Help needed - Error - Public Access is Denied

[jflatto]

I am having my graduate students install Enterprise Miner OnDemand and some of them are getting an error, typically “Public Access is Denied”. In the last two weeks, I have installed Enterprise Miner on my home machine and work laptop without an issue.

From looking at the forums as well as other searches, the “Public Access is Denied” error seems to occur when either the environmental URL is not entered during the installation or the student does not have the course information provided by his instructor (i.e., me).  Neither of these issues seem to apply.  Thus, I am trying to see if there are other reasons for the error and how to resolve them.

Since some of our students have a Mac, we installed Enterprise Miner on an Amazon Web Server that is running Windows.  The installation was done by the folks who maintain the server.  During the installation, the correct environmental URL was entered.  I verified that the install worked by logging into AWS, entering my SAS Username and password and successfully had Enterprise Miner running.  I tried AWS again yesterday after some students had issues and I had no problems. For students using AWS, they only need to run Enterprise Miner, they have no install which seems to rule out the environmental URL as the cause for the error.

For students who have a Windows machine, they were given the following instructions to install.  

https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Communities-Library/SAS-OnDemand-for-Academics-SAS-Enterprise-Min...

I am using the same course for the class that I have been using since January 2018. I have had no issues with both undergraduate and graduate students signing up for the course over the past 5 years.  On my SAS OnDemand website, I see this course as well as some older courses under the Course Icon and nothing under the Enrollment Icon.  I am not surprised since as the professor, I am not enrolled in any other courses. 

Some of my students have nothing under the Course Icon and the Course Information under the Enrollment Icon.  Others have the Course Information under both the Course Icon and Enrollment Icon.  No idea why there is a difference. 

Attached to this post is a Word document containing screenshots from some of the students.  I asked students who had it working as well as those who had the error to send me screenshots of what they see on the SAS OnDemand website for what they see under the Course Icon as well as the Enrollment Icon.  I had them tell me if they were using AWS or installing on their own machines as well as a screenshot of the error.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.  Should I try creating a new course and see if that makes any difference? Any other information I should ask my students to send me?

Jerry

[jenburry · Accepted solution]

Hi @jflatto ,

*UPDATE TO THIS SOLUTION*

There is now a portion of the SAS® OnDemand for Academics FAQ SAS Enterprise Miner Questions that addresses this issue so users can select their SAS environment.

The students that are receiving the public access denied error message are not on the same server as you and the other student that did not get the error message.  There are 2 servers in the US and so this is why at the point of installation the URL from that specific user needs to be entered in order for them to be able to login. The problem is that it may be the correct URL for some students but isn't the correct URL for all students since the three that get the public access denied error are on a different US server.  If the folks that maintain the server are able to provide another machine to install SAS OnDemand for Academics SAS Enterprise Miner using the URL from the other student's account, it will direct them to the correct server and then they should be able to login.

You don't need to worry about creating another course either.  The students are not supposed to have anything listed in the courses portion of their SAS OnDemand for Academics account because they are not supposed to create courses.  They should only have an enrollment, which is in the icon below it.  Please see Cynthia's post for screenshots and further details New SAS OnDemand for Academics Dashboard - SAS Support Communities

If you or your students need further assistance, please feel free to contact customer support at SASoda@sas.com

[jflatto]

Trying to wrap my head around the answer.  😀  So, the Environmental URL may not be the same for all the students in my class??  To make it easier for the students, I shared the Environmental URL that I see under my SAS page in the install instructions I provided them.  Instead, they need to use the Environmental URL they see on their SAS webpage if they are using Windows?? 

I am not sure what to do for the Mac folks.  We only have a single AWS server running. I am not sure how to install two different versions of Enterprise Miner on AWS so each one can have their own environmental URL.  Is there a way for users to change the default Environmental URL when they enter their username and password into Enterprise Miner.  When I try this, I can not change the environment.  If I have the server folks uninstall Enterprise Miner on AWS, can they reinstall but leave the Environmental URL blank so students can fill in when go to run it?

Is there any way for SAS to shift the users, particularly the Mac students to the same server if I provide their SAS Usernames?

Thanks.

Jerry

[jflatto]

And trying to think outside the box for my students with Macs; is there a way for them to delete their SAS accounts, then recreate them, and hopefully get the "right" url?

I am posting here as there may be other faculty who run into the same issue with students who have a Mac as Mac's can not run the "new" Enterprise Miner client while it was possible for Mac to use Java to access Enterprise Miner in previous semesters. {Statement of fact, not complaint.}

[jenburry]

If the Environmental URL is not entered during the install process, the install will give the following error if a URL isn't entered:

Only one SAS OnDemand for Academics SAS Enterprise Miner can be installed per machine, the install goes into the C drive and is located in programs file.  Doing a second install will just write over the previous install.  

Is there a way for students to delete their SAS Accounts?  They then sign up again and hope to get the “correct” URL. This might take multiple attempts depending on how SAS determine the URL during the sign-up.

Students will not be able to delete accounts and use the same email to try to all get the same URL for access, and they likely will never get the URL they are trying to get, this is a random process.

The students on the US 1 URL and US 2 URLs can both register for your course on the US server, this makes no difference as the URL is assigned at the time of SAS OnDemand for Academics account creation and has nothing to do with courses, they enroll in.

[JosvanderVelden]

If you don't get a reply here you can send an email to SASoda@sas.com. The team will open a ticket and respond asap.