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What's New in SAS(R) 9.2

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What's New

What's New in the SAS 9.2 Companion for UNIX Environments

Overview

SAS 9.2 in UNIX environments has the following new and enhanced features:

Direct File I/O Options

Changes to direct file I/O include the addition of the following new options:

  • ENABLEDIRECTIO LIBNAME statement option

  • USEDIRECTIO= data set option

  • USEDIRECTIO= LIBNAME statement option

File Locking

File locking has been enhanced in the following ways:

  • The FILELOCKWAITMAX system option is new.

  • A new syntax format has been added to the FILELOCKS system option.

SAS Remote Browser

The SAS Remote Browser enables you to view SAS documentation, URLs that are specified in the WBROWSE command, and some ODS HTML output in the default Web browser on your local computer. By displaying this documentation locally, you have faster access to the documentation. In addition, you free resources on the SAS server that were used by Netscape.

You configure remote browsing by using the following system options:

  • HELPHOST

  • HELPPORT System Option in SAS Language Reference: Dictionary.

Multiple Work Directories

SAS makes the distribution of work libraries dynamic by optionally distributing work libraries across several directories. When the argument to work is a list of directories in a file, you can also specify a method to use for choosing which directory to use for Work. METHOD=RANDOM and METHOD=SPACE are available.

Installation and Configuration Changes

  • The default directory path where SAS is installed has changed.

    In SAS 9.2, the default directory path and executable are: 

    !SASROOT       = /usr/local/SAS/SASFoundation/9.2/
SAS executable = /usr/local/SAS/SASFoundation/9.2/sas

    In previous releases, the default directory path and executable were: 

    !SASROOT       = /usr/local/SAS/SAS_x.x/
SAS executable = /usr/local/SAS/SAS_x.x/sas

  • The sasv9_local.cfg file, which contains user-specified options and overrides the options in the default configuration file, has been added to the !SASROOT directory and to the order of precedence for SAS configuration files.

64-bit Architecture

You can now run a 64-bit version of SAS on Linux for x64.

SAS Logging Facility

The SAS 9.2 logging facility enables the categorization and collection of log event messages and writes them to a variety of output devices. The logging facility supports problem diagnosis and resolution, performance and capacity management, and auditing and regulatory compliance.

Shared Executable Libraries

Shared libraries in SAS can store useful routines that might be needed by multiple applications. When an application needs a routine that resides in an external shared library, the application loads the shared library, invokes the routine using the ROUTINE statement, and unloads the shared library upon completion of the routine. In the ROUTINE statement, the following three return types for the RETURNS= argument have been added:

  • PTR

  • [U]INT32

  • [U]INT64

SAS Language Elements


Data Set Options

The new USEDIRECTIO= data set option turns on direct file I/O for the library that contains the file to which the ENABLEDIRECTIO option in the LIBNAME statement has been applied.


Functions

The LIBNAME function was removed from this Companion because it is portable.


Procedures

The SORT procedure now supports the DETAILS statement option. The DETAILS statement option specifies that PROC SORT write messages to the SAS log about whether the sort was performed in memory.


Statements

The following statements have been enhanced:

  • The FILENAME statement now supports the LOCKINTERNAL statement option, which specifies SAS system locking for files that are associated with a fileref in the FILENAME statement. LOCKINTERNAL has the following arguments:

    AUTO

    locks a file so that in a SAS session, if a user has Write access to the file, then no other users can have Read or Write access to the file.

    SHARED

    locks a file so that in a SAS session, two users do not have simultaneous Write access to the file. The file can be shared simultaneously by one user who has Write access and multiple users who have Read access.

  • The FILENAME statement now supports the Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) access method, which enables you to access remote files by using SFTP.

  • The LIBNAME statement now supports the following new statement options:

    ENABLEDIRECTIO

    specifies that direct file I/O can be available for all of the files that are opened in the library that is identified in the LIBNAME statement.

    FILELOCKWAIT

    specifies the number of seconds that SAS will wait for a locked file to become available to another process.

    TRANSFERSIZE

    specifies the size of a large block of data that is read from a file that is opened.

    USEDIRECTIO=

    if used with the ENABLEDIRECTIO option in the LIBNAME statement, turns on direct file I/O for all of the files that are associated with the libref that is listed in the LIBNAME statement.


System Options

The following system options are new:

  • FILELOCKWAITMAX, which sets an upper limit on the time that SAS will wait for a locked file.

  • FMTSEARCH, which specifies the order in which format catalogs are searched.

  • HELPHOST, which specifies the name of the local computer where the SAS Remote Browser displays HTML pages.

  • PRIMARYPROVIDERDOMAIN, which specifies the domain name of the primary authentication provider.

The following system options have been enhanced:

  • The APPEND system option now supports the FMTSEARCH option.

  • The INSERT system option now supports the FMTSEARCH option.

  • The FULLSTIMER system option now specifies whether to display all available system performance statistics, as well as the datetime stamp in the SAS log.

The following system options are obsolete:

  • ASYNCHIO

  • COMAUX2

  • DOCLOC

  • FSDEVICE

  • GISMAPS

  • HELPENCMD

  • INGOPTS

  • NETMAC

  • SEQENGINE

  • TAPECLOSE

The following system options are no longer specific to UNIX, and are documented in SAS Language Reference: Dictionary:

  • S

  • S2

IPv6 Standard

SAS supports the next generation of IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6), which is the successor to IPv4. Rather than replacing IPv4 with IPv6, SAS 9.2 supports both standards. A primary reason for the new version is that the limited supply of 32-bit IPv4 address spaces is being depleted. IPv6 uses a 128-bit address scheme, which provides more IP addresses than IPv4.

Documentation Enhancements

The following documentation enhancements have been made:

  • A new section called Sharing External Files in a UNIX Environment has been added to the documentation about file locking in external files.

  • A new section called Using Direct I/O has been added.

  • A table of tools in the !SASROOT/utilities/bin directory has been added to Appendix 2, "Tools for the System Administrator."

  • A section called Case Sensitivity in Data Set Names has been added.

  • In the performance tuning section of PROC SORT, a section called How SAS Determines the Amount of Memory to Use has been added. The section provides a discussion of the MEMSIZE, REALMEMSIZE, and SORTSIZE system options.

  • The documentation for the SSLCALISTLOC, SSLCERTLOC, SSLCLIENTAUTH, SSLCRLCHECK, SSLCRLLOC, SSLPVTKEYLOC, and SSLPVTKEYPASS system options has been relocated to Encryption in SAS. The "Using SSL in a UNIX Environment" section has been moved to Encryption in SAS.

  • Sections called SAS Invocation Scripts and SAS Configuration Files have been added.

  • The documentation for UMASK has been enhanced. It now includes a section about changing the file permissions for your SAS session. The discussion of UMASK in the WORKPERMS system option has also been enhanced.

  • The table of kill signals and their functions has been added. The table includes options and descriptions of kill commands, such as SIGINT, SIGNULL, and SIGTERM.

  • An appendix has been added that lists and describes command line commands that are not specific to UNIX, but that you can use for editing in your SAS session.

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