Need steps or any document for reference to upgrade sas 9.3 to SAS 9.4 latest maintenance

[pmaturi83]

My organization is looking to upgrade current version of SAS 9.3 to SAS 9.4 latest maintenance on same AIX machine. If a similar exercise is performed by any one, please share check list/any step-by-step document to perform it.

Please note that I'm new to SAS and so looking if some one can mentor or help.

[alexal]

@pmaturi83,

I would recommend reading Upgrading from SAS 9.3 to SAS 9.4

[SASKiwi]

Are you intending to have both versions running at the same time so you can test your migrated SAS applications? If your applications are business-critical I would strongly recommend this approach. The downside is installing / running two different SAS versions on the same hardware is more complicated.

If on the other hand you upgrade and replace at the same time you wont be able to properly test migrated applications plus there will be some significant downtime which could be just a few days but could be longer depending on the complexity of your architecture and whether you will be making any architectural changes during the upgrade.

Since you are new to this I suggest you get some expert SAS advice either from SAS or a SAS partner to make sure you make the right decisions for your organisation. 

[Kurt_Bremser]

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@pmaturi83 wrote:

My organization is looking to upgrade current version of SAS 9.3 to SAS 9.4 latest maintenance on same AIX machine. If a similar exercise is performed by any one, please share check list/any step-by-step document to perform it.

Please note that I'm new to SAS and so looking if some one can mentor or help.

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If you can afford major downtime, you can try that. But you would have to install 9.4 over the existing 9.3 version with a full migration on the way.

From experience, I recommend not to run two SAS versions side-by-side on the same server; you have to do quite a lot of customizations to ports (to avoid collisions) that make the new installation hard to maintain later.

If you want to have both versions available for comparative tests, have a new VM/LPAR set up and do a "green-field" install there. Then migrate all metadata, data and apps from old to new, and once you have confirmed the new server is performing as desired, switch the users over.

Make sure that running two server instances in parallel for the switchover time is OK with your local SAS branch, licensewise.

[JuanS_OCS]

Hello @pmaturi83,

the process of an upgrade in place is getting more and more simple. But 9.3 to 9.4 won;t be an upgrade in place, it is a migration and I subscribe to the recommendation provided by @SASKiwi if you are new: for your first time, I would suggest you to get a SAS Partner or SAS Consultant to do this for you, while you can look and learn the process.

[Kurt_Bremser]

In addition to @JuanS_OCS comment:

While you are looking "over the shoulder" of the consultant, take note of EVERY entry in the SAS deployment wizard that is made without accepting the default value. And note EVERY other step that is done outside the SDW (editing of conf files, setting permissions, making crontab entries etc)

Also keep in mind that you need skills in AIX shell scripting and basic system administration if you want to do SAS maintenance/installation in the future. Or have your local AIX admin with you when the install/upgrade is done.