Setting Up a COM/DCOM Connection

Introduction

SAS can be configured to enable client access through Component Object Model (COM) interfaces. A COM connection can be established either locally (on the same machine) or remotely (on a different machine). For remote connections, the Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM) interface is used.

Because COM launches the SAS server, spawners are not used in the COM/DCOM server environment. However, you can (and should) use the SAS 9.1 Object Manager (or SAS System Version 8 Workspace Manager) to obtain a DCOM server. The server definitions can be administered through a metadata server.

DCOM must be enabled on both the client machine and on the machine where the IOM server runs. The server machine requires additional configuration for DCOM object access and launch permissions.

When to Use a Server with a COM/DCOM Connection

• The server will be installed on a Windows machine and will be accessed by Windows client applications running on remote machines. In this situation, the connection uses DCOM.

• The server will be installed on a Windows machine and will be accessed by Windows client applications running on the same machine. In this situation, the connection uses COM.

Caution: Use of the COM protocol to launch the SAS Metadata Server is experimental in SAS 9.1. Do not use this combination as a production environment.

If you use a Java client, you must use an IOM Bridge server configuration (or both configurations for OLAP and metadata servers, which can support both COM and IOM Bridge connections simultaneously).

Note: If your server or client machines run Windows XP Service Pack 2 or later, or Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 or later, you must change settings to enable DCOM functionality. See Configuring DCOM on Windows XP Service Pack 2 and Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 for more information.