DataFlux Data Management Studio 2.6: User Guide

Adding SAS Data Set Connections

You can use the SAS Data Set Connection dialog to connect to a folder that contains one or more SAS data sets. The data is accessed directly on disk without mediation by a SAS Application Server. For a list of the versions of SAS data that can be accessed, see the row for SAS in Supported Databases for Data Storage. See also any relevant Data Connection Usage Notes.

The SAS connection points to a folder on the file system that contains SAS data sets. The host that executes the connection must be able to access the folder that contains the SAS data. For example, the DataFlux Data Management Studio host is a Windows host. If the SAS data sets are on a Unix host, you would need a networking protocol like SAMBA (SMB/CIFS) or a network file system (NFS) that exposes the Unix file system as a Windows directory. The SAS connection supports Cross Environment Data Access (CEDA). Use a UNC path to specify a remote target folder or data set, such as the following: 

\\myhost.com\sources\sas1_src

If the DataFlux Data Management Studio host cannot access a Unix folder that contains the SAS data sets, you could access the data through a SAS Federation Server. For more information about that method, see Adding Federation Server Connections.

Perform the following steps to create a connection:

1. Click the Data riser on the DataFlux Data Management Studio desktop.
2. Select the New Data Connection menu in the Data Connections pane on the right. Then select SAS Data Set Connection to display the SAS Data Set Connection dialog.
3. Enter a name and description for the new connection into the appropriate fields.
4. Enter the path to the directory that contains one or more SAS data sets. When the server is remote from the client, use a UNC path to specify the target folder or data set.
5. Verify that the appropriate option is specified in the Access field. DEFAULT is read-write access. READ-ONLY assigns a read-only access. TEMP specifies that the data set be treated as a scratch file.
6. Verify that the appropriate option is specified in the Compression field. If you compress data, you might experience a slowdown in performance. NO specifies that the observations are uncompressed. Use YES or CHAR to compress character data. Use BINARY to compress binary data.
7. Verify that the appropriate option is specified in the Table Locking field. SHARE specifies that other users or processes can read data from the table but prevents other users from updating. EXCLUSIVE locks tables exclusively which prevents other users from accessing any table you open.
8. Verify that the appropriate option is specified in the Encoding field. The default is the SAS System encoding. You might select an encoding that is different than the default if you are processing a file with a different encoding.
   
   You can select an encoding from the drop-down menu. If you type the first few letters of the desired encoding, the closest match will be added to this field. For more information, see the appendix, Encodings for SAS Data Sets.
9. Connection String - Displays the connection string for the SAS data set. Check the connection string to see if the appropriate options encoding has been selected for this connection. You can test the connection by clicking Test Connection.
10. Click OK to save the new connection and return to the Data riser.
11. Refresh the Data riser in order to see the new connection in the Data Connections folder in the left pane. Select View, and then select Refresh from the main menu. The new connection should appear in the Data Connections folder.
12. To verify a connection, double-click the connection in the Data Connections folder in the left pane. Enter any required credentials. If the connection works, you will be able to see tables, fields, and other attributes in the right panel.

Administrators can specify where SAS data set connections are stored. For more information, see the TKTS DSN Directory setting in the "Data Access Component Directives" topic in the DataFlux Data Management Studio Installation and Configuration Guide.