topic how to configure a directory shortcut to an external directory on windows pc in SAS Studio

how to configure a directory shortcut to an external directory on windows pc

MaryA_Marion — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 02:08:00 GMT

I need to know how to determine the path for an external directory. SAS Studio does not allow me to do it? Please see two snapshots. Thanks. Mary A. Marion

Re: how to configure a directory shortcut to an external directory on windows pc

qoit — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 02:43:16 GMT

Refer the below if it helps:

https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Studio/SAS-Studio-Accessing-PC-Local-files/td-p/308093

Re: how to configure a directory shortcut to an external directory on windows pc

Kurt_Bremser — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 10:25:54 GMT

SAS Studio is a web application which (in your case) runs on a Linux instance in the cloud. The virtual server itself does not have any access to your PC, aside from the upload/download functionality built into the Java applet that is running in your browser.

To get anything like this to work, you would need to

set up a server process on your PC that exports a shared resource to the network
open up that server process to the internet, or set up a VPN connection that includes the SAS server instance
set up a client on the server that mounts the shared resource

So you have to use the upload/download built into SAS Studio.

Re: how to configure a directory shortcut to an external directory on windows pc

MaryA_Marion — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 21:25:39 GMT

Will SAS assist students in setting up a server process? I am not sure how to do it? Is it like using a dropbox?
Thanks. Mary A. Marion

Re: how to configure a directory shortcut to an external directory on windows pc

Kurt_Bremser — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 21:54:11 GMT

SAS will not open up additional pathways to the On Demand platform, I am quite sure of that.

Use the upload/download feature of SAS Studio.

Re: how to configure a directory shortcut to an external directory on windows pc

Cynthia_sas — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 22:16:34 GMT

Hi:
Your screenshots show that you are using SAS OnDemand for Academics. The Folder Shortcut icon really won't do you much good. That icon is intended for shortcuts to other SAS OnDemand server folders. A possible scenario where folder shortcuts might be useful would be where 2 professors are team teaching a class. Each professor has their own folder for their section of the class, but they each want to be able to see the files and folders that the other professor uses. In this case. Professor A could make a Folder Shortcut to Professor B's OnDemand class folder and vice versa -- Professor B could make a Folder Shortcut to Professor A's class folder on the OnDemand server.

However, there is very limited use of the OnDemand Folder Shortcut capability. You cannot use this Folder Shortcut feature to make a shortcut to YOUR PC or YOUR company or school server.

Each SAS OnDemand user has access ONLY to their own folder structure. For example, I know that there is a "tutorials" folder on the OnDemand server that used to be used for a few of our classes and tutorials. That folder was read accessible to anyone working on the OnDemand server and the OnDemand server path was "/tutorials/data/studio/odtut".

So if I do a "New --> Folder Shortcut" on the OnDemand server:

And then make a shortcut to that tutorial folder -- note that this location is NOT on my local machine. This folder is only on the OnDemand server.

When I click Save, then I see that there are 4 datasets in that location on the OnDemand server:

But, it is NOT possible for you to make a Folder Shortcut to YOUR PC when you have a SAS OnDemand for Academics account. You can make a folder under your /home folder location Files (Home) and then upload files from your PC to that location. That should be sufficient for learning and research purposes. The SAS OnDemand server is not something you would use to set up production jobs that used data from your local machine.

Hope this clarifies that Folder Shortcuts with SAS OnDemand for Academics cannot be used to point to your local machine. When you are working on the OnDemand server, the shortcuts must point to server folders.

Cynthia