Recently, I'm taking part in a project to upgrade SAS from 9.3 to 9.4 TS1M2. It's a interesting experience for me, and I learnt planning carefully is critical for a project to succeed. Risk assessment is essential to know in case anything went wrong.
Okay, let's go down to the business. Following are some points which you should be aware of when doing migration:
1. OS patch
Our sytem is HP-UX, so the version has to be HP-UX 11.31 Update 9 and later.
Patch FEATURE11i, HWEnable11i, QPKAPPS and QPKBASE can be upgrade to fulfil the requirement.
2. Software (Oracle Client 11g)
Oracle Client 11g is required by SAS 9.4.
Update environment variables to Oracle Client 11g settings, i.e. ORACLE_HOME and etc.
Modify connection configuration files (sqlnet.ora, tnsnames.ora and ldap.ora), and refer to existing settings.
3. SAS 9.4 Installation
Be aware of the port assignment. Decide if you will use the existing ports or new ports. If a port has been occupied by others, a error will be shown.
Use GUI to install via X-Window, which looks better than command line.
4. Configuration files
Inherit the configuration of $SASROOT/sasv9.cfg or sasv9_local.cfg from SAS 9.3 as much as possible, if no special need.
Copy files defined by SASAUTO to SAS 9.4 corresponding folders. Same to other files, if necessary.
5. Commands
Update commands using in cronjob or scheduling program to the ones of version 9.4, i.e. cleanwork
Also, the symbolic link should be modified accordingly, i.e. /usr/bin/sas should be pointed to the executable files of SAS 9.4
# ls -l /usr/bin/sas
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root sys 46 Apr 3 10:26 /usr/bin/sas -> /sas/apps/SASHome94ts1m2/SASFoundation/9.4/sas
6. Enterprise Guide
Install the latest Enterprise Guide, i.e. EG 7.1
7. Metadata migration
Move User Manager metadata, export data from 9.3 and import to 9.4.
Clone relevant Metadata Server settings, i.e. enable XCMD (http://support.sas.com/kb/41/058.html).
8. Fallback plan
Prepare "Plan B" carefully, if upgrade failed, SAS 9.3 can be restored immediately.
Enjoy.
