Using EG 4.1 with SAS 9.2

[JPrarat]

I recall a while back seeing some information about version incompatibility. It indicated that when we upgrade to SAS 9.2 on our remote Windows server, we will NOT be able to use EG 4.1 on our local workstations.
Can you confirm this to be true?

We were going to stay with 4.1 for a while, but it appears that there is a compatibility issue. Also, can you tell me if we will have any problems with our hundreds of 4.1 EG projects running OK with 4.2 and 9.2 ?

Thanks.

[RichardH_sas]

Well, here's what I know off the top of my head. In a local installation, EG 4.1 and SAS 9.2 work perfectly fine together. I have that configuration running currently on my laptop, in fact, I don't have SAS 9.1.3 installed locally anymore. In an environment with a server, the main issue is that with SAS 9.2 you must have a 9.2 metadata repository to run an EG client-server setup. So, to support your client-server environment, when you upgrade to 9.2 on your server you'll need to ensure you have a metadata repository. SAS 9.1.3 let you do things a couple different ways in regards to the EG client-server stuff -- SAS 9.2 is metadata repository only (no more EG repositories).

I can't find the documentation now, but I'm 95% sure you are correct that you'll then need EG 4.2 to talk to your SAS 9.2 metadata server. Check with tech support if you want to know for sure: http://support.sas.com/techsup/contact/

In terms of migrating projects, will there be problems? It depends. If you really weren't using any of the server features other than running SAS code, the issues will probably be small. In other words, if you opened data through "Local Computer" and didn't do anything BI-related in your projects, very little will change. Where you'd need to be careful is if:
1. Tables in the project reference 9.1.3 metadata
2. Data was access through a library defined on the server, rather than through "Local Computer"
3. There are BI-related features within your projects, like stored processes

You might need to do some trouble-shooting in the above cases to make sure everything is working in your EG 4.2 environment. Note that you can migrate projects manually by simply opening 4.1 projects in EG 4.2 one-by-one, or there's also a Migration Wizard with EG 4.2 that can make similar changes across many projects at once.

**Shameless plug**
SAS Education (where I work) just finished an EG administration class. Chapter 5 from that class is all about migration, primarily from EG 4.1 to 4.2. The first public offering of the EG Admin class will be through Live Web from June 14-18. FYI, we suspect all the seats for this will fill so you might want to sign up early if you're interested. https://support.sas.com/edu/schedules.html?id=629&ctry=US There will be other offerings once the Live Web schedule is released for the second part of the year.

[Technolero]

I have been unable to mix and match EG 4.1/4.2 and EBI 9.1/9.2.

If I attempt to connect to a 9.2 metadata repository with EG 4.1, I receive the following error: [Error] The client has connected to a SAS (9.2) Metadata Server (v1.0) when it intended to connect to a SAS (9.1.x) Metadata Server.

Going the other direction and attempting to connect to a 9.1.3 metadata repository with EG 4.2, I receive the following error: [Error] The client has connected to a SAS Metadata Server (v1.0) when it intended to connect to a server that supports the class identifier 0217e202-b560-11db-ad91-001083ff6836.

Based on my experience, I would keep my clients and server components at the same version and maintenance release.

[ChrisHemedinger]

Here's a summary...

Supported:
You can use EG 4.1 with local SAS 9.2 (no metadata server). Everything local on your Windows machine; it should just work.

You can have both EG 4.1 and EG 4.2 on your local machine, along with local SAS 9.2, and all should work together.

You can have SAS 9.1.3 and SAS 9.2 on your local machine, but EG (either version) will use only the version of SAS that is registered for local use, which is usually the version that was installed last. You can run "sas /regserver" to register a particular version of SAS.

You can have SAS 9.1.3 and SAS 9.2 side-by-side on a server machine with two metadata servers (one 9.1.3 and one 9.2) and object spawner instances, as long as you assign unique ports for the metadata server and workspace servers. So in this way, you could point EG 4.1 at the SAS 9.1.3 instance, and EG 4.2 at the SAS 9.2 instance. This approach might be helpful for transitioning.

Unsupported:
You cannot use EG 4.1 with remote SAS 9.2, nor can you connect to a SAS 9.2 metadata server. The SAS 9.2 metadata server has a different API that EG 4.1 doesn't speak.

You cannot use EG 4.2 with SAS 9.1.3 at all: EG 4.2 relies on some new features within SAS 9.2 that aren't compatible with SAS 9.1.3 (ODS Graphics and some new APIs).

Chris

[sbb]

This is valuable information for everyone (at some point) considering a migration effort or even a parallel-test exercise/scenario.

So, a relevant question to SAS Institute: What's the chance that a formal SAS NOTE might be added for everyone's benefit?

Scott Barry
SBBWorks, Inc.

[JPrarat]

Scott, thanks for the excellent suggestion.
Chris - your additional details are very helpful. I would like to get more specific in my migration question in the hopes that it will save some wear and tear later.

We now have EG 4.1 on 35 local machines and SAS 8.2 on a Windows server. We will be going to 9.2 on the prod and dev servers in the next 2-3 months. We will install EG 4.2 on the user machines in phases.
Question 1 - we may be pleasantly surprised, but I expect conversion issues with our hundreds of EG projects. Will our users be able to have both 4.1 and 4.2 on their PC's while we have 8.2 on our prod server and 9.2 on our dev server ? It could be scary when we have to pick a date when 4.1 and 8.2 will be turned off.

Question 2 - We currently use the simple EG repository, but I see we will have to change to the metadata repository with the upgrades. Will the 4.1 projects be able to use the metadata repository seamlessly?

Question 3 - I recall when we went from EG 2 to 4.1, there were some annoying surprises, like the order of the tasks being jumbled. Are there any similar issues to workaround?

Question 4 - we are concerned about internal SAS administratyion and support when moving to 4.2 and 9.2. Our network services and SAS expertise resources are limited. How much time and effort (minimum) will we need to allocate to provide support for conversion issues, metadata admin, stored process use, internal training etc ?

Sorry for the long-winded reply. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Patrick]

Search the SAS Support area with keyword migration and you will find heaps of information.

Just a few links:
http://support.sas.com/documentation/cdl/en/bimig/61696/HTML/default/overvw.htm#
http://support.sas.com/rnd/migration/planning/software/entguide.html
http://support.sas.com/documentation/cdl/en/whatsdiff/62095/HTML/default/a003313398.htm
http://support.sas.com/documentation/cdl/en/enclient/61192/HTML/default/a003233727.htm

As you say SAS Admin expertice in your company is limited I would recommend that you get support from SAS in planning and executing this migration.

There are a few hurdles and "traps" one must know of.
You can end up in a lot of frustration and additional work if you get the migration steps wrong in the beginning (speaking of experience).

[RichardH_sas]

Here are some thoughts, not complete answers though...

Q1 - As Chris mentioned, if you get the remote set-up correct, you can certainly have 9.1.3 (or 8.2) on one logical server to talk to EG 4.1 and 9.2 on a different logical server to talk to EG 4.2. I think the biggest problem you may discover with this approach is that EG 4.2 projects CANNOT be opened in EG 4.1. And once you open an older project into EG 4.2 and save it in the new version, you can't ever go back to using it in EG 4.1. Of course, you could do a "save as" rather than a save to avoid this problem.

Q2 - EG repository support was discontinued, and my understanding is there's really no "easy" button to turn an EG repository into a SAS 9.2 metadata repository. I believe you have to manually create a SAS 9.2 metadata repository to resemble your old EG repository. If your 4.1 projects were talking to an EG repository, you'll have to alter things like the library assignments before they'll correctly point to a 9.2 metadata repository. The two primary ways to do make these changes are by using the Migration Wizard or using the Project Maintenance window (found under the Tools menu in EG 4.2).

Q3 - If you haven't used EG 4.2 before, there were a fair number of changes to the GUI. I do a lot of work in EG 4.2 from the submenus, which are completely new. You can use most of your old EG 4.1 tricks too, but you'll notice differences in the interface. One of the big ones to get used to is if you double-click on a task icon, it opens up the results rather than the task dialog. The task order didn't change a lot, but you'll discover all the tasks are now under a Task menu, rather than separate menus. For an experienced EG 4.1 user, I'd plan a "breaking in" period to get those users used to 4.2. You can probably show them the basic changes in less than an hour, but getting comfortable will take a bit more time.

Q4 - Offhand, I'd say your biggest time commitments will be getting your 9.2 metadata repository set up and your EG projects migrated. I will let others speak to this a bit more since I haven't gone through a serious migration personally.

In case you're wondering, getting 9.2 and 4.2 eventually running in your environment is going to be worth it. There are some really nice features in EG 4.2 and having that 9.2 metadata repository is so helpful for sharing and securing your information.