Files location with the following setting in SMC:
(in SMC's Server manager plug-in, expand "SASApp" (or whatever your server is named), then "SASApp - Logical Workapce Server", right-click "SASApp - Workspace Server", select Properties, click Options tab, click "Advanced Options..." button, click "File Navigation" tab.)

If you want the servers->Files location to point to different folders per user, but don't want to use their home directory ("SAS User Root"), you can specify a path with an environment variable substitution. For example, select "Path" and specify "c:\%username%".

Casey

Re: creating a link to a sas program folder on a linux server (not home directory) using SAS EG 7.1

newtolinux — Wed, 15 Jun 2016 14:18:47 GMT

Casey - thanks for your reply. As luck would have it - only one department needs their folders set up this way. Is it possible to use Management Console as you suggested for just one "user group".
And yes, they have their own group defined in metadata.

Re: creating a link to a sas program folder on a linux server (not home directory) using SAS EG 7.1

CaseySmith — Wed, 15 Jun 2016 14:27:22 GMT

The File Navigation setting applies to all users of that server defintion. So, if you want different users to have different File Navigation settings, I would accomplish by defining another server in metadata for that group with the desired File Navigation setting (otherwise identical). (Most likely you'd want to make only the respective servers visible to the respective groups (clear or set ReadMetadata on each server for the appropriate groups).)

Re: creating a link to a sas program folder on a linux server (not home directory) using SAS EG 7.1

Kurt_Bremser — Thu, 16 Jun 2016 04:29:19 GMT

As an alternate method, and since your server runs on UNIX:

You can create symbolic links in user's home directories that point to locations elsewhere. This avoids having to create a separate server.

Re: creating a link to a sas program folder on a linux server (not home directory) using SAS EG 7.1

newtolinux — Wed, 15 Jun 2016 17:32:19 GMT

Thanks. I had thought of this independently and it works like a charm.

I wish this was documented somewhere!

Re: creating a link to a sas program folder on a linux server (not home directory) using SAS EG 7.1

Kurt_Bremser — Thu, 16 Jun 2016 04:34:11 GMT

TBH, working with symbolic links is such a natural thing for UNIX admins that one rarely thinks to make a specific mention of it.

And since symbolic links were a UNIX specific for a long time, this is probably the reason they are not part of the overall SAS documentation

Re: creating a link to a sas program folder on a linux server (not home directory) using SAS EG 7.1

newtolinux — Thu, 16 Jun 2016 15:21:51 GMT

Kurt -thanks fo rthe info. My end users are reporting that the links are indeed visible under "Servers". I was hoping that they would appear under "SAS Folders" as well. Note:one of the folders is for SAS programs, so there is no metadata to register.

Re: creating a link to a sas program folder on a linux server (not home directory) using SAS EG 7.1

Kurt_Bremser — Thu, 16 Jun 2016 20:35:54 GMT

Keep in mind that SAS Folders are metadata structures and not part of the filesystem.

Re: creating a link to a sas program folder on a linux server (not home directory) using SAS EG 7.1

newtolinux — Thu, 16 Jun 2016 20:41:30 GMT

OK, understood. So you are saying that only metadata objects are visible on "SAS Folders".