Middle-Tier Considerations

The following topics are contained in this section:

The SAS 9.3 middle tier is supported on 64-bit operating systems only.

SAS provides post-installation documentation that describes how to configure your Web application server. For example, some of the topics include information about how to run your Web application server on different ports, install SAS with one user account, install your Web application server with a different user account, and so on. For more information about configuration steps for your Web application server, go to http://support.sas.com/resources/thirdpartysupport/v93 and search for the product name of your Web application server.

The SAS Deployment Wizard gives you the option of automatically building and configuring the SAS Web applications as well as configuring a Web application server for use with SAS 9.3. (To use this wizard feature, make sure that your Web application server is not running before you start the wizard. For WebSphere, it is necessary to stop all deployment manager servers, all node agent servers, and all application servers before running the wizard.)

When the SAS Deployment Wizard configures the SAS 9.3 middle tier, by default, it automatically creates and configures an instance of a Web application server to host the SAS Web applications. The wizard creates a series of configuration files that enable you to run an instance of your Web application server with the SAS Web applications. The automatic configuration feature and the automatic deployment feature (described later) provide the opportunity to enable the automatic configuration of your Web application server, but not deploy the applications if you prefer to review the configuration to ensure it meets your site's needs. You can then deploy the SAS Web applications afterward.

Some of the configuration tasks performed by the SAS Deployment Wizard include setting options such as the following:

Depending on the Web application server that you are using, the SAS Deployment Wizard modifies your Web application server configuration differently:

If during SAS Deployment Wizard execution, you choose to disable this feature, the wizard generates instructions that describe how to perform these configuration steps manually after you finish running the wizard.

To disable the automatic configuration feature, run the wizard using either the Typical or Custom prompting levels. For more information, see Overview of Configuration Options by Prompt Level.

For samples of the instructions that describe how to manually configure your Web application server for SAS Web applications, go to the Third-Party Software Web site at http://support.sas.com/resources/thirdpartysupport/v93 and search for the product name of your Web application server.

In addition to the automatic configuration feature, the SAS Deployment Wizard offers a feature to automatically start the Web application server and deploy the SAS Web applications. (This feature is turned on by default.)

Regardless of whether you choose to automatically deploy your SAS Web applications, when building Web applications, the wizard also automatically explodes Web application archive files (.ear files).

For more information, go to http://support.sas.com/resources/thirdpartysupport/v93.

To disable the automatic deployment feature, run the wizard using either the Typical or Custom prompting levels. For more information, see Overview of Configuration Options by Prompt Level.

If you want to add a second middle-tier machine to your SAS 9.3 deployment, then later when you run the SAS Deployment Wizard, the deployment instance name for your SAS Web applications must be unique. If the deployment name duplicates a name used previously, then the configuration will fail.

When running the deployment wizard on the second middle-tier machine, be sure to choose the custom prompt level.

When the wizard prompts you to enter a deployment instance name for a SAS Web application, (such as for SAS Web Report Studio), enter name that is different from the name that you used on your first middle-tier machine.