Glossary: Glossary

Glossary

aggregation: a summary of detail data that is stored with or referred to by a cube. Aggregations support rapid and efficient answers to business questions.
application server: a server that is used for storing applications. Users can access and use these server applications instead of loading the applications on their client machines. The application that the client runs is stored on the client. Requests are sent to the server for processing, and the results are returned to the client. In this way, little information is processed by the client, and nearly everything is done by the server.
authentication domain: a SAS internal category that pairs logins with the servers for which they are valid. For example, an Oracle server and the SAS copies of Oracle credentials might all be classified as belonging to an OracleAuth authentication domain.
buffer: a portion of computer memory that is used for special holding purposes or processes. For example, a buffer might simply store information before sending that information to main memory for processing, or it might hold data after the data is read or before the data is written.
client application: an application that runs on a client machine.
cube: a logical set of data that is organized and structured in a hierarchical, multidimensional arrangement. A cube is a directory structure, not a single file. A cube includes measures, and it can have numerous dimensions and levels of data.
data mart: a collection of data that is optimized for a specialized set of users who have a finite set of questions and reports.
data warehouse: a collection of data that is extracted from one or more sources for the purpose of query, reporting, and analysis. In contrast to a data mart, a data warehouse is better suited for storing large amounts of data that originates in other corporate applications or which is extracted from external data sources such as public databases.
database management system: a software application that enables you to create and manipulate data that is stored in the form of databases. Short form: DBMS. See also relational database management system.
DBMS: See database management system.
Extensible Markup Language: a markup language that structures information by tagging it for content, meaning, or use. Structured information contains both content (for example, words or numbers) and an indication of what role the content plays. For example, content in a section heading has a different meaning from content in a database table. Short form: XML.
libref: a name that is temporarily associated with a SAS library. The complete name of a SAS file consists of two words, separated by a period. The libref, which is the first word, indicates the library. The second word is the name of the specific SAS file. For example, in VLIB.NEWBDAY, the libref VLIB tells SAS which library contains the file NEWBDAY. You assign a libref with a LIBNAME statement or with an operating system command.
metadata LIBNAME engine: the SAS engine that processes and augments data that is identified by metadata. The metadata engine retrieves information about a target SAS data library from metadata objects in a specified metadata repository.
metadata promotion: in the SAS Open Metadata Architecture, a feature that enables you to copy the contents of a metadata repository to another repository, and to specify changes in the metadata that will be stored in the target repository. For example, you can use this feature to move metadata from a development environment to a testing environment. In such a scenario, you would probably have to change some ports, hosts, and/or schema names as part of the process of moving metadata from one environment to another.
OLAP: See online analytical processing.
OLAP schema: a group of cubes. A cube is assigned to an OLAP schema when it is created, and an OLAP schema is assigned to a SAS OLAP Server when the server is defined in the metadata. A SAS OLAP Server can access only the cubes that are in its assigned OLAP schema.
online analytical processing: a software technology that enables users to dynamically analyze data that is stored in multidimensional database (MDDB) tables. Short form: OLAP.
resource: any object that is registered in a metadata repository. For example, a resource can be an application, a data store, a dimension in an OLAP cube, a metadata item, an access control template, or a password.
resource template: an XML file that specifies the information that is needed for creating a metadata definition for a SAS resource.
SAS Metadata Repository: one or more files that store metadata about application elements. Users connect to a SAS Metadata Server and use the SAS Open Metadata Interface to read metadata from or write metadata to one or more SAS Metadata Repositories. The metadata types in a SAS Metadata Repository are defined by the SAS Metadata Model.
SAS OLAP Cube Studio: a Java interface for defining and building OLAP cubes in SAS System 9 or later. Its main feature is the Cube Designer wizard, which guides you through the process of registering and creating cubes.
SAS Open Metadata Architecture: a general-purpose metadata management facility that provides metadata services to SAS applications. The SAS Open Metadata Architecture enables applications to exchange metadata, which makes it easier for these applications to work together.
schema: a map or model of the overall data structure of a database. An OLAP schema specifies which group of cubes an OLAP server can access.
XML: See Extensible Markup Language.

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