Working with SAS Package Metadata

About Importing and Exporting SAS Package Metadata

The SAS Intelligence Platform provides tools that enable you to promote individual metadata objects or groups of objects from one metadata server to another, or from one location to another on the same metadata server. You can also promote the physical files that are associated with the metadata.
The promotion tools include:
  • the Export to SAS Package wizard and the Import from SAS Package wizard, which are available in SAS Data Integration Studio, SAS Management Console, and SAS OLAP Cube Studio.
  • the batch import tool and the batch export tool, which enable you to perform promotions on a scheduled or repeatable basis. These tools provide most of the same capabilities as the SAS Package import and export wizards. For information about the batch import tool and the batch export tool, see the "Using the Promotion Tools" chapter in the SAS Intelligence Platform: System Administration Guide.
The SAS Package import and export wizards enable you to reuse the metadata for tables, jobs, and other objects. For example, you can develop a job in a test environment, export it, and then import the job into a production environment. These wizards enable you to perform the following tasks:
  • export the metadata for one or more selected objects in a tree view.
  • export the metadata for all objects in one or more selected folders in the Folders tree.
  • export access controls that are associated with exported objects (optional).
  • export data, dependent metadata, and other content that is associated with exported objects (optional).
  • change physical paths and other attributes when you import metadata (optional). For example, you can export the metadata for a SAS table, and upon import, change the metadata so that it specifies a DBMS table in the target environment.

Objects That Can Be Imported and Exported in SAS Package Format

You can import and export SAS Package metadata for any object type that is included in the SAS Data Integration Studio Inventory tree. For a description of these objects, see Inventory Tree.

Importing Earlier Versions of SAS Package Metadata

If you are migrating from an earlier version to SAS Data Integration Studio 4.2, administrators need to migrate your metadata servers. However, you might have jobs stored in locations that are not part of the migration process. If these jobs can be exported to SAS 9.1.3 Package format, you can use the Import from SAS Package wizard in SAS Data Integration Studio 4.2 to convert and register these jobs on your metadata server.
If you have jobs that were exported in XML format before SAS Data Integration Studio 3.4., you must either include these jobs in a system migration, or import them in SAS Data Integration Studio 3.4, export them as a SAS Package, and then import the SAS Package in SAS Data Integration Studio 4.2.
Note: When a job in SAS 9.1.3 Package format is imported with the SAS 9.2 Import from SAS Package wizard, the job and its transformations are updated as they are during migration.