Administering the SAS Web Infrastructure Platform

Using the SAS Web Administration Console

About the SAS Web Administration Console

The SAS Web Administration Console provides a central location for monitoring users, enabling an environment for system maintenance tasks, managing folders and permissions for the SAS Content Server, and managing SAS Web applications.

The following display shows an expanded view of a main page for the SAS Web Administration Console.

Main Page in SAS Web Administration Console

[Main Page in SAS Web Administration Console]

Here is a description of what you can accomplish with the SAS Web Administration Console:

The Users page enables you to view and monitor authenticated users and system users that are currently logged on to a SAS Web application. See Monitor Users.
The System Maintenance page provides the Restart Maintenance Wizard and the Quiesce System feature. When you want to perform system maintenance, the Restart Maintenance Wizard enables you to send e-mail to users to log off from their sessions within a specified deadline, to log off users after the deadline, and to prohibit new users from logging on to their applications. The Quiesce System feature is useful when you want to allow existing users to stay logged on to their user sessions, but you want to quiesce the system by preventing new users from logging on to SAS Web applications. See System Maintenance Tools for Managing User Login Sessions.
The SAS Content Server page enables you to manage folders and permissions for content in the SAS Content Server. You manage content by using either the SAS Content Server Administration Console (within the SAS Web Administration Console) or by using a stand-alone SAS Content Server Administration Console. You must be an unrestricted user in order to access the SAS Content Server Administration Console.

To access the SAS Content Server feature in the SAS Web Administration Console, select Environment Management SAS Content Server in the navigation pane.

For instructions on administering the SAS Content Server, see Using the SAS Content Server Administration Console.
The Application Management page enables you to view the current configuration for Web applications that have been deployed at your site. For more information, see View Information about Web Applications.

Note: The SAS Web Administration Console can be extended by other SAS applications. Depending on the software that is installed at your site, your SAS Web Administration Console might be different from the one shown here. For more information about the console at your site, see the administration guides for your applications. [cautionend]

Access the SAS Web Administration Console

To access the SAS Web Administration Console, enter the following URL in your Web browser and substitute the server name and port number of your Web application server:

http(s)://server:port/SASAdmin

To use this application, you must log on as someone who is a member of the SAS Administrators group (for example, sasadm@saspw).

Note: The SAS Content Server Administration Console has its own logon requirements. For more information, see Using the SAS Content Server Administration Console. [cautionend]

Monitor Users

About the Users That Appear in the SAS Web Administration Console

The Users page in the SAS Web Administration Console lists the following types of users:

Authenticated users

are users who are currently authenticated on the system.

System users

are system-level users who are required to perform particular tasks, such as running a stored process or accessing metadata. The information provided on the Users page is for informational purposes only. You cannot manage these users from the SAS Web Administration Console.

Send E-Mail to One or More Users

You can send e-mail to any of the users who are currently logged on to a SAS Web application. This feature is useful if you want to notify users of an impending system operation or a system outage.

To send e-mail to a user, follow these steps:

Select Environment Management Users in the navigation pane.
In the Users pane, select the check box next to an authenticated user's name.

You can select multiple check boxes in order to send e-mail to several users. To select all of the check boxes, select the check box in the heading of the last column.
Click the action menu in the heading of the last column and select Send E-mail.
If necessary, enter the e-mail address of the recipient. If you enter more than one address, separate the addresses with a semicolon.

The addresses are already listed for users who have an e-mail address defined in SAS metadata.
Enter the subject and text of the message.
If you have more than one recipient, specify whether you want to send a single message to all recipients or to send a separate message to each recipient.
Click Send.

Force Users to Log Off

In some cases, users might not be actively working with a SAS Web application, and yet their sessions remain active in the system. You can force the termination of these user sessions by using the SAS Web Administration Console.

To force users to log off, follow these steps:

Select Environment Management Users in the navigation pane.
In the Users pane, select the check box next to an authenticated user's name.

You can select multiple check boxes in order to force off several users. To select all of the check boxes, select the check box in the heading of the last column.
Click the action menu in the heading of the last column and select Force Log Off.

A confirmation page displays the user ID, e-mail address, and last logon time for the selected user. Review this information to ensure that you want to continue with the logoff operation.
Click OK to force the logoff.

System Maintenance Tools for Managing User Login Sessions

Tasks such as making changes to the metadata, restarting a metadata server, restarting the object spawner, or restarting a Web application can be performed safely only when users are not logged on to applications or when new users are prohibited from logging on to the applications. The Maintenance Restart Wizard enables you to perform a sequence of tasks to prepare the system for maintenance.

The SAS Web Administration Console cannot stop, pause, or start servers. For instructions about system maintenance tasks such as stopping, pausing, or starting servers, see the SAS Intelligence Platform: System Administration Guide.

Note: Do not close the Web browser during a quiesced state or when you are completing the steps in the Restart Maintenance Wizard. If the Web browser is closed during these sessions, restart your Web application server. [cautionend]

The following display shows the System Maintenance page in the SAS Web Administration Console.

System Maintenance Page

[System Maintenance Page]

Maintenance Restart Wizard

Use the Maintenance Restart Wizard to prepare a system for maintenance and resume system operations as described in the following list:

Notify authenticated users who are logged on to applications that system maintenance is planned, and specify a deadline by which they need to log off from their applications.
Enable the shutdown of the system after a specified deadline.
Enable the system to prohibit new users from logging on to their applications.
If the notification deadline has passed, and users and have not terminated their sessions, the system forces authenticated users to exit and terminate their sessions. All users are logged off.
Quiesce the system by temporarily putting the system into an inactive state. When the system is quiesced, users' logon capabilities are disabled.
Begin maintenance operations such as restarting the metadata server, the object spawner, or a Web application.
Resume system operation by removing the quiesced state from the system, and enabling users to log on to the system and their applications.

To use the Maintenance Restart Wizard, log on to the SAS Web Administration Console. Navigate to Environment Management System Maintenance. Click Restart System and follow the Wizard's instructions.

The following display shows the main page for the Maintenance Restart Wizard.

Maintenance Restart Wizard

[Maintenance Restart Wizard]

Quiesce the System

You can quiesce a system by allowing existing users to stay logged on to their applications, and prohibiting new users from logging on to their applications.

To quiesce the system, log on to the SAS Web Administration Console. Navigate to Environment Management System Maintenance. Click Quiesce System. When you are finished with your maintenance operations, click Resume system to remove the quiesced state and enable users to log on to their applications. The following display shows the message that is displayed when a system is quiesced.

Message Displayed When System Is Quiesced

[Message Displayed When System Is Quiesced]

View Information about Web Applications

The SAS Web Administration Console provides read-only information about the SAS Web applications that were installed and configured at your site. This feature is useful for viewing application information from any machine without the need to have SAS Management Console installed on the machine.

To display the applications, expand the Application Management node in the navigation pane.

The tree view on the left side of the page displays a hierarchical list of configured applications. The list varies depending on the software that has been installed.

When you click the name of an application, the right side of the page displays the following types of information:

Application settings

displays settings that are currently configured for the application. For example, SAS Information Delivery Portal settings include the locale that is in use, the location where portlets are deployed, the e-mail host, and default settings for various user preferences.

You cannot change any of the application settings here. To change settings, use the Application Management Configuration Manager plug-in in SAS Management Console.

Directives

provides the internal direction to the application's URL. This information is used internally to route applications. You might use this information to troubleshoot applications under the guidance of SAS Technical Support.

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