Adding a second Files path to Servers SASApp list in EG 8.1

[KristineNavesta]

Hi!

We have recently got a new disk set up on our Unix SAS server for additional storage space. I can access this second location using libnames etc to read, write and create folders, but I would really like to get a visual of it as well, as the team uses SAS EG 8.1 and the Files structure to navigate the server for data and projects. 

Our Files folder is pointed at our disk called /data1/, is there a possibility to create a Files2 to point at /data2/ as well?

Any tips on how to do this would be greatly appreciated!

[Kurt_Bremser]

The navigation root (and the single Files access point) is determined by the workspace server.

I suggest you create symbolic links in your user's home directories that point to the new location, then they can navigate to it from the Files tree.

[KristineNavesta]

Any tips on how to do that? 

(I tried googling for it and keep finding your posts with this suggestion and it apparantly works, I just don't know how to do it)

[Kurt_Bremser]

Unless you have XCMD enabled in SAS, you will need to do it from the commandline.

I suggest the following:

• set the navigation root of the workspace server to the user's home directory (to be done by the SAS admin from SMC)
• log on via SSH (PuTTY is a good Windows client), and issue the commands

  ln -s /data1 ./data1
  ln -s /data2 ./data2

After this, you'll find data1 and data2 in the Files navigation tree.

To create this globally, you can run (as superuser, so this has to be done by a server admin)

cd /home
for US in *
do
  ln -s /data1 /home/$US/data1
  ln -s /data2 /home/$US/data2
done

(assuming that the "standard" UNIX convention for home directories is used)

[KristineNavesta]

I have XCMD available (and probably more rights than I should have on the server)

How can I make sure that I don't ruin some system settings running this?

Thanks again for you patience and answers!

[Kurt_Bremser · Accepted solution]

To set the navigation root for SASApp, you need to use an adminstrator account (usually sasadm@saspw).

To create the symbolic link for your own user, do

data _null_;
infile "ln -s /data1 $HOME/data1 2>&1";
input;
put _infile_;
run;

(analog for data2)

Any system responses will be shown in the SAS log; if there are none, the command worked.

Other users should do the same for their home directory.

Mind that the correctness of the symbolic link is revealed only once it is used; during the creation, the ln command does not check for validity.

[KristineNavesta]

My server admins added a symbolic link from data1 to data2, and that gave a working solution to this! Thanks for the tips on the symbolic links.