SAS^® Third-Party Software Requirements - Baseline and Later Support

This page concerns only SAS support policies that relate to third-party software. For a complete list and description of SAS Technical Support policies, see SAS Technical Support Policies. 

Starting with SAS® 9.2, in order to add support for major version changes in third-party software that the “and later” policy does not address, SAS has a formalized process for evaluating and adding support as appropriate. SAS will add support for major versions of third-party software either at maintenance boundaries or sooner, depending on the impact of the changes to SAS software that are required. This support process is in addition to the "and later" support policy that is described here. Support for newer major versions will be documented on the Third-Party Support pages.

A minor update that is found to produce significant problems with SAS software would be treated as an exception to this policy. SAS will document such findings on support.sas.com. If problems are found in the field with a specific third-party minor update, SAS will work with the vendor to gain resolution, which might include requiring an upgrade to a later minor release of the third-party software that includes the correction. In some instances, SAS software is supported for a third-party product whose vendor has withdrawn support. SAS reserves the right to move support to Limited Support for these third-party software levels at our discretion. For more information, see SAS^® Software Support When Third-Party Vendors Drop Support.

These third-party technologies are at various stages of maturity in terms of backward compatibility, stability, and robustness. We have separated these third-party dependencies into discrete groupings based on technology and the level of software maturity.

Operating Systems

Starting with the minimum system requirements for a given release of SAS software, SAS supports any subsequent minor versions, as defined by the Independent Software Vendor (ISV), unless the operating-system upgrade also necessitates an unsupported third-party product change.

Java Development Kits (JDKs)/Java Runtime Environments (JREs)

Starting with the minimum system requirements for that release of SAS software, SAS will support minor updates, as defined by the independent software vendor (ISV). This policy covers all fix packs, maintenance packs, service packs, minor versions, and security patches. Feature packs are new functionality that SAS does not necessarily commit to support until a new release point.

Java Application Servers

Starting with the minimum system requirements for that release of SAS software, SAS supports minor versions within a major version family, as defined by the third-party vendor. This policy covers all fix packs, maintenance packs, service packs, feature packs, minor versions, and security patches.

Web Browsers

Starting with the minimum system requirements for a release of SAS software, SAS will support minor versions as defined by the independent software vendor (ISV). This policy covers all fix packs, maintenance packs, minor versions, and security patches. 

Notes: SAS recommends using 64-bit browsers. Starting with SAS® 9.3M1 (TS1M1), "and later" support for Firefox includes major versions as well.

Virtualization Technologies

Starting with the minimum system requirements for a particular release of SAS software, SAS will support major and minor versions as defined by the independent software vendor (ISV). For more information, see SAS Product Support for Virtualization Environments.