How Does SAS Implement Directory Services?

The SAS implementation of directory services is based on LDAP Version 2. Integration Technologies versions 8.2 and 9 include support for UTF-8 character encoding, which means that you can use either an LDAP Version 2 or LDAP Version 3 server.

Integration Technologies software includes two facilities that can be used to add, modify, delete, and search entries in an LDAP server:

• LDAP CALL Routine Interface

• LDAP SCL Interface

The LDAP CALL Routine Interface and the LDAP SCL Interface are application facilities that enable you to use an enterprise directory server from within a SAS application environment.

These facilities interact with a directory server using either LDAP Version 2 or Version 3. SAS Integration Technologies supports the following directory servers that have been tested for use with the product:

• iPlanet Directory Server

• IBM eNetwork LDAP Directory Server

• Microsoft Active Directory.

Active Directory is the Microsoft implementation of directory services that runs on Windows 2000 Server platforms. While more than a generic LDAP server, it does support an LDAP interface through the Active Directory Service Interface (ADSI).

While commercial enterprise directory servers are currently recommended, SAS Institute acknowledges the LDAP open-source initiative. SAS makes executables of the openLDAP slapd server generally available across a variety of platforms. If your site has not yet implemented an LDAP-enabled directory, contact your SAS account representative for deployment options.

Copyright © 2008 by SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA. All rights reserved.