Hi Ronan   SAS Certified Platform Administrator for SAS 9   Thanks for your sharing. ... View more

Hi Andrew,   I don't have JAVA_HOME or CLASSPATH environment variables set. It simply works for me with the following:   ssh sas@sas94m5server /opt/sas94m5/sashome/SASPlatformObjectFramework/9.4/ValidateServer -msp "host=sas94m5server port=8561 domain=DefaultAuth userid=sasdemo password=thesecretpassword reposname=Foundation" -sn "SASApp - Logical Workspace Server" -cred "domain=DefaultAuth userid=sasdemo password=thesecretpassword"    ... with the output going into /home/sas/.SASAppData/Logs/ValidateServerErrorLog.log   I don't try to invoke it directly with the java command because the ValidateServer script adds lots of additional JRE options. If I run the above but using /bin/sh -x to see the launch command, it is ultimately:   /opt/sas94m5/sashome/SASPrivateJavaRuntimeEnvironment/9.4/jre/bin/java -Dsas.app.class.dirs=/opt/sas94m5/sashome/SASPlatformObjectFramework/9.4 -Dsas.app.class.path=/opt/sas94m5/sashome/SASPlatformObjectFramework/9.4:.:/opt/sas94m5/sashome/SASPlatformObjectFramework/9.4/build -Dsas.app.launch.picklist=/opt/sas94m5/sashome/SASPlatformObjectFramework/9.4/validate/picklist -Djava.system.class.loader=com.sas.app.AppClassLoader -Dsas.ext.config=/opt/sas94m5/sashome/sas.java.ext.config -Dsas.app.launch.config=picklist -Dsas.app.repository.path=/opt/sas94m5/sashome/SASVersionedJarRepository/eclipse -cp /opt/sas94m5/sashome/SASVersionedJarRepository/eclipse/plugins/sas.launcher.jar com.sas.management.servers.validator.commands.ValidateServer -msp 'host=sas94m5server port=8561 domain=DefaultAuth userid=sasdemo password=thesecretpassword reposname=Foundation' -sn 'SASApp - Logical Workspace Server' -cred 'domain=DefaultAuth userid=sasdemo password=thesecretpassword'   ... so you can see your java command is missing all the options required to launch the utility and find classes using the picklist and the VJR.   I hope this helps.   Cheers Paul ... View more

Interesting.  When we deploy to our new physical box, I had planned on multiple Levs, but now I will definitely consider additional Application Servers as well. ... View more

@ShelleySessoms   Hi Shelley, it has indeed been nice to hear from experts on this topic. I have been working on a summary and will post it once done. Regards ... View more

You can update the corresponding metadata objects with this SAS Note :   Problem Note 46788: The roles for SAS® Enterprise Guide® or SAS® Add-In for Microsoft Office are missing from your SAS® 9.2, SAS® 9.3, or SAS® 9.4 environment       ... View more

Hello @BigSASFan, Alex,   even with the high chance nothing I would say here would be new:   There is a tool that can give you some of the information: http://support.sas.com/kb/20/390.html   But in general, to fully compare 2 environments it is a gigantic task, specially if we talk about config files between 2 SAS versions as different as 9.3 and 9.4, middle-tier wise. Basically your best option would be a deployment expert/consultant on site and trust on her/his expert eye.   If you insist on doing a programmatic check, I truly think your best options would be:   1- Metadata an Compute configuration files: a grep tool and ad your own comparison rules.   2- Metadata items (SAS Folders, Security): SPK packages and relationship tool   3- Other metadata items (middle tier - Configuration Manager-, Servers, System, etc): theory says the SAS Metadata Interface could help you to script it. Practice is not that simple. Best you can do is to do a manual check.   4- Middle tier configuration files: since 9.3 is based on Jboss/WebLogic/WebSphere but 9.5 has its own Apache/vFabric servers, configuration files are quite different in name and content, so not comparable. Best is to have a good log/document with your customisations and try to reapply them again in 9.4. Perhaps in some cases you would need to assume some customisations won;t be even noticeable so won't need to be reapplied. That is why you have a good test environment, to test and accept the environment.   5- Content Server: Perhaps you can compare with the DAV Tree tools, but again, if you cannot recall on especific customizations, and are not documented, trust on your SPK import.   6- Shared Services database: same as above.    To finalise my comments, a tip: many experts do migrate 9.X environments to 9.4 in 2 steps, meaning: SAS Migration Utility package migration to a temporary Lev9 (so SCS, Shared Services db and others will be fully migrated as best as SAS can do) and then do a second migration with Partial Promotion from that temporary Lev9 to the real Lev1 environment. Once finished, Lev9 can be decommissioned. Before decommission, you can then better compare your temporary Lev9 and your final Lev1 environments with SPK and grep tools with much less differences because now you compare two 9.4 environments.   Hope it helps,   Kind regards, Juan ... View more

I agree with @JuanS_OCS , Metacoda SMC plug-in for Roles & capabilities is a must-have tool.   As pointed out by @nhvdwalt above, defining the scope of access to SAS software, to any software more generally is sometimes tricky because there is not a single definition that applies, from broad to narrower :   1. "Local Installation" [in the case of desktop tools] the software is installed locally on the users PC and ready to be used    => Check with your Desktop Admin team to retrieve the list of installations   2. "Authorization" : the user is authorized by the SAS Administrator to run the SAS client   => Use Metacoda SMC Plug-In mentioned by @JuanS_OCS   3. "Effective Usage" : the user has already used at least once the SAS client   => Use SAS platform Audit reports and maybe soon, some Metacoda extended features 😉   The three scopes are never identical, at least in the real world I know 🙂   In terms of contract between the user's company and SAS, as far as I know, the 1st definition applies. Then internally, the company/service might have set up deployment quotas  to further restrict the access. Eventually, some security rule at the Directory level (AD) might also apply : an unused account is automatically revoked for instance if no access has been performed during a certain amont of time etc.     ... View more