SASCFGPATH in SAS 9.4 - order of execution?

[bheinsius]

Hi,

My out-of-the-box WorkspaceServer.sh script has this line for the SASCFGPATH:

SASCFGPATH="$APPSERVER_ROOT/sasv9.cfg, $APPSERVER_ROOT/sasv9_usermods.cfg, $CONFIGDIR/sasv9.cfg, $CONFIGDIR/sasv9_usermods.cfg"

To determine the order of execution of these config files, I added different settings to each of them and found out that this is the actual order of execution, where the last one wins:

1. $CONFIGDIR/sasv9.cfg
2. $CONFIGDIR/sasv9_usermods.cfg
3. $APPSERVER_ROOT/sasv9.cfg
4. $APPSERVER_ROOT/sasv9_usermods.cfg

I cannot relate that to the order in the SASCFGPATH string:

SASCFGPATH="$APPSERVER_ROOT/sasv9.cfg, $APPSERVER_ROOT/sasv9_usermods.cfg, $CONFIGDIR/sasv9.cfg, $CONFIGDIR/sasv9_usermods.cfg"

I can't find official documentation on this setting, does anyone understand how this works?

The reason for asking is that my customer wants to add a custom sasv9.cfg file to his configuration and the question is where it should go.

-Bart

[gwootton]

The order of operations for config files goes from most to least specific. That is:
1. An option given when executing the command (i.e. WorkspaceServer.sh -option)
2. The sasv9_usermods.cfg in WorkspaceServer directory ($CONFDIR/sasv9_usermods.cfg)
3. The sasv9.cfg file in the WorkspaceServer directory ($CONFDIR/sasv9.cfg)
4. The sasv9_usermods.cfg file in the application server context directory ($APPSERVER_ROOT/sasv9_usermods.cfg)
5. The sasv9.cfg file in the application server context directory ($APPSERVER_ROOT/sasv9.cfg)
6. The sasv9_local.cfg file in the SASHome/SASFoundation/9.4 directory
7. The sasv9.cfg file in the SASHome/SASFoundation/9.4 directory

The _usermods and _local files are preserved through updates, so this is where any customizations would go. If you want to apply one to all SAS sessions it would be sasv9_local.cfg, if for all within a context (i.e. SASApp) it would be in SASApp/sasv9_usermods.cfg, and for just the Workspace Server it would be WorkspaceServer/sasv9_usermods.cfg.

Configuration Files for Components of SAS Application Servers
https://go.documentation.sas.com/?cdcId=bicdc&cdcVersion=9.4&docsetId=bisag&docsetTarget=p1n3ivrea2b...

This order matches the order of SASCFGPATH, with the last one being the last one applied. The sas executable in SASFoundation/9.4/ adds to the path values defined in WorkspaceServer.sh the sasv9 and sasv9_local files I mentioned in SASHome:

[sas@sgmmstr 9.4]$ pwd
/sas94/SASHome/SASFoundation/9.4
[sas@sgmmstr 9.4]$ grep sasv9 sas -C1
if [ "$SASCFGPATH" ] ; then
SASCFGPATH="!SASROOT/sasv9.cfg, !SASROOT/nls/en/sasv9.cfg, !SASROOT/sasv9_local.cfg, $SASCFGPATH"
else
SASCFGPATH="!SASROOT/sasv9.cfg, !SASROOT/nls/en/sasv9.cfg, !SASROOT/sasv9_local.cfg"
fi
[sas@sgmmstr 9.4]$

[bheinsius]

Hi @gwootton 

Thanks for you explanation.

You write:

This order matches the order of SASCFGPATH, with the last one being the last one applied.

That does not appear to be the case, as:

SASCFGPATH="$APPSERVER_ROOT/sasv9.cfg, $APPSERVER_ROOT/sasv9_usermods.cfg, $CONFIGDIR/sasv9.cfg, $CONFIGDIR/sasv9_usermods.cfg"

implies the order of execution would be:

1. $APPSERVER_ROOT/sasv9.cfg
2. $APPSERVER_ROOT/sasv9_usermods.cfg
3. $CONFIGDIR/sasv9.cfg
4. $CONFIGDIR/sasv9_usermods.cfg

where the last one wins, where the order that I find - and would expect and that is documented - is this:

1. $CONFIGDIR/sasv9.cfg
2. $CONFIGDIR/sasv9_usermods.cfg
3. $APPSERVER_ROOT/sasv9.cfg
4. $APPSERVER_ROOT/sasv9_usermods.cfg

What I miss and have missed over time - and what the actual background of my question is - is a sasv9.cfg for the Lev, so $LEVEL_ROOT/sasv9.cfg and $LEVEL_ROOT/sasv9.cfg. The customer has now built that into every (Workspace|StoredProcess|PooledWorkspace)server.sh as:

SASCFGPATH="$LEVEL_ROOT/sasv9.cfg, $APPSERVER_ROOT/sasv9.cfg, $APPSERVER_ROOT/sasv9_usermods.cfg, $CONFIGDIR/sasv9.cfg, $CONFIGDIR/sasv9_usermods.cfg"

How would you implement this using usermods files only?

Sorry for now mixing up 2 questions in 1 post.

[gwootton · Accepted solution]

The _usermods files should override options set in their associated non-usermods files. For example, if you specified -logconfigloc to point to logconfig.trace.xml, that is the log configuration that would be used instead of logconfig.xml specified in sasv9.cfg. If you set a different option in each file, the end result would be a session with all of those options applied, can you explain how you are determining the order in this case?

There is no Lev1/sasv9.cfg or Lev1/sasv9_usermods.cfg file by default, but if they have added one to the sh files, that addition could be overwritten by updates to those files (e.g. installing a hotfix or update in place).

Would adding the options in Lev1/sasv9.cfg instead to <SASHome>/SASFoundation/9.4/sasv9_local.cfg work for your purposes?

[bheinsius]

Would adding the options in Lev1/sasv9.cfg instead to <SASHome>/SASFoundation/9.4/sasv9_local.cfg work for your purposes?

---

I tried it out and it works. As it is unclear what the order or execution - and thus the order of precedence - of the files is, I cannot be sure this will always work but for now there are no options in <SASHome>/SASFoundation/9.4/sasv9_local.cfg that also exist in other configuration files so it works.

Thanks.

[JackHamilton]

For the configuration files I have any control over - which is only the usable-writable ones - I have taken the approach of adding a -NOTE option showing the location, so I can just look at the log and see which configs were used and in what order.  I might try to get the SAS administrator to do the same thing in the system config files, as "where did that setting some from" questions come up fairly often.

[bheinsius]

That is a good idea except that a -NOTE in my sasv9_usermods.cfg gives me errors when starting SAS.

Can you show me an example?

[JackHamilton]

Sorry, I shouldn't work from memory, I meant -ECHO

-echo "NOTE: Reading configuration options from ~/sasv9.cfg"

A problem is that this is unreliable.  Sometimes I see it, and sometimes I don't.  It must depend on something else in the environment.

[JackHamilton]

It appears that the notes from -ECHO appear in the log in SAS for Windows, and in "traditional" sashome/.../bin/sas_en on Unix, but they do not show up when SAS is started through the load manager, e.g. sasgsub , even though the options are set.

[JackHamilton]

Another option, not very clean, is to set SET options in your config files.

in ~/.sasv9.sas

-set MY_DOT_SASV9_CFG_USED_1 1
-set MY_DOT_SASV9_CFG_USED_3 1

in ~/sasv9.cfg

-set MY_SASV9_CFG_USED_2 1
-set MY_SASV9_CFG_USED_4 1

In my SAS program:

proc options option=(set); run;

The log shows

 69         proc options option=(set); run;
 
     SAS (r) Proprietary Software Release 9.4  TS1M5
 
  SET=[SASROOT = /opt/sas94_install/sashome/compute/SASFoundation/9.4] [SASAUTOS = (                  '!SASROOT/sasautos'         )] 
 [SAMPsrc=(                  '!SASROOT/samples/accesssample'         '!SASROOT/samples/base'         '!SASROOT/samples/connect'    
      '!SASROOT/samples/dbi'         '!SASROOT/samples/dmine'         '!SASROOT/samples/dquality'         '!SASROOT/samples/ets'     
     '!SASROOT/samples/graph'         '!SASROOT/samples/hadoop'         '!SASROOT/samples/hpf'         '!SASROOT/samples/hps'        
  '!SASROOT/samples/hpstat'         '!SASROOT/samples/iml'         '!SASROOT/samples/intrnet'         '!SASROOT/samples/inttech'     
     '!SASROOT/samples/or'         '!SASROOT/samples/qc'         '!SASROOT/samples/share'         '!SASROOT/samples/stat'         
 '!SASROOT/samples/tmine'         )] [SAMPSIO = (                  '!SASROOT/samples/accesssample'         '!SASROOT/samples/base'   
       '!SASROOT/samples/connect'         '!SASROOT/samples/dbi'         '!SASROOT/samples/dmine'         
 '!SASROOT/samples/dquality'         '!SASROOT/samples/ets'         '!SASROOT/samples/graph'         '!SASROOT/samples/hadoop'       
   '!SASROOT/samples/hpf'         '!SASROOT/samples/hps'         '!SASROOT/samples/hpstat'         '!SASROOT/samples/iml'         
 '!SASROOT/samples/intrnet'         '!SASROOT/samples/inttech'         '!SASROOT/samples/or'         '!SASROOT/samples/qc'         
 '!SASROOT/samples/share'         '!SASROOT/samples/stat'         '!SASROOT/samples/tmine'         )] [SASHOME = 
 /opt/sas94_install/sashome/compute] [DTJ_CLASSPATH = 
 /opt/sas94_install/sashome/compute/SASFoundation/9.4/misc/dmine/dtj.jar:/opt/sas94_install/sashome/compute/SASPrivateJavaRuntimeEnvi
 ronment/9.4/jre/lib/rt.jar] [APFMTLIB = SASEnvironment/SASFormats] [MY_DOT_SASV9_CFG_USED_1 = 1] [MY_DOT_SASV9_CFG_USED_3 = 1] 
 [MY_SASV9_CFG_USED_2 = 1] [MY_SASV9_CFG_USED_4 = 1]
                    Defines an environment variable.

In this case, the values show up in the output in the order in which they were executed, not in alphabetical order.