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

SAS/SHARE

Client Tasks

System Administrator or User

To prepare to access a SAS/SHARE server, perform the following tasks:

For Windows NT only, set security for connecting clients.
Specify the APPC access method.
Know how to specify a server name.

Setting Security for Connecting Clients

CAUTION:: Windows NT only Server security is supported on the Windows NT platform only.

If the network administrator specified session security in the SASTP62 TP definition, clients must have secure userids and passwords.

Requiring connecting clients to supply both a valid userid and password enforces server security. At the client, set the preferred security method for relaying a userid and a password that are valid on the server host. For details, see Setting Security for SAS/CONNECT and SAS/SHARE.

Specifying the APPC Communications Access Method

You must specify the APPC communications access method at the client before you access a server.

Use the following syntax to specify the APPC access method at each connecting client:

OPTIONS COMAMID=access-method-id;

where COMAMID is an acronym for Communications Access Method Identification. access-method-id identifies the method used by the client to communicate with the server. APPC (an abbreviation for Advanced Program-to-Program Communication) is an example of an access-method-id.

Example:

options comamid=appc;

The server is accessed using the APPC access method.

You may specify the COMAMID option in an OPTIONS statement, at a SAS invocation, or in a SAS configuration file.

Additionally, you may use the COMAUX1 and COMAUX2 options to designate auxiliary communications access methods. See SAS/CONNECT and SAS/SHARE: Supported Access Methods According to Host Release for the supported access methods by host. If the first method fails to access a server, the second method is attempted, and so on. You can specify up to two auxiliary access methods, depending on the number of methods that are supported between client and server hosts.

COMAUX options can be specified only at a SAS invocation or in a SAS configuration file. The syntax for the COMAUX options follows:

-COMAUX1 alternate-method
-COMAUX2 alternate-method

An example of configuration file entries for a Windows NT client follows:

-comamid appc
-comaux1 tcp

If the server cannot be reached using the APPC method, a second attempt is made with the TCP/IP access method.

Specifying a Server Name

The server name that you specify in the PROC OPERATE statement and the LIBNAME statement must be defined as the local-LU at the SAS/SHARE server and as a remote-LU-alias at the client computer. For complete information about defining appropriate LUs for use with SAS/SHARE, see Setting SAS Options and Installing and Configuring a Microsoft Server Environment.

The server name must meet the criteria for a valid SAS name. See SAS Language Reference: Dictionary for details about SAS naming rules.

Examples of specifying the server name follow:

options comamid=appc;
libname demo 'C:/' server=remote-lu-alias;

In this example, at the client computer, the server name is expressed as a remote-lu-alias, which is a name that refers to a remote-LU.

If the server is running on a CMS system that is connected to your system through a global VTAM AVS gateway, you must use a two-level server name specification as follows:

libname demo 'demo a' server=gateway.server;

where gateway is defined to the CMS system as the AVS-gateway LU.

For details about the PROC OPERATE statement and the PROC SERVER statement, see SAS/SHARE User's Guide.

Client Example

The following example illustrates the statements that you specify in a Windows NT client configuration file to access a server with the APPC access method.

-set appc_luname locallu
-set appc_lu62mode appcmode

LOCALLU is the name of a local-LU-alias and APPCMODE is the mode name that are defined at the Windows NT SNA server.

The following example illustrates the statements that you specify in a Windows NT client session to access a server with the APPC access method:

options comamid=appc;
libname sasdata 'c:edc.prog2.sasdata' user=_prompt_ server=share1;

The APPC access method is declared. The LIBNAME statement specifies the name of the data library that is accessed through the server SHARE1 by means of a prompt for a username and a password that are valid on the server. To access a server that is running on the Windows NT platform, specify remote-LU-alias for the server name.

Server Tasks

Server Administrator

To set up a secure server and to make it accessible to a client, perform the following tasks:

Configure APPC conversation security.
Specify the APPC access method.
Specify the server name.

Configuring APPC Conversation Security

You can authenticate users at the server, but you cannot control the file authorization.

For the APPC access method on Windows NT, Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows 32s, you can authenticate users at the server by setting up APPC session security within the SASTP62 TP (transaction program) definition.

However, securing user authorization for file access is not possible because the underlying APPC subsystem performs the authentication, preventing the server application from obtaining user password information.

Without user password information, it is impossible to switch user contexts for validating user authorization. This is an APPC implementation limitation.

For further details about setting up TP definitions, see SASTP62 Transaction Program.

A secure server allows connections only from those clients that provide valid userids and passwords for the host on which the server is running. Requiring connecting clients to supply a valid userid and password enforces server security.

Specifying the APPC Access Method at the Server

You must specify the APPC communications access method before you can start a SAS/SHARE server.

Use the following syntax to specify the APPC access method at the server:

OPTIONS COMAMID=access-method-id;

where COMAMID is an acronym for Communications Access Method Identification. access-method-id identifies the method used by the server to communicate with the client. APPC (an abbreviation for Advanced Program-to-Program Communication) is an example of an access-method-id.

For a server that is running on a host on which only one communications access method is available, use only the COMAMID option.

Example:

options comamid=appc;

The server will be available only to SAS/SHARE sessions that use the APPC access method.

You may specify the COMAMID option in an OPTIONS statement, at a SAS invocation, or in a SAS configuration file.

However, if the host on which a server is running supports multiple access methods, you may specify up to two auxiliary access methods by which clients may access the server using the COMAUX1 and COMAUX2 options. See SAS/CONNECT and SAS/SHARE: Supported Access Methods According to Host Release for the supported access methods by host.

All of the access methods initialize when the server initializes. The activation of multiple access methods makes a server available to several groups of clients, each using a different communications access method simultaneously.

COMAUX options can be specified only at a SAS invocation or in a SAS configuration file. The syntax for the COMAUX options follows:

-COMAUX1 alternate-method
-COMAUX2 alternate-method

An example of configuration file entries for a server that is running on a Windows NT host follows:

-comamid appc
-comaux1 tcp
-comaux2 netbios

When the server starts, all of the communications access methods are initialized. The server is simultaneously available to client sessions that use the APPC access method as well as to clients that use the TCP/IP and NETBIOS access methods.

Specifying a Server Name

The server name that you specify in the PROC SERVER statement must be defined as the local-LU at the SAS/SHARE server and as a remote-LU-alias at the client computer. For complete information about defining appropriate LUs for use with SAS/SHARE, see Setting SAS Options and Installing and Configuring a Microsoft Server Environment.

The server name must meet the criteria for a valid SAS name. See SAS Language Reference: Dictionary for details about SAS naming rules.

For details about the PROC SERVER statement, see SAS/SHARE User's Guide.

Server Example

The following example illustrates the statements that you specify in a SAS session on the Windows NT host at which you start a server:

options comamid=appc;
proc server id=share1;
run;

The APPC access method is declared, and the server SHARE1, which is the local-LU, is started on the Windows NT host.

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