Exploiting Warehouse Metadata

Overview: Metadata Repositories

When you open a Warehouse Environment and a Data Warehouse in the SAS/Warehouse Administrator Explorer, two metadata repositories are active:

libref _MASTER	specifies the current Environment repository, which stores metadata for any data stores defined at the Environment level, along with host definitions and other global metadata. _MASTER contains references to any Data Warehouse repositories (libref _DWMD).
libref _DWMD	specifies the current Warehouse repository, which stores metadata for any data stores defined at the Data Warehouse level.

Note: Only two metadata repositories are active at any given time: _MASTER and _DWMD. [cautionend]

When you open a Warehouse Environment in the Explorer, a libref to the corresponding _MASTER library is assigned. You cannot open a second Environment from the Explorer. When you exit the Explorer, the libref to _MASTER is unassigned.

When you open a Data Warehouse in the Explorer, a libref to the corresponding _DWMD library is assigned. If you open a second Data Warehouse, the libref to the first one is unassigned, and the libref to the second one is assigned.

Maintaining a metadata repository is a matter of maintaining the corresponding Warehouse Environment or Data Warehouse, as described previously in this document. Be sure to back up the metadata repositories for an Environment and its Data Warehouses.

Impact of Metadata Repositories on User Operations

Some user operations that involve two objects in the Explorer or the Process Editor can only be completed if the metadata for these objects is in the same metadata repository. These operations are only permitted if

the metadata for both objects is defined in the same Data Warehouse
the metadata for both objects is defined at the Warehouse Environment level
the metadata for both objects is defined in the same Environment.

For example, cut and paste operations in the SAS/Warehouse Administrator Explorer and Process Editor are restricted to the same metadata repository. This means

you cannot cut and paste any object between a Data Warehouse and an ODD Group
you cannot cut an object from one Data Warehouse and paste it into another Data Warehouse
you can cut an object from one ODD Group and paste it into another ODD Group.

For example, all output tables that you add to a Job must be in the same metadata repository as the Job. Keep this in mind when you add multiple output tables to a Job, as described in Example: Defining a Job with Multiple Output Tables and Input Sources in a Process Flow.

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