Specifying a Communications Access Method

A communications access method is the interface between SAS and the network protocol that you use to connect two operating environments. The access method that you use is determined by the network protocols that you have available at your site and the operating environments that you are connecting. Supported access methods for SAS 9.3 are TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) and XMS (Cross Memory Services).

For a complete list of valid connections among operating environments and access methods for SAS/SHARE, see Communications Access Methods for SAS/CONNECT and SAS/SHARE.

Operating environments and access methods usually require the configuration of access method resources on the operating environments on which the server will run. Consult your network administrator about this configuration. For details about configuring access method resources, see Communications Access Methods for SAS/CONNECT and SAS/SHARE.

Server administrators should also be aware of special considerations and limitations when the server is accessed by clients on an operating environment that is different from that of the server. For information about cross-architecture limitations and considerations, see Cross-Architecture Access.

After you verify that access method resources have been configured but before you start a server, you must specify the access method by using the following syntax:

access-method is the abbreviation for the method that is used by the server to communicate with a client. In SAS 9.3, the supported access-method identifiers are TCP/IP and XMS.

For a server that runs under an operating environment on which only one access method is available, use only the COMAMID option. For example:

options comamid=tcp;

You might specify the COMAMID= option in an OPTIONS statement, at SAS invocation, or in a SAS configuration file.

If the operating environment on which the server runs supports multiple access methods, you can use the COMAUX1 option to specify alternate auxiliary access methods by which clients can access the server.

All of the access methods initialize when the server initializes. The activation of multiple access methods makes a server available to several groups of clients, each group using a different access method simultaneously.

The COMAUX option can be specified only at a SAS invocation or in a SAS configuration file. Here is the syntax for the COMAUX option:

-comamid tcp
-comaux1 xms

When the server starts, all of the communications access methods are initialized. The server is simultaneously available to client sessions that use the TCP/IP access method and to clients that use the XMS access method.

For more information about access methods, see Communications Access Methods for SAS/CONNECT and SAS/SHARE.