One problem is that there are several layers in the stack that are doing things concurrently:
- The DBMS is retrieving the data from its own disk.
- The data is being passed over a network to a SAS server. (Note that EG is actually only a client, which generates and submits SAS code to a SAS process somewhere, which may or may not be on the same machine that EG is running on).
- The SAS server is doing whatever it is supposed to do with the data.
- Results are being passed over a network to your EG session on your machine.
When I need to troubleshoot issues like this, I try to verify that each layer is performing properly:
1. I use a tool like TOAD to submit the SQL query, and see how long the database takes to process it.
2. Same, but on the server that SAS is running on to see if network issues are a problem.
3. Submit the SAS code directly from a SAS session on the SAS server. Again, do problems appear?
4. Are there any communication bottlenecks between the SAS server and your PC? From the comments you're making, it sounds like either your SAS process is on your local PC, or the SAS process is generating a huge amount of output and downloading it to EG, which isn't common.
As you're a new user, I know that some of these steps may be challenging. If you have access to SAS expertise at your organization, it would be a good idea to bring them into the discussion.
There is a SASTRACE system option that can give you some visibility into what is being submitted to your DBMS.
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