Adding SAS Publication Channels :: SAS(R) 9.3 Intelligence Platform: Web Application Administration Guide, Third Edition

Overview of Adding SAS Publication Channels and Subscribers

About SAS Publication Channels

The SAS Information Delivery Portal provides access to the publish and subscribe features of SAS. These features enable users and applications to publish information to other authorized users. Channels carry information from the publishers who created it to the subscribers who want it. Information can be published using various delivery methods, including SAS publication channels, message queues, e-mail, and files.

From the portal, users can publish a package that might include any of the following archived content types:

files
links
SAS Information Maps (which are published as a link that will display the SAS Information Map in SAS Web Report Studio within the portal)
stored processes

A SAS publication channel is a channel created with the SAS Publishing Framework plug-in available in SAS Management Console. Publication channels can be used to provide access to archived content published through SAS Publishing Framework. This feature relies on the SAS Publishing Framework software, which is part of SAS Integration Technologies.

For detailed documentation, see the following:

For descriptions and instructions related to subscribers, channels, and delivery transports, see the online Help for Publishing Framework plug-in within SAS Management Console.
For information about implementing the Publishing Framework capabilities in your applications, see SAS 9.3 Publishing Framework: Developer’s Guide.

Subscribers

The portal provides an interface through which subscribers can subscribe to SAS publication channels.

A subscriber is a person who has a need for information that is published by the Publishing Framework. Before a user can receive information from a channel, you must create a subscriber profile for that user.

You can create two different types of subscribers by using the Publishing Framework plug-in SAS Management Console:

A content subscriber is a subscriber who is configured to receive packages. A package is a bundle of one or more information entities such as SAS data sets, SAS catalogs, or almost any other type of digital content
An event subscriber is a subscriber who is configured to receive events. An event is a well-formed XML document that can be published to an HTTP server, a message queue, or a channel that has event subscribers defined for it. However, the SAS Information Delivery Portal does not use event subscribers.

Users' subscriber profiles contain information about how the information that is published to the channels is to be delivered. A user can choose either e-mail, WebDAV, or the portal as the delivery transport. In order for the channel to display in the Publication Channel Subscription portlet, the user must create a subscriber profile that specifies the portal as the delivery transport.

After subscribing to a channel, users can use the portal's Publication Channel Subscription portlet to view archived content that is published through the channel.

For instructions about how to create a subscriber profile, see the online Help for the portal.

E-Mail Transport Restriction

When a user publishes a package to a channel from within the SAS Information Delivery Portal, the package will not be delivered to channel subscribers who selected the e-mail transport. To deliver to those subscribers, you must publish the package by using SAS Enterprise Guide or CALL routines within a SAS program or SAS stored process.

WebDAV Publication Channel Considerations

If you are setting up a WebDAV publication channel, you must enable users to publish to the SAS Content server. For details, see Planning for Portal Users and Groups .

The following sections describe how to set up a publication channel in the portal. After the publication channel is created, users can publish information to the channel. For details, see Planning for Portal Users and Groups .

Step 1 (Optional): Add Archive Permission Statement for the SAS Publication Channel

To enable the SAS Information Delivery Portal to connect to the file system in order to publish to an archive path, you must add a permission statement to the policy file that grants read and write access to the path.

To add a permission statement to the Web application server's policy file, add a statement with one of the following formats:

To grant read and write access to a specific directory:
```
permission java.io.FilePermission
 "path", "read,write";
```
To grant read and write access to all the files in a path:
```
permission java.io.FilePermission
 "path/*", "read,write";
```
To grant read and write access to all the files and subdirectories (recursively) in a path:
```
permission java.io.FilePermission "path/-", "read,write";
```

For example, if you are running a JBoss application server, to grant read and write access to all the files and subdirectories in the path /sas/PubSub/, add the following statement:

 grant codeBase "file:${java.home}/webapps/Portal/-" {
 ...
 permission java.io.FilePermission
 "/sas/PubSub/-", "read,write";
 ...
 };

For more information about policy files, see Configuring and Deploying Restrictive Policy Files in SAS Intelligence Platform: Middle-Tier Administration Guide.

Step 2: Assign Permissions for Folders and Files in the SAS Content Server

When you create channels and assign subscribers in the Publishing Framework plug-in within SAS Management Console, you should select WebDAV for persistent store, choose a base path (/SASContentServer/repository/default/sasdav), and specify a relative folder for the base path in the metadata repository. You also need to create a new folder below the /SASContentServer/repository/default/sasdav folder on the SAS Content Server or use an existing sasdav folder, and assign permissions in SAS Content Server. The name of the relative path specified in the Publishing Framework plug-in must match the folder name created in the SAS Content Server.

Note: Selecting a base path for persistent store in the Publishing Framework plug-in, and assigning a relative path does not automatically create the relative path folder on the SAS Content Server.

WebDAV content is published only to the /SASContentServer/repository/default/sasdav folder, or any folder below the sasdav folder in the SAS Content Server. Any search within the SAS Information Delivery Portal does not display the contents of the /SASContentServer/repository/default/sasfolders path.

Assume that you are going to specify a relative path called Publish in the SAS Publishing Framework plug-in's properties dialog box. Log on to the SAS Content Server Administration Console, and create the Publish folder below the /SASContentServer/repository/default/sasdav folder. Select the principal for the folder (for example, jcr:authenticated), and enable the following permissions to the Publish folder's subfolders and files: Read, Write, Delete, Inherit Write, and Inherit Delete.

For instructions about how to assign permissions to folders in the SAS Content Server, see Modify Permissions for WebDAV Folders and Files in SAS Intelligence Platform: Middle-Tier Administration Guide.

Step 3: Create a SAS Publication Channel

To add a channel to the SAS Metadata Repository, log on to SAS Management Console as the SAS Administrator and use the Publishing Framework plug-in to define the channel in the metadata repository. If you are publishing to a channel with WebDAV as the persistent store, the relative path should match the folder created on the SAS Content Server. For detailed instructions, see the online Help for the Publishing Framework plug-in.

Step 4: Add Subscribers to the SAS Publication Channel

Use the Publishing Framework plug-in in SAS Management Console or the portal Options menu to add content subscribers.

Step 5: Implement Authorization (Access Control) for the SAS Publication Channel

To enable the publication of content to an archive persisted channel, grant Write and WriteMetadata permissions to SASUSERS on that channel's Authorization tab (WriteMetadata permission is required only if a channel has an archive persistent store). To enable all subscribers to add channels or subscribers, grant WriteMemberMetadata permission on the relevant parent folder.

Step 6: Make the SAS Publication Channel Available to Content Subscribers

Depending on who has access permission to the publication channel, content subscribers can use one of several methods to make SAS Publication Channel appear in the SAS Information Delivery Portal. Those methods include the following:

The group content administrator can edit a collection portlet in order to add the publication channel to the portlet. A portal administrator can share a portlet with any group, including the PUBLIC group. Group content administrators can share the portlet with the group for which they are an administrator. Group members can search for and add the portlet to their pages.
All subscribers can use the Publication Channel Subscriptions portlet to display the SAS publications channels that they subscribe to. This provides a convenient way to view content published to the channels. Subscribers can add this portlet to multiple pages.