Building Cubes and Administering Cubes

Connecting and Reconnecting to a Metadata Server

The SAS Metadata Server enables users to write metadata objects to and read metadata objects from SAS folders. It maintains information about users, groups, data libraries, servers, and various user-created products such as cubes and information maps. The SAS Metadata Server contains a metadata identity for every user of the SAS Intelligence Platform. This includes each user's login information, including a user ID and an encrypted password. When a user logs on to a SAS application, the application verifies the user's identity by checking it against the metadata identity.

To create SAS OLAP cubes, you must create a connection profile for the metadata server that you access while using SAS OLAP Cube Studio. A connection profile is a user's view of a metadata server and is used to connect the application to a metadata server. The Connection Profile wizard enables you to specify the connection profile. When you define a connection profile, you specify the server and the port to which the application connects. You can also specify a user ID and password for all connections to the server or allow users to specify a user ID and password each time they log on. When an application opens a connection profile, it has access to the metadata on the specified server based on the security credentials of the user ID used to connect.

A connection profile is a client-side definition of where a SAS Metadata Server is located. The connection profile definition includes a host name and a port number, and can contain a user's login information and instructions for connecting to the metadata server automatically.

Creating a Connection Profile

In order to define cubes, you must be connected to a running metadata server. Connection information is stored in a connection profile, which is a client-side definition of where the SAS Metadata Server is located. The profile definition includes a host name and port number. In addition, the connection profile can contain a user's login information and instructions for connecting to the metadata server automatically.

You can define new connection profiles using the Connection Profile wizard. This wizard is available from within various SAS products, including SAS OLAP Cube Studio, SAS Management Console, and SAS Data Integration Studio. To create a new connection profile, follow these steps:

In SAS OLAP Cube Studio, select File Connection Profile to display the Connection Profile dialog box. The Connection Profile dialog box also appears automatically when you launch SAS OLAP Cube Studio, unless you have set a default profile.
Select the Create a new connection profile radio button to launch the Connection Profile wizard.
On the Connection Profile wizard, enter connection information to create the new profile, including the following items:
- profile name
- machine name
- port number
- user name
- password
- authentication domain
- whether to save user ID and password in this profile
- whether to use Integrated Windows authentication (single sign-on)
Click Finish to return to the Connection Profile dialog box.
If you want to always use the selected profile when SAS OLAP Cube Studio is launched, click the Set this connection profile as the default check box.
Click OK to open the selected profile.

Connecting with an Existing Profile

Existing connection profiles are listed on the Connection Profile dialog box, which appears automatically when you launch SAS OLAP Cube Studio (unless you have set a default profile). If the dialog box does not appear automatically, select File Connection Profile. Complete these steps in the Connection Profile dialog box:

Select the Open an existing connection profile radio button.
Select the name of the profile from the drop-down selection list.
If you want to always use the selected profile when SAS OLAP Cube Studio is launched, select the Set this connection profile as the default check-box.
Click OK to open the selected profile.

Reconnecting to a Metadata Server

If the connection to the metadata server is broken, a dialog box appears and asks if you want to attempt reconnection. Click Try Now. SAS OLAP Cube Studio then attempts to reconnect to the metadata server. If the reconnection is successful, you can continue your work. The user credentials from the previous session are used.

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