SAS/CONNECT: Definitions and Services

SAS/CONNECT Terminology

SAS/CONNECT software is a SAS client/server toolset that provides scalability through parallel SAS processing. By providing the ability to manage, access, and process data in a distributed and parallel environment, SAS/CONNECT enables users and applications developers to do the following:

achieve SAS interoperability across architectures and SAS releases
- directly process a remote data source and get results back locally
- transfer disk copies of data
- develop local graphical user interfaces that process remote data sources
develop scalable SAS solutions
- run multiple independent processes asynchronously and coordinate the results from each task execution in a client SAS session
- scale up to fully use the capabilities of symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) hardware, and scale out to fully use the features of distributed processors
- use pipeline processing (TCP/IP ports) to run multiple dependent processes asynchronously
- collect the resources of multiple computers that work in parallel, which produces a powerful, yet inexpensive processing solution
manage distributed resources
- perform daily or nightly automated backups
- initiate transaction processing to a master database at a specified time each day
- centralize and automate data and report distribution to workstations in a network
- centralize and automate data collection from workstations in a network

The Client/Server Relationship

SAS/CONNECT links a SAS client session to a SAS server session. The terms SAS/CONNECT client and server depict a relationship between two SAS sessions.

The client session is the initial SAS session that creates and manages one or more server sessions. The server sessions can run either on the same computer as the client (for example, an SMP computer) or on a remote computer across a network.

Single-User Server

SAS/CONNECT provides the following single-user server functionality for Remote Library Services (RLS):

provides transparent access to remote data
gives single-user access to a dedicated server
enables full, unrestricted access to DBMS data via a SAS/ACCESS engine
enables you to connect to the server by using a SIGNON statement and a LIBNAME statement that specifies the REMOTE engine
```
SIGNON server-ID;
LIBNAME libref REMOTE 'datalib' SERVER=server-ID;
```
The LIBNAME statement implicitly starts the single-user server.

Multi-User Server

SAS/SHARE provides the following multi-user server functionality for Remote Library Services (RLS):

gives concurrent, multi-user access to a server

Note: The ability to access DMBS data through a multi-user server is controlled by a specific SAS/ACCESS engine.
is explicitly started and controlled by a system administrator
```
PROC SERVER server=server-ID;
```
enables you to connect to the server by using a LIBNAME statement that specifies the REMOTE engine
```
LIBNAME libref REMOTE 'datalib' SERVER=server-ID;
```
The LIBNAME statement causes a connection to a pre-existing server.

Communications Access Method

A communications access method is the interface between SAS/CONNECT and the network protocol that you use to connect two SAS sessions. You must specify a communications access method for SAS/CONNECT.

TCP/IP is the supported access method on all SAS 9.2 operating environments. The XMS access method is used to connect client and server sessions that both run under z/OS.

Before any meaningful work can be accomplished between a client and a server, the access method must be configured in the client and the server environments. For details, see Communications Access Methods for SAS/CONNECT and SAS/SHARE.

Encryption Providers

Encryption providers include the SAS products and third-party strategies for protecting data and credentials (user IDs and passwords) that are exchanged in a SAS/CONNECT client/server environment. All these providers use proven, industry-standard encryption algorithms for data protection.

Here are the encryption providers that SAS/CONNECT can use:

SAS Proprietary	is a fixed encoding algorithm that is included with Base SAS software. It requires no additional SAS product licenses. The SAS proprietary algorithm is strong enough to protect your data from casual viewing. SASProprietary provides a medium level of security.
SAS/SECURE	is an add-on product that provides encryption and data integrity algorithms in addition to the SASProprietary algorithm. SAS/SECURE requires a license, and it must be installed on each computer that runs a client and a server that will use the encryption algorithms. Although SAS/SECURE increases data security, it cannot completely prevent unauthorized access to your data.
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)	is a protocol that provides network security and privacy. Developed by Netscape Communications, SSL uses encryption algorithms that include RC2, RC4, DES, TripleDES, and MD5. In addition to providing encryption services, SSL performs client and server authentication, and it uses message authentication codes to ensure data integrity.
Secure Shell (SSH)	is a protocol that enables users to access a remote computer via a secure connection. SSH is available through various commercial products and as freeware. OpenSSH is a free version of the SSH protocol suite of network connectivity tools. Although SAS software does not include a programming interface to SSH functionality, SAS does support the tunneling feature of SSH that enables a SAS client to make an encrypted connection to a SAS server. Port forwarding is another term for tunneling. The SSH client and SSH server act as agents between the SAS client and the SAS server, tunneling information via the SAS client's port to the SAS server's port.

For details about these encryption providers, see Encryption in SAS.

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