Operating Your Servers

Overview of Server Operation

In order for clients to access the SAS Intelligence Platform, the following components must be running on network-accessible machines:

a SAS Metadata Server
the SAS object spawner, which acts as a listener for SAS Workspace Servers, SAS Pooled Workspace Servers, and SAS Stored Process Servers

Depending on which SAS products you have installed, one or more instances of the following additional components might also be required to be running on network-accessible machines: SAS OLAP Server, SAS Table Server, SAS Services Application (also referred to as Remote Services), SAS/CONNECT spawner, SAS/SHARE server, SAS Content Server, and a Web application server.

If you want to use the SAS Deployment Tester utility, then the SAS Deployment Tester server must also be running.

Starting Servers in the Correct Order

Because of dependencies, it is important to start the servers in the correct order. Server dependencies are shown in the following table:

Server	Server Dependencies
SAS Metadata Server	None
SAS OLAP Server	SAS Metadata Server
SAS object spawner	SAS Metadata Server
SAS Table Server	SAS Metadata Server
SAS Services Application (Remote Services)	SAS Metadata Server
Web application server	SAS Services Application (Remote Services)
SAS/CONNECT spawner	SAS Metadata server
SAS/SHARE server	SAS Metadata server
SAS Deployment Tester server	None

The following start-up order meets the dependency requirements:

Start the SAS Metadata Server.
Start the SAS OLAP Server.
Start the SAS object spawner.
Start the SAS/SHARE server
Start the SAS/CONNECT spawner.
Start the SAS Table Server.
Start the SAS Services Application (Remote Services).
Start the SAS Deployment Tester server.
Start the Web application server. (The SAS Content Server starts automatically when the application server is started.)

Servers should be stopped in the inverse order, with the metadata server stopped last.

About Server Start-up Parameters

The start-up parameters for SAS servers are stored in configuration files. For a list of these configuration files and their locations, see Reference: Configuration Files for SAS Servers.

For detailed information about start-up parameters for each server, see the documentation references in the table in Summary of Procedures for Server Operation.

About SAS Metadata Server States

A SAS Metadata Server can exist in any of the following states:

Online

The metadata server is available to accept client requests from authenticated users.

External systems such as Windows Services Manager report the Online state as running or started.

Offline

The metadata server is paused and is not available to accept client requests. When the metadata server is paused to Offline status, the server does the following:

retains all active client connections.
temporarily changes the access state of all repositories to Offline.
temporarily stops receiving client requests to read or write metadata. If a client application submits a new request, the client displays a message indicating that the server is paused.
flushes updated metadata from the server's memory and writes the updated metadata to the metadata repository.
closes the SAS data sets that serve as repository containers.

Utilities such as the Backup Wizard automatically pause the metadata server to the Offline state because they require repository containers to be closed. The Offline state is also useful if you need to disable users' access while you perform maintenance on the metadata server machine.

External systems such as Windows Services Manager report the Offline state as paused.

Administration

The metadata server is paused and will accept requests only from an unrestricted administrative user. When the metadata server is paused to Administration status, the server does the following:

retains all active client connections.
temporarily stops receiving client requests to read or write metadata, except for requests from users in the Metadata Server: Unrestricted role. (For information about this role, see About User Roles for System Administration). If the user is not unrestricted, then the client displays a message indicating that the server is paused.

The Administration state is useful when you need to disable users' access while you connect to the metadata server to perform administrative tasks such as the following:

run diagnostic and repair tools
upgrade metadata to a new version
promote metadata and related content
modify metadata for components of a SAS Application Server

External systems such as Windows Services Manager report the Administration state as paused.

Stopped

The Stopped state terminates the SAS Metadata Server process and breaks all client connections. The metadata server, and all SAS servers that depend on it, must be started before clients can connect again.

Summary of Procedures for Server Operation

To operate servers in SAS Management Console, you must have the appropriate user credentials. To determine what credentials are required for each task, see Who Can Do What: Credential Requirements for SAS Management Console Tasks.

The following table summarizes the server operation methods for each server. For detailed information about startup parameters for each server, see the documentation references that are provided in the last column.

Server Type	Available Methods for Server Operation	Documentation Location for Startup Parameters
SAS Metadata Server, SAS OLAP Server, and SAS object spawner	Windows service¹ z/OS started task² sas.servers script³ (UNIX or z/OS) Individual server script (or Windows shortcut) SAS Management Console (except startup)	Options for the Metadata Server Invocation Command System Options for Application Server Components in the SAS Intelligence Platform: Application Server Administration Guide Spawner Invocation Options in the SAS Intelligence Platform: Application Server Administration Guide
SAS Workspace Server, SAS Pooled Workspace Server, and SAS Stored Process Server	Started by the object spawner SAS Management Console (except startup)	System Options for Application Server Components in the SAS Intelligence Platform: Application Server Administration Guide
SAS Table Server	Windows service¹ z/OS started task² sas.servers script³ (UNIX or z/OS) Individual server script (or Windows shortcut) SAS Management Console
SAS Services Application (Remote Services)	Windows service¹ z/OS started task² sas.servers script³ (UNIX or z/OS) Remote Services script (or Windows shortcut)	SAS Intelligence Platform: Web Application Administration Guide
Web application server	server console or script Windows service (JBoss and Oracle WebLogic only)¹	SAS Intelligence Platform: Web Application Administration Guide
SAS Content Server	Starts automatically when the Web application server is started	SAS Intelligence Platform: Web Application Administration Guide
SAS/CONNECT spawner, SAS/SHARE server, and SAS Deployment Tester server	Windows service¹ z/OS started task² sas.servers script³ (UNIX or z/OS) Individual server script (or Windows shortcut)	Communications Access Methods for SAS/CONNECT and SAS/SHARE SAS/SHARE User's Guide
1 On Windows systems, this is the recommended method. 2 On z/OS systems, this is the recommended method. 3 On UNIX systems, this is the recommended method.

Refer to the following topics for information about operating servers and services:

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