SAS/CONNECT User's Guide

How SAS/CONNECT Works with the SAS System

SAS/CONNECT enables both direct and indirect connections between two or more SAS sessions. Typically, each of these sessions is running on a different host. After the connection is made, you have access to the services and resources available to both sessions.

When you initiate a connection from a local SAS session to a remote host, you invoke the SAS System on the remote host. This type of connection is required when you use remote compute services or remote library services, perform data transfers, or use remote objects. Connections are not required for messaging services or agent scheduling.

The terms remote and local refer to how you interact with a SAS session. These terms are not related to the physical location of the host device. The SAS session in which you issue local commands is the local host. The SAS session to which you direct your remote commands is the remote host. In addition, the term host is used to describe any computer and operating system on which you can run SAS software.

The remote SAS session is not directly accessible. However, you can think of it as running in a special mode. You can access it only through the SAS/CONNECT link from your local host. All output and log messages produced by the remote session are generally displayed in the local session.

To make the connection, SAS/CONNECT uses a communications access method. There are a number of different access methods supported by SAS/CONNECT. Before you can use SAS/CONNECT, you must configure your hosts for a supported communications access method. SAS/CONNECT: Valid Access Methods between Hosts identifies the communications access methods that you can use to make a connection between a local and a remote host.

SAS/CONNECT: Valid Access Methods between Hosts

Remote Hosts Local Hosts

CMS OpenVMS OS/2 OS/390 UNIX Win NT Win 95 Win 98 Win 32s
(V6 only) Macintosh
(V6 only) VSE
(V6 only)

CMS APPC
TCP/IP
TCP/IP
TELNET
APPC
EHLLAPI
TCP/IP
APPC
TCP/IP
APPC
TCP/IP
TELNET
APPC
EHLLAPI
TCP/IP
TELNET
APPC
CPIC
EHLLAPI
TCP/IP
TELNET
TCP/IP APPC

OpenVMS TCP/IP TCP/IP
TELNET
DECnet
TCP/IP
TELNET
TCP/IP TCP/IP
TELNET
TCP/IP
TELNET
DECnet
TCP/IP
TELNET
DECnet
TCP/IP none

OS/2 APPC
TCP/IP
TCP/IP APPC
TCP/IP
NetBIOS
APPC
TCP/IP
APPC
TCP/IP
APPC
TCP/IP
NetBIOS
APPC
TCP/IP
NetBIOS
CPIC
TCP/IP APPC

OS/390 APPC
TCP/IP
TCP/IP
TELNET
APPC
TCP/IP
TELNET
EHLLAPI
APPC
TCP/IP
APPC
TCP/IP
TELNET
APPC
TCP/IP
TELNET
EHLLAPI
APPC
TCP/IP
TELNET
EHLLAPI
CPIC
TCP/IP APPC

UNIX TCP/IP TCP/IP TCP/IP TCP/IP TCP/IP TCP/IP TCP/IP TCP/IP none

Win NT Win 95 Win 98 APPC
TCP/IP
TCP/IP
DECnet
APPC
TCP/IP
NetBIOS
APPC
TCP/IP
APPC
TCP/IP
APPC
TCP/IP
DECnet
NetBIOS
APPC
TCP/IP
DECnet
NetBIOS
CPIC
TCP/IP APPC

VSE
(V6 only)
APPC none APPC
EHLLAPI
APPC APPC APPC
EHLLAPI
APPC
EHLLAPI
CPIC
none APPC

***SAS/CONNECT: Valid Access Methods between Hosts***
Remote Hosts	Local Hosts
CMS	OpenVMS	OS/2	OS/390	UNIX	Win NT Win 95 Win 98	Win 32s (V6 only)	Macintosh (V6 only)	VSE (V6 only)
CMS	APPC TCP/IP	TCP/IP TELNET	APPC EHLLAPI TCP/IP	APPC TCP/IP	APPC TCP/IP TELNET	APPC EHLLAPI TCP/IP TELNET	APPC CPIC EHLLAPI TCP/IP TELNET	TCP/IP	APPC
OpenVMS	TCP/IP	TCP/IP TELNET DECnet	TCP/IP TELNET	TCP/IP	TCP/IP TELNET	TCP/IP TELNET DECnet	TCP/IP TELNET DECnet	TCP/IP	none
OS/2	APPC TCP/IP	TCP/IP	APPC TCP/IP NetBIOS	APPC TCP/IP	APPC TCP/IP	APPC TCP/IP NetBIOS	APPC TCP/IP NetBIOS CPIC	TCP/IP	APPC
OS/390	APPC TCP/IP	TCP/IP TELNET	APPC TCP/IP TELNET EHLLAPI	APPC TCP/IP	APPC TCP/IP TELNET	APPC TCP/IP TELNET EHLLAPI	APPC TCP/IP TELNET EHLLAPI CPIC	TCP/IP	APPC
UNIX	TCP/IP	TCP/IP	TCP/IP	TCP/IP	TCP/IP	TCP/IP	TCP/IP	TCP/IP	none
Win NT Win 95 Win 98	APPC TCP/IP	TCP/IP DECnet	APPC TCP/IP NetBIOS	APPC TCP/IP	APPC TCP/IP	APPC TCP/IP DECnet NetBIOS	APPC TCP/IP DECnet NetBIOS CPIC	TCP/IP	APPC
VSE (V6 only)	APPC	none	APPC EHLLAPI	APPC	APPC	APPC EHLLAPI	APPC EHLLAPI CPIC	none	APPC

To initiate and terminate a connection, you invoke the SIGNON and SIGNOFF commands, respectively. Based on the access method that you use, these commands execute a script or connect you directly to the remote host. A script is an external file on the local system that contains special SAS statements that control the connection. You can use one of the sample scripts that is provided by SAS Institute, a script that is provided by your computing installation, or a script that you write on your own.

You can use SAS/CONNECT in interactive line mode and non-interactive mode, as well as in the SAS windowing environment. Noninteractive mode gives you a way to

perform daily or nightly automated backups.
initiate transaction processing to a master database at a specified time each day.
centralize and automate data and report distribution to workstations in a network.
centralize and automate data collection from workstations in a network.

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