Data can be stored
in a wide range of third-party databases, including the following:
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relational databases such as Oracle,
Sybase, DB2, Microsoft SQL Server, and Teradata
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hierarchical databases such as
IBM Information Management System (IMS)
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Computer Associates Integrated
Database Management System (CA-IDMS), a network model database system
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Enterprise resource planning applications
such as SAP
SAS/ACCESS interfaces
provide fast, efficient loading of data to and from these facilities.
With these interfaces, SAS software can work directly from the data
sources without making a copy. Several SAS/ACCESS engines use an input/output
(I/O) subsystem so that applications can read entire blocks of data
instead of reading only one record at a time. This feature reduces
I/O bottlenecks so that procedures can read data as quickly as they
can process it. SAS/ACCESS engines for Oracle, Sybase, DB2 (on UNIX
and PC), ODBC, Microsoft SQL Server, and Teradata support this functionality.
These engines, as well
as the DB2 engine on z/OS, can also access database management system
(DBMS) data in parallel by using multiple threads to the parallel
DBMS server. You can get even greater performance gains by using threaded
SAS procedures with these SAS/ACCESS ESS (Enterprise Systems Support)
engines.
Some ESS engines also
provide database-specific performance-tuning options and support features
like bulk loading. Selected ESS engines include database pushdown
capabilities such as Code, Scoring, and Data Quality accelerators.
These pushdown features take advantage of database processing power
by processing the data in place instead of moving it to the SAS environment.