Replacing ActiveState Python 2.7

[Nigel_Pain]

SAS 9.4M8 on four Windows Server 2019 platforms (metadata, compute, mid-tier, LASR)

The compute and LASR platforms have ActiveState Python 2.7 installed, I think for Information Retrieval Studio. This goes back to the original installation of M5 back in 2018 - we've had two in-place upgrades since then. Unsurprisingly, our security scanning tools are flagging this up as a vulnerability (or at least, the Jupyter Notebook Python Library). It looks like it's fairly straightforward to install a supported version of Python from the Python Software Foundation but are there any other things I need to do to ensure this is used by SAS? Or is it just a case of changing the PATH? I see that PATH currently starts "C:\Python27\;C:\Python27\Scripts\" which are for the old version.

Many thanks.

[JuanS_OCS]

Hello @Nigel_Pain ,

well, starting from the fact that ActiveState's deliverable of Python is not really for business usage unless you pay for it - yes indeed, it is a good idea to replace and to update it.

I would like to refer you to the documented note by SAS for Python support on SAS 9.4, and yes, it is quite straightforward:

https://support.sas.com/en/documentation/third-party-software-reference/9-4/support-for-other-produc...

Once you do install it and remove the previous version, it might be a good idea to create symlinks to keep the ActiveState paths. The best practice is always to change the configuration, not only in the PATH variable, however this might be error prone, hence the reason for the previous recommendation to minimize risks.

I hope it helps.

[Nigel_Pain]

Many thanks @JuanS_OCS 

I had referred to that documented note, based on which I reckoned it would be fairly easy. Although it seems to be saying to install the pywin32 module directly from a pypi host. This is something I can't do without a lot of hoop-jumping to allow access through our firewalls for the servers. I think there's probably a way to download the module and install it from a local drive though - I'll need to do some digging on that.

I suppose what I really wanted to know is what other configuration changes might be necessary, as I can't find anything much in the documentation on this.

[JuanS_OCS]

Indeed, that is the part I see risky. 

A few greps on the files could tell you where to change things. What I am afraid is that some of these paths might be as well on the WIP database or the metadata, and this is harder to query and to change.

You probably will have more success asking SAS Technical Support.

[Nigel_Pain]

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@JuanS_OCS wrote:

A few greps on the files could tell you where to change things.

Oh, I wish... (Windows!)

I think I may have to resort to TS in the end.

[JuanS_OCS]

I feel you!

Yes, TS would be the best.

Ps. Notepad++ and other tools provide nice grep functionality on Windows 😉

[Nigel_Pain]

Got a response from TS:

The following steps are needed to update the SAS Information Retrieval Studio configuration to use a Python 3 instead of Python 2 version:
1) Stop SAS Information Configuration Studio by going to the <config>\Lev#\Applications\SASInformationRetrievalStudioforSAS directory and running:
    IRStudio.bat stop

   Note:  This can also be stopped from the Windows Services dialog.
2) Rename the <config>\Lev#\Applications\SASInformationRetrievalStudioforSAS\bin directory to bin-python2.
3) Copy the <SASHome>\SASInformationRetrievalStudioforSAS\1.57\StaticPy3\bin directory to the <config>\Lev#\Applications\SASInformationRetrievalStudioforSAS\ directory.  Note:  Your SASInformationRetrievalStudioforSAS may be different.  Replace 1.57 with the version you have. 
4) Make a backup of the <config>\Lev#\Applications\SASInformationRetrievalStudioforSAS\IRStudio.bat file.
5) Modify the <config>\Lev#\Applications\SASInformationRetrievalStudioforSAS\IRStudio.bat file changing the PYTHON_EXEC to point to python where Python 3 is installed. For example, on my Windows test system, this is our setting:
    Set PYTHON_EXEC="C:\Python38\python"
  Save this change. 
6) Start SAS Information Configuration Studio by going to the <config>\Lev#\Applications\SASInformationRetrievalStudioforSAS directory and running:
    IRStudio.bat start

  or restart this using the Windows Services dialog.
 
I'll report back when I've tried it.

[JuanS_OCS]

Interesting, and thanks for the update @Nigel_Pain .

Fingers crossed!

[JuanS_OCS]

Have you got any progress or updates? Wondering what is the situation over there!

[Nigel_Pain]

Still working on it. I had to remove and re-install the IR Studio service to get it running, but the SASSearchService on the mid-tier is not detecting it. TS are investigating for me.