What Is the SAS Open Metadata Architecture? :: SAS(R) 9.3 Open Metadata Interface: Reference and Usage

The SAS Open Metadata Architecture is a general-purpose metadata management facility that provides common metadata services to SAS applications. Using the metadata architecture, separate SAS applications can exchange metadata, which makes it easier for these applications to work together. The metadata architecture saves development effort because applications no longer have to maintain their own metadata facilities.

The metadata architecture includes a metadata model, an API, and a metadata server.

The metadata model, called the SAS Metadata Model, provides classes and objects that define repositories, the SAS Repository Manager, and different types of application metadata.

The SAS Metadata Server uses information stored in repository objects to access the metadata repositories. It uses the SAS Repository Manager to manage the metadata repositories. The application metadata types are used in various combinations by clients to create metadata that describes application data or entities that are used by an application. The metadata model defines valid relationships between metadata types, uses the inheritance of attributes and associations to affect common behaviors, and uses subclassing to extend behaviors.
The SAS Open Metadata Interface provides methods for reading and writing metadata objects in repositories. It also provides methods for administering repositories and the SAS Metadata Server, for defining and administering access controls on application metadata objects and repositories, and for getting authorizations based on the metadata access controls.
The SAS Metadata Server is a server that surfaces metadata from one or more repositories through the SAS Open Metadata Interface. The SAS Metadata Server uses the Integrated Object Model (IOM) from SAS Integration Technologies. IOM provides distributed object interfaces to Base SAS software and enables you to use industry-standard languages, programming tools, and communication protocols to develop clients that access Base SAS features on IOM servers. The purpose of the SAS Metadata Server is to provide a central, shared location for accessing metadata.