It depends: a/ is this classic stand alone SAS what services are running or is it a Bi/DI server  (metadataserver solutions based) environment b/ What platfom OS is running.  1/ Windows 2/ Unix(an alikes) or 3/ Mainframe c/ What are the requirements to meet when you are happy. Full OWASP ISTQB ISO2700- with encryption firewalls., medium level, or being open like a honey-pot. Are there LCM requirements involved?   ... View more

Really a difficult trial/start to get SAS. If it comes to a plan of the financial impact, See: Order SAS® Software: Order Form as the standalone windows workstation version is seen as a simple commodity approach, the prices are given, also the renewal fees at 28%. With analytics-pro Eguide is included (system req). Access )PC files, etc) are separated licensed. Neverthelless a trial period for a POC would be a more nicer and friendlier approach.  ... View more

EJ, This should be a simple situation. It is looking like a shared PC approach by 7 users. running on a Win64 server instance delivered by VMWare. The only complicating issues are the virtualization (VMWARE) and the licensing type. The licensing type you have is a sub-cpacity one. See: 41121 - Starting in SAS® 9.2, a SAS® subcapacity license for a Microsoft Windows operating system is available and includes number of cores and computer name Moving to a cloned version will normally also change the computername and thereby making the SAS licensefile unusable. Perhaps more checks are included there (see hyperthreading). In that case you will need to contact SAS for an other temporary needed licensefile in aspect of the testing on an other vm instance.  Jaap ... View more

EJ, All depends on your current business usage, sizing, performance, needed availablity continuity. There is often made a mistake by many of the "experienced guys" to classify SAS technically as just a better Excel. By that having the idea that replacing some loadables would be the solution for Life Cycle Management. These days a SAS environment is set up normally as a complex Multi-Tier services way with: Meta-dataserver(s), App-servers (compute), Web (midtier) and a lot of clients(web and thinclients). These clients, all those versions, have relationships/requirements  to server versions. All of those components are communicating with IP-adresses and port numbers. Using duplicate IP-adress names (ports) intended or accidently can cause a lot of trouble. If your current implementation is small and has low availablity requirements and low integrity requirements you could do the project in the same way as replacing a laptop. Build a new implementation do a big-bang migration, check it and dump the old environment. For migrating the metadataserver content you can use the SMU utility as mentioned by SASKiwi. It is not possible to make a snap-shot clone of a production server and restart it on an other VM instance unless you have isolated in a local not direct connected network.   If your current implementation is big, has high availiblity requiements, high integrity requirements, your project  will become very challenging. In that case: think of isolating the metadataserver and do a setup in a clustering approach (new with 9.4). The metdataserver is maintains a metadatabase that is containing als of server-ip/dns names (technical part). Roll-back and Roll forward are new fucntionality with 9.4 at this part. The Smu or dedicated import/export can be used to migrate metadatabase content from the old to the new metadata. Do you have a lot of SAS-code SAS-data on the current machine? It will need a good plan to migrate that or may be a plan to leaving it in place. There are notes of peacefull cosexistence off the different SAS releases.  Peaceful Coexistence: SAS 9 and SAS 8.2 By this a more silent and partially moving migration is possible, and no bigbang approach is needed. The issues (as of the note): - the DNS/IP adresses and dependicies registered in the SAS-metadatabase are challenged by needing differentiate port-numbers. - just at Unix (no windows registry involved) it is rather easy to segregate the versions/installations (loadables) by having different mountpoints. - the connection to identitymanagement RBAC monitoring and logging/reporting procedures are more technical but can also be frustrating. - this documented "peacefull coexistince" approach is possible too difficult for the SAS support staff.   The most simple approach they may have is: use the SDW (Software Deployment Wizard) and just enter-enter..... Todo: You will need an agreement with those SAS people on the need of your business requirements(policies) and your business needs and than start with a design / plan. ... View more

It depends what you are using. Local Windows is rather basic, I suppose you are not asking that. BI/DI Server comes in with an other approach. It is only the SAS-admin having those rights. Autoexec and Configs (_user versions) are defined at every Appserver-context and possible at ever WS SP etc context. And you have a generic user version. That gives al lot of autoexec and config files for users processes. They can also be related to each other . You are an Eguide users. Than you can have an autoexec projectflow in every Eguide project. Same autoexec functionality as Eguide starts.   Not the classic autoexec file is at your hands but a projectflow named the same. ... View more

options -> SAS(R) 9.4 System Options: Reference termstmt executed at ending initstmt executed at starting note the order with autoexec These are not working with Eguide or other BI DI server appoarches ... View more

You can open up you MS-outlook mail as a data-store.  All mail content etc should be retrievable.  Just open outlook from data-source... With Attachements I am not sure how and what is working Other interfaces (base) - (ftp url mails): http://support.sas.com/resources/papers/proceedings09/002-2009.pdf pop3 access   http://support.sas.com/resources/papers/proceedings12/119-2012.pdf all kind of interfacing ... View more

@KarthikR  Arthur has given usefull information. No matter you use MP-connect or X-command to run SAS-programs. The SAS-work you have deal with. - With X-commands (when allowed) you should save datasets to be combined laterl on a permanent location.   Not the saswork of the session. - With Mp-connect see: http://support.sas.com/kb/10/903.html yes in the focus area, it is part of SAS/connect (licensing).     Mp-connect is starting the session with a SAS-command like the X usage. Iwas wondering weather a sperate license was/is needed ... View more

May be a quite different approach: - suppose you have SAS-formats defined to the wanted valid integer values   For the variable sex:        0='M'  or male,         1='F' or female m ,        9= ' ' missing ,        other= "-" invalid ... the meaning. - Testing on the formatted value of you variable will give a very strict data quality approach   Use the put or input function to recode/format values. Remember that numbers in SAS are always of type floating. The storage needed is requiring normally 8 bytes. Sometimes 1 is not 1 but nearly 1 and you don't see it. It can be a reason of a failed assignment. Rounding up can be necessary. To circumvent the floating issues you can think about having it set as character-types.  0, 1 9 can be perfectly stored and processed as character-values. The requirement is you don't  need to calculate with these values.  Just counting the values in a population is no problem. ... View more