Using SAS LASR Analytic Server Access Tools

[sergie89]

Hello,

Does anyone have experience with configuring LASR Analytic Server Access Tools ?

We are trying to configure SAS LASR Analytic Server Access Tools for pushing SAS datasets (from our BI-server) to SAS Visual Analytics. We have found some information on the internet: http://support.sas.com/kb/56/996.html

Unfortunately configuring ssh keys is not entirely clear to us. Our both environments are installed on Linux and we are using sastoken. 

Should we configure ssh keys under sastoken or lasradm ?

Does anyone have a clear instuction for configuring ssh keys on both environments ?

Thanks in advance.

[SASKiwi]

That SAS note is a little confusing. It says that it only works for SAS 9.4M3 or later on Linux then proceeds to show configuring SSH on Windows! Maybe a track to SAS Support is your best bet.

FYI if you are moving data between normal SAS servers and SAS VA server then SAS/CONNECT is another great option if you have it installed on both systems.    

[sergie89]

Hi @DSAS,

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately, we don't have SAS Connect on our SAS VA server.

I will inform SAS Technical Support about this SAS note. 

[AhmedAl_Attar]

Hi @sergie89

Follow the instructions in either of these two links

SSH Passwordless Login Using SSH Keygen in 5 Easy Steps

How to setup passwordless SSH login in Linux

Just make sure you use to the lasradm Linux account on both hosts (EBI Compute Server + LASR Server). This SSH passwordless login can be used for ssh or scp or anything that needs SSH secure access without password

For folks with Windows & Linux Serves Mixtures, this link might be of help LINUX: PASSWORDLESS SSH LOGIN USING PRIVATE KEYS

Hope this helps,

Ahmed

[sergie89]

Hi @AhmedAl_Attar,

Thanks for the clear instructions. I have configured the ssh keys in the right way on the bot environments now.

I can assign Lasr libraries from our EBI environment now. But when I will copy data to a Lasr library I get the following error:

"ERROR: An I/O error has occurred on file LASRLIB.AARFM.DATA".

[AhmedAl_Attar]

Hi @sergie89,

Not sure what's your access level within your EBI Environment, but I hope some of the tips in this SAS Global Forum 2018 paper "A Quick Guide for your Data Load Problems in SAS Visual Analytics" could help you.

From your error message, it looks like the a Permission Issues. But you'll need to work with your SAS Administrator and examine the various server logs and verify Metadata Folder permissions.

Good luck,

Ahmed

[alexal]

@sergie89,

That error indicates the problem with passwordless SSH. Are you on RHEL? If yes, what version?

[sergie89]

Hi @alexal,

We are using version 4.4.7. See below:

Linux version 2.6.32-696.23.1.el6.x86_64 (mockbuild@x86-027.build.eng.bos.redhat.com) (gcc version 4.4.7 20120313 (Red Hat 4.4.7-18) (GCC) ) #1 SMP Sat Feb 10 11:10:31 EST 2018

I have checked the permission of the signature file(s) today. See below:

Path: /apps/sas/config/Lev1/AppData/SASVisualAnalytics/VisualAnalyticsAdministrator/sigfiles

drwxrwxr-x 2 lasradm  sasusers 192512 Apr 23 11:33 _T_69E465A3_7FFE47D77980

The permission for signature files looks fine.

[alexal]

@sergie89,

Please show me the output from this command:

cat /etc/*release*

[sergie89]

@alexal

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 6.9 (Santiago)

[alexal]

@sergie89,

Thanks, you need to set GRIDRSHCOMMAND and use an external SSH client.

[sergie89]

Hi @alexal,

Thank you for your reply. I use the following SAS code on our SAS EBI environment. But without success. Is the code below correctly defined?

options set=GRIDRSHCOMMAND="'/home/lasradm/.ssh/id_rsa' -q -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no";

libname LASRLIB sasiola host="hostname" port=10031
tag="VAPUBLIC";run;

/* load sashelp.zipcode to LASR */
data LASRLIB.aarfm;
set sashelp.aarfm;
run;

[alexal]

@sergie89,

Is the code below correctly defined?

Nope. Please see instructions in this SAS note: http://support.sas.com/kb/60/126.html

[sergie89]

Hi @alexal,

This is what we have done yet:

1. We have created a passwordless SSH key pair on the computetier on our EBI server.
   ssh-keygen -q -t rsa -N "lasradm" -f ~/.ssh/id_rsa
2. We have copied the public key to the authorized_keys on the master node and all slave nodes on our VA-environment.
   cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub | ssh lasradm@remote-host "cat >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys"
3. We are to able to login passwordless on the master - and salve nodes from our EBI server.ssh lasradm@hostname
4. The SAS code we use:

   options set=GRIDRSHCOMMAND="'/home/lasradm/.ssh/id_rsa' -q -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no";
   
   libname LASRLIB sasiola host="vacmp1.sas-p.int-data.rws.local" port=10031
   tag="VAPUBLIC";run;
   
   /* load sashelp.zipcode to LASR */
   data LASRLIB.aarfm;
   set sashelp.aarfm;
   run;

   But unfortunately we get the same error after running the SAS code 😞 I will ask SAS Technical for support.

[alexal]

@sergie89,

Your GRIDRSHCOMMAND is invalid. You have to point it to an external ssh client, such as /bin/ssh if you are on Linux. Have you had a chance to check the SAS note a mentioned above? I'm from SAS Technical Support and I support SAS LASR and many other software components.