SAS studio and ADLS Gen2 setup

[codek]

How to access sas7bdat files stored in Azure ADLS Gen2 storage in SAS studio ? Is it possible to configure ADLS gen2  in sas studio as  like local folders and consume them ?

I want to access the ADLS gen2 data for data analysis through SAS.   

[SASKiwi]

I would think ADLS Gen 2 storage setup and configuration is more of an administrative task that you would do in Azure not SAS. You can read existing ADLS data though. What SAS version and maintenance level are you using? Support for ADLS in SAS was fairly recent. There is a lot of new functionality in SAS Viya like this: https://documentation.sas.com/doc/en/pgmsascdc/9.4_3.5/casref/n1ogaeli0qbctqn1e3fx8gz70lkq.htm

[codek]

Yes ADLS set up is done. My clarification is how to  access ADLS storage through SAS studio(Release: 3.8 (Enterprise Edition)) . My data is in ADLS gen2 . Is it possible to access ADLS gen2 stored data through SAS studio ? Can we be able to map the ADLS storage as local to SAS and access it  without copying the data to SAS storage (if anything)  ? Or we need to copy the ADLS gen2 data into SAS storage and access it ?

[Kurt_Bremser]

The Base engine needs the .sas7bdat files to be available in the local filesystem; alternatively, you may be able to use the "abfss://..." notation to access the file directly (https://docs.databricks.com/external-data/azure-storage.html).

[codek]

can we use abfs in sas studio ? Did not get you how to browse the files present in Azure lake (ADLS gen2 storage) in SAS studio ?

[Kurt_Bremser]

SAS Studio is not the point here. To work with a SAS dataset, the SAS Workspace Server process must be able to access it, so it must be located within the server filesystem (or maybe you can use the abfss:// method wherever a physical path is allowed/required).

[codek]

data is already there in Azure storage. if i copy to SAS workspace server again, then its data duplication . i could not find any link as a reference for abfss access in SAS programming language. 

SAS viya reference link  for ADLS :

https://documentation.sas.com/doc/en/pgmsascdc/9.4_3.5/casref/n1ogaeli0qbctqn1e3fx8gz70lkq.htm

[SASKiwi]

SAS Studio version 3.8 is available with SAS 9.4M6 or M7. The only ADLS functionality I'm aware of in SAS 9.4 is this: https://documentation.sas.com/doc/en/pgmsascdc/9.4_3.5/lestmtsglobal/n0yc4ac0hf1yefn1r504kw2uesiw.ht...

[codek]

I referred this link.

https://documentation.sas.com/doc/en/pgmsascdc/9.4_3.5/casref/n1ogaeli0qbctqn1e3fx8gz70lkq.htm#n1s2t...

Per above link , csv and ORC files are supported for ADLS source type. Does it support sas7bdat files as well ?

[Kurt_Bremser]

---

@codek wrote:

I referred this link.

https://documentation.sas.com/doc/en/pgmsascdc/9.4_3.5/casref/n1ogaeli0qbctqn1e3fx8gz70lkq.htm#n1s2t...

Per above link , csv and ORC files are supported for ADLS source type. Does it support sas7bdat files as well ?

---

No, as you do not read them as an external file.

[codek]

then what is the option to read the sas7bdat files present in ADLS gen2 through  SAS Studio ?

i am not sure if abfss is supported in sas programming language nor i did not get any solution to access it externally.  Does this mean SAS does not support sas7bdat files stored in ADLS gen2 ?

[Kurt_Bremser]

SAS dataset files need to be downloaded to the local filesystem of the SAS server.

Unless Azure provides a driver so the cloud instance can be mounted on a filesystem (like NFS or SMB).

[SASKiwi]

I don't believe SAS7BDAT storage on ADLS is currently supported. You can export SAS data to various ADLS file formats or databases. This paper provides useful info on how SAS interacts with ADSL: https://www.sas.com/content/dam/SAS/support/en/sas-global-forum-proceedings/2020/4266-2020.pdf