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Eric_stats
Calcite | Level 5

Hi.  I am wondering if someone can help me with my musing on concepts around SAS PCFiles server, and the SAS Add-In for Microsoft Office.

 

Users are finding the SAS Add-in in Excel is a bit unstable in our environment (Excel crashes, data disappears etc.), and someone had been on a course and was told a PCFiles server would help.   Our environment is SAS EG7.1, AMO 7.1, Office 2013 on mainly Win10 client machines, going to a SAS 9.3 (TS1M2) server on WinServer 2012 R2.    There is no "local" server on users' machines.

 

On the SAS server we have 64-bit SAS, and 64-bit Excel.   So my thinking is when using SAS EG to create Excel files, a PCFiles service would be of no benefit.

 

However on the users' machines the Excel and the SAS Add-In are 32-bit.

 

If they use the SAS Add-in to produce some data via say a SAS stored process, I am thinking they are not really creating a spreadsheet, but rather populating some cells in an existing spreadsheet - so I am thinking the 64/32-bit tension is irrelevant, or am I horribly wrong in my thinking.

 

And would a SAS PC Files Server magically fix things?  It doesn’t seem right to put one on the SAS server for that scenario, (it would default to a 64-bit install), but would putting a 32-bit rendition on a client machine help?

 

Your thoughts would be much appreciated.

 

Cheers,

Eric.

6 REPLIES 6
Kurt_Bremser
Super User

The PC Files Server is not controlled by the client (you can't access it from Excel like the Add-In), but by the SAS process that uses it remotely.

 

It sits on a machine that has Office installed and must have the same bitness as the Office installation. SAS bitness plays no role in this, as the network interface of the PC Files Server is independent from that.

 

Your best bet would be to migrate to SAS 9.4 ASAP, because then you would have the capability to write xlsx files directly from the SAS process.

Eric_stats
Calcite | Level 5
Thanks, Kurt.

( We have a two SAS environments, one at SAS 9.4, and this other one with the issue which was supposed to be at 9.4 by now, but the migration process has been delayed.)
Anand_V
Ammonite | Level 13
Hi @Eric_stats

PC Files server uses Libname engine to Import/Export your Local files to remote SAS Environment. However you would need to License SAS/Access Interface to PC Files in order to use this.

So if you wish to export your local data to remote SAS Environment, process it and move it back to local machine, it would be useful.

If it's fairly new for your team I would suggest to trouble shoot issues of excel crashing with experienced system admin's at your place to find out the root cause.

Thanks,
AV
Eric_stats
Calcite | Level 5
Thanks, Anand.

We are indeed licensed for the SAS/Access Interface.

This issue has arisen after we have recently moved to Desktop as a Service, meaning things are a bit difficult to problem solve - we haven't had such issues before, and now have little access to 'fix' things. I was trying to understand why a user had received advice on a SAS course that the PCFiles server would help.
Kurt_Bremser
Super User

When you have a centralized desktop server (ie Citrix), using the PC Files Server will become tricky, as it is designed with a single user / single PC scenario in mind. On option would be to set up a file server that has the PC Files Server running and can be mounted in your users desktop sessions on the desktop server. But it still would not give you the functionality of the Add-In.

Eric_stats
Calcite | Level 5
Thanks (again) Kurt!

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