Communications Access Methods for SAS/CONNECT and SAS/SHARE Software

SAS/CONNECT

Local Host Tasks

User or Applications Programmer

To connect an OpenVMS local host to a remote host, perform these tasks at the local host:

Specify the communications access method.
Specify a remote host to connect to.
Sign on to the remote host.

Specifying the DECnet Communications Access Method

You must specify the DECnet communications access method to make a remote host connection. Use the following syntax:

OPTIONS COMAMID=access-method-id;

where COMAMID is an acronym for Communications Access Method Identification. access-method-id identifies the method used by the local host to communicate with the remote host. DECnet (an acronym for Digital Equipment Corporation's Networking architecture) is an example of access-method-id.

Alternatively, you may set this option at a SAS invocation or in the SAS configuration file.

Example:

options comamid=decnet;

Specifying the Remote Host Name

To connect an OpenVMS local host to a remote host, use the following syntax:

REMOTE=remote-session-id

where remote-session-id can be expressed as a node name or as ACI (Access Control Information), which is represented as:

nodename"username password" ::
                |"? ?" ::
                |"username ?" ::
                |"? password" ::

If proxy access is enabled on the DECnet network, specify only the remote node name. Ask your network administrator if proxy access is enabled on the DECnet network. Proxy access precludes a need for you to assign your username and password to the ACI. Otherwise, include the username and password information in the ACI or substitute that information for the one or two question marks (?) to signify prompting for either username or password or both username and password.

Note: If a password is not required for an account, you may omit the password from the ACI. [cautionend]

Instead of hard-coding username and password values, you are encouraged to use prompting as a security aid.

If you specify a username and password in the ACI, you must assign them to a SAS macro variable.

To connect an OpenVMS local host to a remote host, you may specify the remote host in either of the following forms:

remote node name
SAS macro variable for the remote node
DCL symbol
OpenVMS logical name format
SAS$CONN command file.

Examples:

OpenVMS logical name format:

$ define alias "node""username password""::"
$ sas/comamid=decnet/remote=alias
$ options remote=alias;

Example of OpenVMS logical name format:

$ define fred"monarch""bass time2go""::"
$ sas/comamid=decnet/remote=fred

SAS macro variable format:

$ sas/comamid=decnet
1? %let alias=node"username password" ::;
2? options remote=alias;

Example of SAS macro variable format:

$ sas/comamid=decnet
1? %let fred=monarch"bass time2go" ::;
2? options remote=fred;

DCL symbol format:

$ alias:= "node""username password""::"
$ sas/comamid=decnet/remote=alias

Example of DCL symbol:

$ fred:= "monarch""bass time2go""::"
$ sas/comamid=decnet/remote=fred

In all three examples, the alias is FRED, the node is MONARCH, the username is BASS, and the password is TIME2GO.

Note: The colons (::) are optional, but the quotation marks must be used. You may use a question mark (?) to cause the local host to prompt for the username and password. Do not use the same value for the alias and the node name; they must be different. [cautionend]

If you have defined all three forms of the remote host name, the order of precedence from highest to lowest is

OpenVMS logical name
SAS macro variable
DCL symbol.

Signing On to the Remote Host

To complete your sign on to the remote host, enter the SIGNON statement, as follows:

signon user=_prompt_;

To set security at the remote host, specify valid values for the USER= and PASSWORD= options in the SIGNON statement. For details, see Providing Client Identification in a Version 8 Session.

Although no errors result from specifying a script file for sign on and sign off, you waste processing time. If you defined a RLINK fileref, when you sign on, SAS/CONNECT processes and loads the script file that is identified by the RLINK fileref but DECnet will then ignore the script. If you do not want to free the RLINK fileref, you can save processing time by using the NOSCRIPT option in the SIGNON and SIGNOFF statements, shown as follows:

signon noscript;
.
.
.
signoff noscript;

Local Host Example

The following example illustrates the statements that you specify in a SAS$CONN.COM command file at an OpenVMS local host to set the current working directory and to start a local SAS session.

set def disk:[bass.work]
sas/dmr/comamid=decnet

The following example illustrates the statements that you specify in a SAS session to access a remote host with the DECnet access method.

$ sas/comamid=decnet/remote=rmthost
1? signon user=_prompt_;

The statements in the first line invoke a SAS session, specify the DECnet access method, and specify a remote host with the DCL symbol format that is identified by RMTHOST. The USER= option in the SIGNON statement specifies that the connecting local host be prompted for a userid and a password that are valid on the remote host.

Remote Host Tasks

System Administrator

You must perform these tasks at the remote host to allow a connection from a local host:

Create the SAS$CONN.COM command file for signing on.
Optionally set several remote host options.

Creating the SAS$CONN.COM Command File for Signing On

The DECnet access method's ability to automatically create its remote partner (also known as connecting to an object) eliminates the need for using a script file for signing on or signing off. SAS uses the SAS$CONN.COM command file, which is provided in the SAS$ROOT:[TOOLS] directory, to create the SAS$CONN object.

This connection causes DECnet to create a process on the specified remote host by using proxy access or by using the username and password that is supplied as the ACI (Access Control Information). DECnet then finds and executes the command file that is associated with the object name SAS$CONN. This command file contains DCL commands, one of which invokes the remote SAS session.

You may use one of two methods to cause DECnet to associate a command file with the SAS$CONN object name.

Put the command file SAS$CONN.COM in the user's default login directory.
The advantage of this method is that each user can tailor the command file, thus producing many copies of the command file throughout the system.
Ask the system administrator to specify the location of the command file using the Network Control Program (NCP).
The advantage of this method is that you need only one copy of the file on the system. However, if SAS$CONN is a known object, the system uses the declared file and ignores any tailored copies of SAS$CONN.COM in a user's login directory.

A sample SAS$CONN.COM command file follows:

set def disk:[user.directory]
sas/dmr/comamid=decnet/noterminal/no$syntaxcheck

where you supply the values for user.directory.

The first line sets the default directory to the directory where you want to run SAS; the second line invokes the remote SAS session.

Setting Options at the Remote Host

Although sign-on script files are not used for the DECnet access method, you still may set these remote host options at the remote host.

NO$SYNTAXCHECK

allows the continuation of statement processing at the remote host regardless of syntax error conditions.

This option is valid as part of a configuration file, at a SAS invocation, or in an OPTIONS statement.

NOTERMINAL

specifies whether a terminal is attached at SAS invocation. If NOTERMINAL is specified, requestor windows are not displayed.

Setting NOTERMINAL at the remote host is advisable so that no terminal is associated with the remote session. This option prevents SAS from displaying error messages and dialog boxes on the remote host, which requires user intervention.

This option is valid as part of a configuration file or SAS invocation.

See SAS Language Reference: Dictionary for details about this option.

An example of configuration file entries for a remote host using the DECnet method follows:

no$syntaxcheck
noterminal

Remote Host Example

The following example illustrates the SAS$CONN.COM file entries for an OpenVMS remote host:

sas/comamid=decnet/no$syntaxcheck/noterminal

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