Under certain circumstances, when you use the bulk unloading facility of SAS/ACCESS Interface to Netezza, SAS might run very slowly. The following three conditions used together have triggered the behavior:

• With BULKUNLOAD=YES
• With BL_USE_PIPE=YES
• With a WHERE clause that compares CHARACTERS

Here is an example of code that can cause the slow performance:

libname nezlib netezza server='netezza_host' port=5480 database=db_name user=user_id 
   password=password bulkunload=yes;

/* Comparing character variables on the WHERE clause will cause SAS to hang */
/* bl_use_pipe=yes is on by default for Netezza */
proc sql;
create table work.test as select t1.product, t2.qtysold, t2.holiday
from sashelp.snacks t1, nezlib.jbn_snacks t2
where (t1.product = t2.product);
quit;

Workarounds

• Do not use BULKUNLOAD=YES. Instead, specify READBUFF=.
• Specify BL_USE_PIPE=NO.
• In the WHERE clause, specify a NUMBER comparison instead of CHARACTER.

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

Operating System and Release Information

A fix for this issue for SAS/ACCESS Interface to Netezza 9.3_M1 is available at: