ERROR: Failed to attach to Java during SAS startup. (SAS 9.4 / Ubuntu 18.04)

[rwan1]

Dear all,

I'm a new administrator for SAS -- I won't be using it, but have been asked to install it on a Linux-based (Ubuntu 18.04) server for users.  I just installed it and all of the programs installed, except the very end with some updates (SAS Install Qualification Tool).  I plan to look into them later.

But then, I was stuck as to what to do next.  How do I know if it worked?  I looked around the Internet, and some suggested going to ../SASHome/SASFoundation/9.4/ and then running "./sas".  I tried that, but I ended up with these warnings, followed by this error:

WARNING: Display of UTF8 encoded data is not fully supported by the SAS Display Manager System.
WARNING: Normal task completion intercepted.
NOTE: SAH239999I DMS, State, stopped
ERROR: Failed to attach to Java during SAS startup.

I don't know what to do next...  I looked on this forum, and one user had a similar problem to me, but s/he ended up editing../SASHome/SASFoundation/9.4/nls/en/sasv9.cfg .  However, I have a../SASHome/SASFoundation/9.4/sasv9.cfg file and the value for -JREOPTIONS appears correct.  At least, the -Djava.class.path value points to an existing jar file.

Is there any way to give a more verbose reason as to why Java failed?  Java is installed:

$ java -version
openjdk version "1.8.0_191"
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_191-8u191-b12-0ubuntu0.18.04.1-b12)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.191-b12, mixed mode)

$ which java
/usr/bin/java

Outside of this forum, I found a few people discussing about installing/removing SAS and Java, but such advice didn't make sense to me.  I don't mind trying this, but it seems to me this is a shot in the dark and perhaps I should ask on this forum before trying something like that.

Any help would be appreciated!  Thank you!

Ray

[SASKiwi]

As I understand it, SAS Display Manager on Unix needs to be run under an X-windows graphical terminal client. If you were running SAS under a character-based terminal client then it would fail, possibly with the symptoms you are seeing. 

This link may help: https://documentation.sas.com/?docsetId=hostunx&docsetTarget=n044vvir3dlogtn1wpa6bqsjbslu.htm&docset...

[rwan1]

---

@SASKiwi wrote:

As I understand it, SAS Display Manager on Unix needs to be run under an X-windows graphical terminal client. If you were running SAS under a character-based terminal client then it would fail, possibly with the symptoms you are seeing. 

This link may help: https://documentation.sas.com/?docsetId=hostunx&docsetTarget=n044vvir3dlogtn1wpa6bqsjbslu.htm&docset...

---

Thank you for your prompt reply!  I have X-Windows working fine.  At the link above, I can indeed start up "xclock" on the server, which then creates a window on my computer remotely.

In fact, the installation program (SAS Deployment Wizard) is a graphical program and I installed SAS remotely.  But thank you for mentioning this!  At least it gives me an idea of the type of things I should consider.

Ray

[JuanS_OCS]

Hello @rwan1,

forst of all, I must say that while installation in Ubuntu is possible, it is not officially supported by SAS; meaning, SAS can help you but cannot ensure you a solution. You can check the SAS Foundation 9.4 system requirements here: http://support.sas.com/documentation/installcenter/en/ikfdtnlaxsr/66396/PDF/default/sreq.pdf

If you need a free edition, I would go for a closer one to a distro that is supported. Such as CentOs, since RedHat is supported, and CentOS is, well...., almost the same.

That being said:

• First, the best way to qualify if your SAS foundation installation is correct, is to execute the SAS Installation Qualification (sasiq) and the SAS Operation Qualification (sasoq) Tools. There is no better way.
• Second, indeed, if you just execute "sas", you will need X windows and a x window client/server. MobaXterm?
• Third, you can also run sas in simple CLI, with the -nodms parameter
• SAS 9.4 uses its own JDK and JRE. If you peek into your SASHOME directory, you will see a SASPrivateJRE folder, which is exactly that, a private Java Runtime Environment. Additional Java instances might cause trouble in some cases and, then, you need to take additional actions. 

All in all, the fact that you made an installation in Ubuntu, it might mean that not all the internal components you are installing,  are compiled 100% for your kernel ...

THis might help you as well: http://support.sas.com/documentation/installcenter/en/ikfdtnunxcg/66380/PDF/default/config.pdf?local...

[rwan1]

---

Hi @JuanS_OCS,

Thank you for your check list of things I should look into!  Between this reply and my replies to others in the conversation, I did solve my problem.  I wasn't replying in any particular order and was bouncing back and forth between trying things and read what suggestions all of you gave me.

@JuanS_OCS wrote:

Hello @rwan1,

forst of all, I must say that while installation in Ubuntu is possible, it is not officially supported by SAS; meaning, SAS can help you but cannot ensure you a solution. You can check the SAS Foundation 9.4 system requirements here: http://support.sas.com/documentation/installcenter/en/ikfdtnlaxsr/66396/PDF/default/sreq.pdf

If you need a free edition, I would go for a closer one to a distro that is supported. Such as CentOs, since RedHat is supported, and CentOS is, well...., almost the same.

Yes, while I seem to have gotten it working, I will keep CentOS as an option if I encounter further issues down the road.  In this case, a license was purchased for the server version, so I probably want to do whatever I can to get this working before either going with a free edition and/or re-installing the OS.

That being said:

• First, the best way to qualify if your SAS foundation installation is correct, is to execute the SAS Installation Qualification (sasiq) and the SAS Operation Qualification (sasoq) Tools. There is no better way.

I was not aware of this program!  This was quite useful.  I ran it and out of 38,302 files, 56 failed the checksum.  I don't quite understand why they failed, though.  Many of them are "picklist" files...they seem to be files used to fill a pick list in a pull-down table.

But, as I said in my original message, I did have errors during the installation.  Two updates failed installing.  I will look into that later -- perhaps that is related to the failed checksums.

• Second, indeed, if you just execute "sas", you will need X windows and a x window client/server. MobaXterm?
• Third, you can also run sas in simple CLI, with the -nodms parameter

I'm actually using an Ubuntu desktop machine to connect to the Ubuntu server.  So, I'm just using ssh.  The X windows worked as I has already enabled X11 port forwarding, etc.  But thank you for the -nodms parameter.  That did work as well!

• SAS 9.4 uses its own JDK and JRE. If you peek into your SASHOME directory, you will see a SASPrivateJRE folder, which is exactly that, a private Java Runtime Environment. Additional Java instances might cause trouble in some cases and, then, you need to take additional actions. 

Thank you for this!  As I mentioned to @SimonDawson, who replied after you, I was not aware of this.  It's good to know.  I did come across articles such as http://support.sas.com/kb/44/853.html.  The target audience is for a Windows-based installation, but the paths mentioned for Java are not within the SASHOME directory.  So, if neither you nor Simon said anything, I would have continued to believe that the Java being used was outside SASHOME.

All in all, the fact that you made an installation in Ubuntu, it might mean that not all the internal components you are installing,  are compiled 100% for your kernel ...

THis might help you as well: http://support.sas.com/documentation/installcenter/en/ikfdtnunxcg/66380/PDF/default/config.pdf?local...

---

Despite Ubuntu not being officially supported, thank you everyone for your help!  I'm actually not yet "done".  Besides the failure of the update and the failed checksums, the intention is for the user to connect to the server using the client version of SAS (i.e., via SAS/Connect).  I need to set that up next before I can breathe a sigh of relief.

But I feel somewhat hopeful that this will work out after seeing the program actually run.  (Perhaps I was overwhelmed by its size and the many modules!)

Thank you again, everyone!

Ray

[SimonDawson]

Ubuntu 18.04 is not a supported distribution of GNU/Linux. Just out of curiosity why have you select Ubuntu 18.04 for your deployment?

Just incase this is useful to others when you deploy the SAS software to a system the Java interpreter used by that SAS installation is unpacked from the SAS software depot into the SASHome. The OpenJDK deployed onto a host if its installed is not the JVM used by the SAS software. The Java used by the SAS software is deployed under the SASHome/SASPrivateJavaRuntimeEnvironment/9.4/jre directory.

For your case @rwan1 unless you have a very good reason for needing to stick on Ubuntu 18.04 I would strongly advice deploying the SAS software onto a supported operating system. The SAS testing teams only test the SAS software on supported distributions so who know what edge case quirk you are hitting.

[rwan1]

Hi Simon,

@SimonDawson wrote:

Ubuntu 18.04 is not a supported distribution of GNU/Linux. Just out of curiosity why have you select Ubuntu 18.04 for your deployment?

 Oh.  I guess that's a bit of a long story.  The server where I have installed SAS has been in use for a couple of years for other purposes.  (i.e., analyses using other programs)  And, until now, the choice of Ubuntu has never caused me any problems.

That aside, I have personally used Debian for 10 years and then Ubuntu for another 10 years (i.e., total of 20 years, give or take...alas, I'm not a Java programmer, though).  Currently, I use Ubuntu as my desktop machine.  So, my choice of Ubuntu as the OS for the server in question was obvious.  (And many, many years ago, I did know someone who looked after a CentOS server and she did have some problems with rpm, etc.  Of course, that's just a bias because how these distributions are now has nothing to do how they were 10+ years ago...all of them have improved a lot over the years.)

So, in short, that is the reason why I'm installing it on an Ubuntu machine.  At the time we purchased the SAS license, I *was* aware that Ubuntu wasn't officially supported.  But, like I said, other analyses were happening by other users and it seemed a bit pre-emptive to disturb what already works for them to cater to SAS, which won't be used by every user.  I'd have to try first before deciding wiping the OS.

Just incase this is useful to others when you deploy the SAS software to a system the Java interpreter used by that SAS installation is unpacked from the SAS software depot into the SASHome. The OpenJDK deployed onto a host if its installed is not the JVM used by the SAS software. The Java used by the SAS software is deployed under the SASHome/SASPrivateJavaRuntimeEnvironment/9.4/jre directory.

 Oh!  That is useful information...  Then I was perhaps barking up the wrong tree by dwelling on the Java installation.  Let me look into this further; I can even consider removing the system-installed Java as I think no one is using it.  But I have to check.  I can certainly uninstall it temporarily just to its effect.

Thank you for this!

For your case @rwan1 unless you have a very good reason for needing to stick on Ubuntu 18.04 I would strongly advice deploying the SAS software onto a supported operating system. The SAS testing teams only test the SAS software on supported distributions so who know what edge case quirk you are hitting.

---

 I suppose I cannot rule out the possibility of wiping the system and installing CentOS for SAS.  Users who are using the system with other programs can be moved to another server, I guess.

I guess this is a last resort.  I do hope that there are other Ubuntu system administrators that have seen this.  This thread has other suggestions (thank you to all of you!) which I will try first.  Thank you!

Ray

[rwan1 · Accepted solution]

Dear all,

Thank you for your prompt and helpful replies!  I managed to solve my problem and am posting it in the hopes it can help others.  (Though as I will mention later, I'm not out of the woods...but at least I've solved the problem I mentioned yesterday which was the "ERROR: Failed to attach to Java during SAS startup.")

Actually, not surprisingly, I was being a bit careless.  I didn't realize there was diagnostic information above what I copied and pasted into my e-mail -- actually a lot.  As I scrolled up in my terminal, there were messages like:

No Traceback Available

ERROR: An exception has been encountered.
Please contact technical support and provide them with the following traceback information:

But, way near the top, before all the madness began, there was this message:

ERROR: Could not load /usr/local/SASHome/SASFoundation/9.4/dbcs/sasexe/sasmotif (37 images loaded)

ERROR: libjpeg.so.62: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
ERROR: BRIDGE FAILURE - ERROR LOADING IMAGE
MODULE: sasmotifsasvsub h7QV SUBSYSTEM: 8 SLOT: 11

Indeed, what I did next was install the libjpeg62 Ubuntu package.  Then a second error:

ERROR: libpng12.so.0: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

suggested I should do the same, but this was more difficult since it no longer exists in Ubuntu 18.04.  Ubuntu 18.04 uses libpng16 now.  But, as explained here, the solution is to download this package from an older version of Ubuntu and then installing it with "dpkg -i".  After installing the two JPEG and PNG packages, the SAS screen loaded fine.  As I have never ran SAS before, I'm not 100% sure but windows did open up and it seemed like I was being asked to input something.  🙂

At least this part is done but I have learned a lot about SAS through your replies.  Thank you everyone!

Ray