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System Requirements
SAS® Marketing Optimization 6.5

Overview

SAS Marketing Optimization 6.5 includes SAS Visual Analytics Administration and Reporting. This component is required to enable the Reporting Workspace in the CI Studio user interface. If SAS Visual Analytics Administration and Reporting is not installed, the Reporting Workspace will not be available in your system. Refer to the deployment instructions for more information.

Server-Tier Requirements

SAS Marketing Optimization Server

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SAS Marketing Optimization Server includes Advanced Computing Library and three SAS Metadata Bridges of choice.

SAS Marketing Optimization Server also includes a standard SAS/ACCESS engine of choice (for transaction data) and the following SAS/ACCESS engines of choice:

  • SAS/ACCESS Interface to DB2
  • SAS/ACCESS Interface to Greenplum
  • SAS/ACCESS Interface to Netezza
  • SAS/ACCESS Interface to ODBC
  • SAS/ACCESS Interface to OLE DB
  • SAS/ACCESS Interface to Oracle
  • SAS/ACCESS Interface to PostgreSQL
  • SAS/ACCESS Interface to SAP HANA
  • SAS/ACCESS Interface to Teradata

Platform Suite for SAS is available as an orderable, line item add-on. While it is not required, it is recommended if job scheduling is needed.

SAS Marketing Optimization (Distributed Mode)

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SAS Visual Analytics Administration and Reporting Server

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SAS Visual Analytics Administration and Reporting Server includes one standard SAS/ACCESS engine of choice. SAS recommends that you install SAS Visual Analytics Administration and Reporting Server on a separate machine from the solution software.

Inclusion of SAS Visual Analytics LASR Server

  • SAS Visual Analytics LASR Server, Non-distributed is included automatically if the deployment is for Non-distributed LASR. It is optional if the deployment is for Distributed LASR.
  • SAS Visual Analytics LASR Server, Distributed is included automatically if the deployment is for Distributed LASR.

For Hadoop Support

Base SAS, SAS/ACCESS engines, and SAS Visual Analytics Administration and Reporting Server can be installed on the head node of the commodity hardware (symmetric) or on separate hardware (asymmetric). The Distributed LASR Base SAS components for SAS Visual Analytics Administration and Reporting can therefore be installed on Windows for x64 while working with the Linux for x64 LASR grid.

SAS Solution LASR Analytic Server (Non-distributed LASR)

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The SAS Solution LASR Analytic Server must run on the same platform as the SAS Visual Analytics Administration and Reporting Server. You can install it on the Solution Server, on the SAS Visual Analytics Administration and Reporting Server, or on a dedicated server.

The SAS Solution LASR Analytic Server includes a standard SAS/ACCESS engine of choice for transaction data.

SAS LASR Analytic Server (Distributed LASR) on Linux for x64

SAS Products installed on this machine:
  • SAS High-Performance Computing Management Console 2.9
  • SAS High-Performance Node Installation 3.7
  • SAS Plug-ins for Hadoop 1.01

Disk Space Consumed by Installed Products: 1 MB
Supported Environments:
  • Oracle Linux 6.1 (64-bit version) on the x64 chip family
  • Oracle Linux 7.1 (64-bit version) on the x64 chip family
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.1 (64-bit version) on the x64 chip family
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.1 (64-bit version) on the x64 chip family
  • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP1 (64-bit version) on the x64 chip family

With SAS Visual Analytics Administration and Reporting release 7.1 and later, Teradata and EMC Greenplum, like all other data storage providers, must use the Embedded Process to achieve parallel loading.

In previous releases, LASR used memory mapping of data between in-memory storage and on-disk storage, which allowed for faster data loads into memory – a special case of parallel loading for Teradata and Greenplum only.  This memory mapping was provided by features in SAS High-Performance Analytics that were utilized by LASR.  These specific memory mapping models are no longer supported for Teradata and Greenplum.

Use of a colocated Hadoop File System (HDFS) is optional, but it requires a supported Hadoop environment and SAS Plug-ins for Hadoop (which are included with your license). For information about supported Hadoop distributions, refer to https://support.sas.com/en/documentation/third-party-software-reference/9-4/support-for-hadoop.html. The plug-ins require additional configuration. For more information, see SAS High-Performance Analytics Infrastructure 3.5: Installation and Configuration Guide at http://support.sas.com/documentation/onlinedoc/hp-analytics-infrastructure/index.html.

SAS Metadata Server

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SAS makes the following recommendations for SAS Metadata Server deployments:

  • a 64-bit host system
  • a dedicated machine to simplify tuning, management, and diagnostics
  • multi-core server hardware because SAS Metadata Server is multi-threaded
  • four or more cores for production deployments

The disk I/O performance of any server-class system should be sufficient. Memory requirements are highly dependent on the product mix and usage, but 8 GB of RAM are sufficient for most large deployments. For many deployments, 4 GB of RAM are sufficient and should be considered a minimum, unless the specific deployment is tested and verified to require less memory.


Middle-Tier Requirements

SAS Marketing Optimization Mid-Tiers

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SAS Visual Analytics Administration and Reporting Mid-Tier

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We recommend installing the SAS Visual Analytics Administration and Reporting Mid-Tier server on a separate machine.

Mid-Tier Java Application Server Support

The relevant Java Software Developer Kits (JDK) and the latest information and special instructions can be found on the Third Party Support Web site: https://support.sas.com/en/documentation/third-party-software-reference/9-4/support-for-java.html.

Product Requirements

The middle tier of the SAS® 9.4 Intelligence Platform includes a SAS Web Application Server and a SAS Web Server for use as an HTTP server. 

The SAS Web Application Server is a lightweight server that provides enterprise-class features for running SAS web applications. For more information about these servers, refer to http://support.sas.com/resources/thirdpartysupport/v94/appservers/index.html.


Client-Tier Requirements

 

SAS Marketing Optimization Clients

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Note: Windows 10 (Home or Pro, 64-bit version) is also supported for SAS client software.

Web Browsers

SAS Customer Intelligence Studio (which contains SAS Marketing Optimization) is accessed via a supported web browser. The following page lists the supported browsers, including Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer: https://support.sas.com/en/documentation/third-party-software-reference/9-4/support-for-9-4-web-browsers.html.

Presentation Virtualization Environments

Support for presentation virtualization environments for clients included with SAS Marketing Optimization (for example, Citrix) is consistent with the SAS corporate support policy, which can be found at http://support.sas.com/techsup/pcn/virtualization.html.

SAS® Visual Analytics Apps for iOS, Android, and Windows 10

The SAS Visual Analytics Apps are supported on iOS and Android smartphones and tablets, and on computers and tablets running Microsoft Windows 10. Each app is written specifically for its operating system and provides native support for these devices so that you can view reports on your mobile device. You can download the apps for free from the Apple App Store, Google Play, and the Microsoft Windows Store.

SAS recommends using the SAS Visual Analytics Apps for iOS, Android, and Windows 10 to view and interact with reports on mobile devices.


Hardware Requirements

Server Tier Machine: Minimum Recommended (SAS Treatment-Level Optimization Only)

SAS Treatment-Level Optimization requires space for all of the following space considerations:

  • file sizes for the generated customer tables are approximately the same size as the SAS temp/work space that is required to generate them.
  • additional space equal to the customer table is required in the sas work/temp folder in order to produce the customer file.
  • an additional 10% of space is required for overhead in the work/temp space.
  • SAS Marketing Optimization generates solution tables that are approximately the size of the input customer table (depending on whether all customers are offered a treatment in the solution).

For example, for a 100 Gigabyte customer table in the common sas lib directory, SAS Marketing Optimization generates a 100 Gigabyte solution table. Because the file is a copy, a 100 Gigabyte customer input file requires greater than 300 Gigabyte of available lib space for complete processing. In addition, you use an additional 100 GIgabyte of space in the sas work/temp folder in order to produce the customer file. A 100 Gigabyte customer input table therefore requires about 400 Gigabyte at peak usage.

Middle Tier Machine: Minimum Recommended

Memory

The minimum recommended memory for the SAS Marketing Optimization middle tier is 8 GB.

Memory requirements for optimal performance may vary, and should be determined based on consultation with SAS Enterprise Excellence Center.

Disk Space

  • SAS Marketing Optimization Application Server: 300 MB above your current environment
  • SAS Marketing Optimization Web Components: 300 MB above your current environment
  • SAS Customer Intelligence Reporting: 250 MB above your current environment

This is the amount of disk space that the SAS Marketing Optimization Server setup directory requires. Additional space may also be required for new content such as campaigns and reports.

Client Application Machine: Minimum Recommended

  • Modern Intel or AMD processor running at 2.33 GHz or faster
  • Memory:
    • 3 GB minimum
    • 128 MB graphical memory
  • SAS Marketing Optimization Disk Space: SAS Customer Intelligence Studio 350 MB above your current environment

Specific Product Requirements

Database Requirements

SAS Marketing Optimization can connect to various databases using SAS/ACCESS. The following list provides the versions of databases with which SAS Marketing Optimization 6.5 is compatible.

  • IBM DB2/UDB versions 10.1 and 10.5
  • IBM Netezza versions 6.0, 6.1, 7.0
  • Microsoft SQL Server versions 2008, 2008 R2, 2012, 2014 Enterprise Edition
    • SAS/ACCESS to OLE DB; supported only on Windows
    • SAS/ACCESS to ODBC; supported only on Windows
    • SAS/ACCESS to Microsoft SQL Server on UNIX with the DataDirect branded driver 7.1.4; supported only on AIX, Linux, and Solaris
  • Microsoft SQL Server version 2016 and 2017 Enterprise Edition
    • SAS/ACCESS to Microsoft SQL Server with the DataDirect branded driver 7.1.4; supported on Windows, AIX, Linux, and Solaris
  • Microsoft SQL Server versions 2008, 2008 R2, 2012, 2014 Standard Edition (no more than 10 million customer records)
    • SAS/ACCESS to OLE DB; supported only on Windows
    • SAS/ACCESS to ODBC; supported only on Windows
  • Microsoft SQL Server version 2016 and 2017 Standard Edition (no more than 10 million customer records)
    • SAS/ACCESS to Microsoft SQL Server with the DataDirect branded driver 7.1.4; supported on Windows, AIX, Linux, and Solaris
  • Oracle versions 11g, 11.2, 12.1, 12.2/18c, and 19c

    Notes: If your installation includes Oracle Database 12c/18c, be aware that Oracle Multitenant architecture is not supported.

    If your installation includes Oracle Database 12.2/18c, this version is only supported by SAS 9.4TS1M4 and later. Oracle 12.2/18c on Linux requires a hot fix. For more information, see the following SAS Note: http://support.sas.com/kb/60/895.html.

  • PostgreSQL version 9.4 with version 9.4 client, version 9.4 Bulk Loader
  • PostgreSQL 10.6, with version 10.6 client, version 10.6 Bulk Loader, also, from SAS 9.4_TS1M4
  • SAS Data Sets version 9.4

    Note: SAS Data Sets are not supported with use of the CI Common Reporting Data Model, and support no more than 5 million customer equivalent records.

  • Teradata version 12.0, 13.0, 13.1, 14.0, 14.1, and 16.xx.

Note: Mixing of databases will not perform to an acceptable level and is not recommended.


Third-Party Software

SAS software may be provided with certain third-party software, including but not limited to open-source software, which is licensed under its applicable third-party software license agreement. For license information about third-party software distributed with SAS software, refer to http://support.sas.com/thirdpartylicenses.

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