If a SAS^® Metadata update fails to complete successfully such that a workunit is only partially committed, the SAS^® Metadata Repository might become corrupted. The update failure produces an error similar to the following in the SAS^® Metadata Server log:

Partial workunit commit.  container=42 A5EM16KM.mdassoc queue=3 DELETE queue length=1773 item=0.
The error which caused the commit to fail is: 807fe8b6 
The object or objects are not found in the  container in the  repository.
Emergency situation requires we discard all in memory data which may have been affected.
*** FOMSworkunitCommit: Close and unload container #1 A52974MC.txtstore ***

Note that the container information and repository id referenced in the error messages above will vary, based upon the specific environment.

If this error results in corruption of the SAS Metadata Repository, you will subsequently see an error like this the next time you try to restart or resume the SAS Metadata Server:

The mdassoc container in the REPOS_NAME repository has an error in its ID registry entry, because the highest container ID is A4000QQO which exceeds the ID registry value of A4000Q8G.  An administrator should analyze and repair this repository.
The SAS Metadata Server I/O subsystem has returned error message '         ERROR: Unable to clear or re-assign the library TMP00n because it is still in use.'.  Contact the SAS Metadata Server administrator for assistance.
Resume return code=807fe8ef....
Repository REPOS_NAME is not properly initialized.  Look for details earlier in the server log.  An administrator should analyze and repair this repository.

Where the REPOS_NAME and ID reported will again vary according to the environment.

You should be able to repair the SAS Metadata Repository using the SAS Metadata Analyze/Repair tools. If you cannot use the Analyze/Repair wizard in SAS^® Management Console to repair the damage, refer to SAS KB0036217 for instructions on invoking the repair utility at server startup. Note, update failures during commit are extremely rare, but cannot be prevented for all cases such as the server running out of memory. However, one known problem involving the way the SAS Metadata Server builds its in–memory indexes can produce a failure during the commit phase of a SAS Metadata update.

Click the Hot Fix tab in this note to access the hot fix for this issue.

The hot fix will address one cause of this problem symptom. There could be other causes for this type of SAS Metadata corruption. If the problem still exists once you apply this hot fix, please contact SAS Technical Support.

Operating System and Release Information

A fix for this issue for Base SAS 9.21_M1 is available at: