SAS Visual Analytics and SAS Visual Statistics are designed to work together, but are separately licensed.
SAS Visual Analytics and SAS Visual Statistics are available for both distributed and non-distributed SAS LASR Analytic Server deployments. These system requirements apply to both LASR deployments. The headings below indicate whether components apply to a specific LASR deployment.
The SAS Metadata Server and the SAS Web Infrastructure Platform can be installed on machines that use a different operating system family.
Note: If you deploy the middle tier and the server tier on dissimilar operating systems (for example, one on Linux and the other on Windows), the audit and relationship data extraction and reporting features are not supported.
To keep pace with changes to third-party technologies, SAS has adopted a general policy of supporting one or more baseline major versions, subsequent minor updates, and subsequent major versions for each officially supported operating system. Only the supported baseline major versions are listed in this document. The full SAS Support policy governing third-party software can be found at https://support.sas.com/resources/thirdpartysupport/baseline_plus.html.
As part of this policy, SAS strongly encourages customers to install the latest operating-system service packs.
In a Distributed LASR deployment, SAS Visual Analytics and SAS Visual Statistics require a minimum of a 4-server, 16-core environment (4 servers X 4 cores) on commodity hardware with Intel Xeon architecture. A minimum of 16 GB of RAM is required per core (256 GB total).
In a Non-distributed LASR deployment, SAS Visual Analytics and SAS Visual Statistics require a server with a minimum of 4 cores (commodity hardware with Intel Xeon architecture). A minimum of 16 GB of RAM is required per core (64 GB total).
If the SAS Metadata Server is installed on a separate machine, see the guidelines for the Metadata Server below.
We strongly suggest working with your SAS Account Team to obtain an official hardware recommendation based on your proposed SAS workload.
The minimum screen resolution for each client machine that will access the SAS Visual Analytics and SAS Visual Statistics user interfaces is 1280 x 1024.
SAS Visual Statistics is always installed on the same machine as SAS Visual Analytics.
Important: If you are running SAS Visual Analytics components on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.x, a required package might be missing. Run the following command to install the required Ncurses compatibility libraries:
sudo yum install ncurses-compat-libs
SAS recommends installing SAS Visual Analytics Server on a dedicated machine.
SAS Visual Analytics Server includes a standard SAS/ACCESS engine of choice, or you can substitute SAS Data Surveyor for SAP.
Teradata and EMC Greenplum must use the SAS Embedded Process to achieve parallel loading. To use the SAS Embedded Process, you must install the appropriate SAS/ACCESS engine on the server tier.
SAS Information Retrieval Studio 1.57, which supports the SAS Visual Analytics search feature, requires Python 2.7.x or 3.x (or later) for deployment. For more information, see SAS 9.4 Support for Additional Products.
If ArcGIS for Server is used as your map service, SAS Visual Analytics requires release 10.1 or later.
The High-Performance Computing Management Console subcomponent is deployed only on a Red Hat Enterprise Linux computing grid.
Co-located Data Storage
SAS LASR Analytic Server supports Hadoop data storage environments.
Use of a co-located 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 3.9: Installation and Configuration Guide at https://go.documentation.sas.com/doc/en/hpaicg/3.9/p01sashpanalytics00installgd.htm.
The following options are also supported, with procurement and installation by the customer:
Co-located storage for Teradata and Greenplum is no longer supported for new installations. To load data in parallel from these providers, use the SAS Embedded Process. To use the SAS Embedded Process, you must install the appropriate SAS/ACCESS engine on the server tier.
Note: Base SAS, SAS/ACCESS, and SAS Visual Analytics can either be installed on the head node of the commodity hardware (symmetric) or on separate hardware from the commodity hardware (asymmetric). This architecture enables you to install the SAS Visual Analytics, Distributed LASR server-tier Base SAS components on Windows for x64 while working with the Linux for x64 LASR grid.
SAS makes the following recommendations for SAS Metadata Server 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.
Starting with SAS 9.4M7, the SAS Web Server (a specific version of the Apache HTTP Server) that is delivered with the Middle Tier cannot be configured on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11. Install the SAS Web Server on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 or another supported operating system.
Note: With SAS 9.4M8, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 is no longer supported.
As an alternative, you can choose not to install the SAS Web Server.
SAS recommends installing SAS Visual Analytics Mid-Tier on a dedicated machine.
When you install your SAS solution software, SAS Deployment Manager installs and configures the required web application servers and web servers.
To install these servers, select one of the supported operating systems for the middle tier.
Note: These servers cannot be installed on the z/OS or 32-bit Windows platforms.
The SAS Visual Analytics Apps are supported on iOS and Android smartphones and tablets. 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 or Google Play.
SAS recommends using the SAS Visual Analytics Apps for iOS or Android to view and interact with reports on mobile devices.
For a list of computer-based browsers that are supported for the SAS Visual Analytics and SAS Visual Statistics user interfaces, refer to the system requirements for SAS Common Components 9.3 for HTML.
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. A listing of this third-party software may be found at http://support.sas.com/thirdpartylicenses.