A Basic Data Integration Environment :: SAS(R) Data Integration Studio 4.5: User's Guide

Overview of a Data Integration Environment

The following figure shows the main clients and servers in a SAS data integration environment.

SAS Data Integration Studio Environment

Administrators use SAS Management Console to connect to a SAS Metadata Server. They enter metadata about servers, libraries, and other resources on your network and save this metadata to a repository. SAS Data Integration Studio users connect to the same metadata server and register any additional libraries and tables that they need. Then, they create process flows that read source tables and create target tables in physical storage.

SAS Management Console

SAS Management Console provides a single interface through which administrators can explore and manage metadata repositories. With this interface, administrators can efficiently set up system resources, manage user and group accounts, and administer security.

SAS Data Integration Studio

SAS Data Integration Studio is a visual design tool for building, implementing and managing data integration processes regardless of data sources, applications, or platforms. Through its metadata, SAS Data Integration Studio provides a single point of control for managing the following resources:

data sources, from any platform that is accessible to SAS and from any format that is accessible to SAS
data targets, to any platform that is accessible to SAS, and to any format that is supported by SAS
processes that specify how data is extracted, transformed, and loaded from a source to a target
jobs that organize a set of sources, targets, and processes (transformations)
source code that is generated by SAS Data Integration Studio
user-written source code

Servers

SAS Application Servers

When the SAS Intelligence Platform was installed at your site, a metadata object that represents the SAS server tier in your environment was defined. In the SAS Management Console interface, this type of object is called a SAS Application Server. By default, this application server is named SASApp.

A SAS Application Server is not an actual server that can execute SAS code submitted by clients. Rather, it is a logical container for a set of application server components, which do execute code––typically SAS code, although some components can execute Java code or MDX queries. For example, a SAS Application Server might contain a workspace server, which can execute SAS code that is generated by clients such as SAS Data Integration Studio. A SAS Application Server might also contain a stored process server, which executes SAS Stored Processes, and a SAS/CONNECT Server, which can upload or download data and execute SAS code that is submitted from a remote machine.

The following table lists the main SAS Application Server components and describes how each one is used.

SAS Application Servers

Server	How the Server Is Used	How the Server Is Specified
SAS Workspace Server	Executes SAS code; reads and writes data.	As a component in a SAS Application Server object.
SAS/ CONNECT Server	Submits generated SAS code to machines that are remote from the default SAS Application Server; can also be used for interactive access to remote libraries.	As a component in a SAS Application Server object.
SAS OLAP Server	Creates cubes and processes queries against cubes.	As a component in a SAS Application Server object.
Stored Process Server	Submits stored processes for execution by a SAS session. Stored processes are SAS programs that are stored and can be executed by client applications.	As a component in a SAS Application Server object.
SAS Grid Server	Supports a compute grid that can execute grid-enabled jobs that are created in SAS Data Integration Studio.	As a component in a SAS Application Server object.

Typically, administrators install, start, and register SAS Application Server components. SAS Data Integration Studio users are told which SAS Application Server object to use.

SAS Data Servers

The following table lists two special-purpose servers for managing SAS data.

SAS Data Servers

Server	How the Server Is Used	How the Server Is Specified
SAS/SHARE Server	Enables concurrent access of server libraries from multiple users.	In a SAS/SHARE library.
SAS Scalable Performance Data (SPD) Server	Provides parallel processing for large SAS data stores; provides a comprehensive security infrastructure, backup and restore utilities, and sophisticated administrative and tuning options.	In an SPD Server library.

Typically, administrators install, start, and register these servers and register the SAS/SHARE library or the SPD Server library. SAS Data Integration Studio users are told which library to use.

Database Management System (DBMS) Servers

SAS Data Integration Studio uses a SAS Application Server and a database server to access tables in database management systems such as Oracle and DB2.

When you start the Register Tables wizard or the New Tables wizard, the wizard tries to connect to a SAS Application Server. You are then prompted to select an appropriate database library. SAS Data Integration Studio uses the metadata for the database library to generate a SAS/ACCESS LIBNAME statement, and the statement is submitted to the SAS Application Server for execution.

The SAS/ACCESS LIBNAME statement specifies options that are required to communicate with the relevant database server. The options are specific to the DBMS to which you are connecting. For example, here is a SAS/ACCESS LIBNAME statement that can be used to access an Oracle database:

libname mydb oracle user=admin1 pass=ad1min
path='V2o7223.world'

Typically, administrators install, start, and register DBMS servers and register the DBMS libraries. SAS Data Integration Studio users are told which library to use.

Enterprise Resource Management (ERM) Systems

Optional Composite Software provides access to ERM systems such as Siebel, PeopleSoft, Oracle Applications and Salesforce.com. An optional data surveyor wizard provides access to SAP ERM systems. For details about Composite Software and the data surveyor wizard for SAP ERM systems, see the SAS Intelligence Platform: Data Administration Guide.

Libraries

In SAS software, a library is a collection of one or more files that are recognized by SAS and that are referenced and stored as a unit. Libraries are critical to SAS Data Integration Studio. You cannot begin to enter metadata for sources, targets, or jobs until the appropriate libraries have been registered in a metadata repository.

Accordingly, one of the first tasks in a SAS Data Integration Studio project is to specify metadata for the libraries that contain sources, targets, or other resources. At some sites, an administrator adds and maintains most of the libraries that are needed, and the administrator tells SAS Data Integration Studio users which libraries to use.

Additional Information

For more information about setting up a data integration environment, administrators should see Administrative Documentation for SAS Data Integration Studio.