Here are some advantages and disadvantages that might help you
determine which method is best for your job:

LIBNAME Engine Advantages

DATA and PROC step features:

  Threaded reads might be used.
  WHERE clause is passed to SPD Server.
  Sort requests are passed to SPD Server.
  Transparent access to SPD Server data occurs.
  DATA and PROC step syntax is unchanged.
  Data retrieval results can be saved as a SAS table or view.

Additional SQL procedure features:

  Joins are passed to SPD Server.
  GROUP-BY criteria is passed to SPD Server.
  Aggregate functions are passed to SPD Server.

LIBNAME Engine Disadvantages

  SAS performs the DATA step merge of multiple tables.
  SPD Server-specific options must be known and included in the LIBNAME
  statement.

SQL Pass-Through Advantages

  SPD server can optimize all table joins.
  Parallel GROUP-BY might be used.
  Results of a query can be saved as a SAS data table or a SAS SQL view.

SQL Pass-Through Disadvantages

  You must know SPD Server-specific SQL.
  Only the WHERE, ORDER BY, and GROUP BY clauses in the SPD Server
  query, embedded in the FROM CONNECTION TO component, are passed to
  SPD Server to process.
  Joins and aggregate functions coded when an SQL Pass-Through Facility
  SAS view is used are processed by SAS, not by SPD server.

Operating System and Release Information