Viewing Output and Help in the SAS Remote Browser

Setting Up the Remote Browsing System

You can install the remote browser server directly from your SAS session. The first time that SAS attempts to display a Web document and SAS is unable to make a connection for remote browsing, SAS displays a dialog box that contains a URL that you use to download and install the remote browser server. Do not exit SAS.

To install the remote browser server, follow these steps:

Type the URL that appears in the dialog box into your browser and press ENTER, or use the Copy URL button in the dialog box to copy the URL, and then paste it into your browser.
After the download page is displayed, download the installer that is appropriate for your computer.
Run the installer.
- In the Windows environment, the remote browser server is added to your startup items, so that the server will start whenever you log in. An icon is displayed in your system tray to indicate that the remote browser server is running.
- In the Linux environment, manually add the command RBROWSER to the startup script for your windowing environment. The remote browser server will initially run minimized.

System Options for Remote Browsing

After the remote browser server is running on your computer, you can run the remote browsing system by configuring the HELPBROWSER=, HELPHOST=, and HELPPORT= system options.

The HELPBROWSER system option specifies whether you want to view Help and ODS output using the remote browser or the SAS browser. The default value is REMOTE. In the OpenVMS operating environment, the HELPBROWSER= system option must be set to REMOTE to display browser contents. For more information, see HELPBROWSER= System Option in SAS Language Reference: Dictionary.
The HELPHOST system option specifies the host name of the local computer where the Help and ODS output is to be displayed. If you do not specify this option, then the host name specified in the X11 DISPLAY environment variable is used. For more information, see HELPHOST System Option: OpenVMS.
The HELPPORT system option specifies the port number for the local computer where the HELP and ODS output is to be displayed. In the OpenVMS operating environment, you can use the default value. For more information, see HELPPORT= System Option in SAS Language Reference: Dictionary.

You can set these options in your configuration file, at SAS invocation, or during your SAS session in the OPTIONS statement or in the SAS System Options window.

You need to configure these options if you do not want to use their default values. The HELPBROWSER= option defaults to REMOTE, the HELPHOST= option defaults to the host name that is specified in the X11 DISPLAY environment variable, and the HELPPORT= option defaults to the standard port for the remote browser server.

Example 1: Setting Up the SAS Remote Browser at SAS Invocation

The following syntax is specific for the OpenVMS operating environment and shows how you might set up the SAS Remote Browser if your remote browser server is using network port 12000:

sas92/helpport=12000

Because you did not specify the HELPHOST system option, SAS uses the host name that is specified in the X11 DISPLAY environment variable.

Example 2: Setting Up the SAS Remote Browser During a SAS Session

You can set up the remote browsing system during a SAS session by using the OPTIONS statement or the SAS System Options window. The following example uses the OPTIONS statement to change the value of the HELPPORT system option:

options helpport=12000;

Because you did not specify the HELPHOST system option, its value remains unchanged.

Remote Browsing and Firewalls

For General Users

If your network has a firewall between desktop computers and the computer that is hosting SAS, Web browsers cannot display Web pages from your SAS session. Usually, this problem is indicated by a timeout or connection error from the Web browser. If you receive a timeout or connection error, contact your system administrator.

For System Administrators

To enable the display of Web pages when a firewall is between desktop computers and the computer that is hosting SAS, a firewall rule must be added that allows a Web browser to connect to SAS. The firewall rule specifies a range of network ports for which SAS remote browsing connections are allowed. Contact the appropriate system administrator who can select and configure a range of network ports for remote browsing. The range depends on the number of simultaneous SAS users. A value of approximately three times the number of simultaneous SAS users should reserve a sufficient number of network ports.

After the firewall rule is added, SAS must be configured to listen for network connections in the network port range. Normally, SAS selects any free network port, but the HTTPSERVERPORTMIN and the HTTPSERVERPORTMAX system options limit the network ports that SAS can select. Add these system options to your SAS configuration file. Set HTTPSERVERPORTMIN to the lowest port in the network range. Set HTTPSERVERPORTMAX to the highest port in the network range. For example, if the system administrator defined a network port range of 8000 to 8200, the system options would be the following:

httpserverportmin=8000
httpserverportmax=8200

After these system options are set, desktop computers can display Web pages. If there is an insufficient number of network ports, or the system options are specified incorrectly, a message appears in the SAS log.

For more information about these system options, see HTTPSERVERPORTMIN= System Option and HTTPSERVERPORTMAX= System Option in SAS Language Reference: Dictionary.

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