OBS option set to 0 and REPLACE to NOREPLACE by default. Reset to correct default?

[miguelcalzada]

Hello there,

After installing and configuring SAS 9.4 M6 in a RedHat 7.7 environment, users start to use the platform, but they weren't receiving any observations from their programming.

When we checked the options, we saw that OBS was set to 0, and REPLACE set to NOREPLACE.

However, other environments we installed with the same depot and plan, had those to the correct defaults (OBS=max and REPLACE).

We have fixed it with a workaround, adding the line "options obs=max REPLACE;" to $SASCONFIG/Lev1/SASApp/WorkspaceServer/autoexec_usermods.sas. However, I'd like to know how this default has been able to change only in this environment (past and posterior environments installed with the same depot and plan have everything right) and how to change it back to the default without having to add a new line to the configuration files.

Any idea?

Thank you in advanced.

[AnandVyas]

By any chance does the environment has different encoding set for SAS Foundation?

[miguelcalzada]

No, I'm afraid the environment has the same enconding as the rest of the environments built with the same depot and plan.

[AnandVyas]

Does the SAS tiers span across multiple servers? If yes, can you invoke SAS Foundation session from another server (Metadata server should be ok as well) in the same environment and see what are the default options for OBS and REPLACE?

This is just to verify if the same problem is across the servers in the environment.

You can launch SAS Session by running the following command from terminal - /sashome/SASFoundation/9.4/sas -nodms

[Ksharp]

Change these option in config file SASV9.CFG

[Kurt_Bremser]

Study the logs in $SASCONFIG/Lev1/SASApp/WorkspaceServer/Logs, or (if you use Enterprise Guide) right-click on the server, select Properties - Software - View Initialization Log.

You may have something in a preceding autoexec file (SASApp/appserver_autoexec.sas, SASApp/appserver_autoexec_usermods.sas, SASApp/WorkspaceServer/autoexec.sas) that causes an ERROR.

[miguelcalzada]

Thank you both for your answers, however:

@Ksharp I've looked at every sasv9.cfg file in the server, and no one of them have the options OBS or REPLACE.

@Kurt_Bremser I don't have any file in that log folder. When I look at the inicialization log ni EGuide, I get what you can found as an attachment, not founding anything related to the OBS and REPLACE problem. I have also look at all the autoexec files on the server, and apart from the line I've added that I speak of on the initial post, there's nothing strange.

Thank you again. If you have any more ideas to solve it, would be great.

[Kurt_Bremser]

As I suspected, you have an ERROR:

9          %macro checkfmt;
10         %if %UPCASE(%sysfunc(getoption(fmtsearch))) eq (WORK LIBRARY) %then
11         	OPTIONS FMTSEARCH=(WORK LIBRARY EGTASK SASUSER);
12         %mend checkfmt;
WARNING: Apparent symbolic reference ORIG_FMT_LIBRARIES not resolved.
WARNING: Apparent symbolic reference ORIG_FMT_LIBRARIES not resolved.
ERROR: A character operand was found in the %EVAL function or %IF condition where a numeric operand is required. The condition was: 
       %UPCASE(%sysfunc(getoption(fmtsearch))) eq (WORK LIBRARY) 
ERROR: The macro CHECKFMT will stop executing.

You seem to have added a macro variable in your original fmtsearch definition when the workspace server starts, either in the autoexec or in one of the configuration files, or maybe even on the command line.

Look for the usage of &ORIG_FMT_LIBRARIES somewhere in there.

[miguelcalzada · Accepted solution]

Thank you everyone, we have finally find the problem.

The developers added an autoexec.sas made by them that was included in the default autoexec_usermod so they could have some variables for their scripting, and we have an ENVIRONMENT variable defined differently in all of the environments. However, only in this particular environment, we had an ENVIRONMENT variable with a hyphen (PRE-PRODUCTION). That resulted in the added autoexec not recognizing it properly, which in turn modified the default OBS and REPLACE options (Don't know why, it just did).

We modified that new autoexec to recognize the hyphen in the ENVIRONMENT variable, and removed the line I added (explained at the start of the post), and the default options come as expected again without modifying them.

Thank you all for your answers and help, and I hope this post helps to anyone with the same problem (not probable, but who knows ).

Thank you!!

[Kurt_Bremser]

An ERROR will cause SAS to set these options, to prevent further damage to data.

[miguelcalzada]

That actually makes sense.

Thank you very much!