SAS OLAP Server processes, both at build time and query time, use a manner of code generation that enables the process to complete more quickly. This feature might be prevented from running by the Data Execution Prevention (DEP) settings that are available on:

• Microsoft Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2 and x64 editions
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 family with Service Pack 1 and the x64 family editions

When DEP interferes with OLAP processing, you might encounter errors or unexpected termination of OLAP processes:

• A SAS OLAP Server Windows service terminates unexpectedly without reporting any errors in the SAS log. Other services, such as the SAS^® Metadata Server, continue to execute. This behavior occurs after you have navigated below the top level of your OLAP cube.
• Errors, which are related to AGGREGATION statements other than the statement that created the default, might occur during execution of the OLAP procedure.

For detailed information about DEP, see the following Microsoft Knowledge Base articles:

• A detailed description of the Data Execution Prevention (DEP) feature in Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005, and Windows Server 2003
• The Data Execution Prevention tab in System Properties does not show hardware-based DEP support information in x64 or Itanium-based versions of Windows Server 2003 or Windows XP

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3, Update 3 also supports the DEP functionality.

Only newer hardware, which uses the AMD Enhanced Virus Protection (EVP) or the Intel Execute Disable Bit, takes advantage of the DEP settings. Intel provides a utility that you can use to display processor features. This utility for Windows is available for download from the intel Web site.

To work around this issue, you can add the sas.exe file to the list of excluded (excepted) processes. Adding sas.exe to the exception list prevents DEP from blocking the code generation done by SAS processes. To add a process to the list in Microsoft Windows:

1. Right-click My Computer and then click Properties
2. Click the Advanced tab
3. Go to the Performance box and click Settings.
4. Click the Data Execution Prevention tab.
5. Click Add. Locate the sas.exe file to include it in the list.
6. Restart the SAS OLAP Server process.

Operating System and Release Information

Product Family	Product	System	SAS Release
			Reported	Fixed*
SAS System	SAS OLAP Server	Linux	9.1 TS1M0	9.1 TS1M3 SP4
		Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition	9.1 TS1M0	9.1 TS1M3 SP4
		Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition	9.1 TS1M0	9.1 TS1M3 SP4
		Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition	9.1 TS1M0	9.1 TS1M3 SP4
		Microsoft Windows XP Professional	9.1 TS1M0	9.1 TS1M3 SP4

* For software releases that are not yet generally available, the Fixed Release is the software release in which the problem is planned to be fixed.

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Data Execution Prevention (DEP) might interfere with SAS® OLAP processes

Type:	Problem Note
Priority:	high
Topic:	System Administration ==> Servers ==> OLAP Query and Reporting ==> OLAP (Online Analytical Processing)

Date Modified:	2009-09-09 10:37:15
Date Created:	2005-11-08 14:01:47