SAS/SHARE User's Guide

Pre-Defining SAS Data Libraries to the Server

Although it is not required, you can pre-define one or more selected SAS data libraries to the server for use by client applications. Advantages of pre-defining a library are

Applications can use the libref that you define to identify the library. This protects them against future changes to the library's physical pathname.
The library is available to all clients that use the server's SQL services, including SAS clients that use the Remote SQL Pass-Through (RSPT) facility, and other clients that use the SAS ODBC driver, the JDBC driver, or the SQL library for C.
The server administrator can refer to the library with a libref in PROC OPERATE commands.

Be aware that the userid from which the server runs must have the appropriate permissions to access the SAS data library that you want to pre-define to a server. You should be familiar with the permissions requirements of the operating environment, the network, and the security software before you pre-define a library. For information about server security, see Server Security.

Methods for Pre-Defining a Server Library

Server administrators can pre-define a SAS data library to a server in the following ways:

in your server program, include a LIBNAME statement before specifying the PROC SERVER step.
in a server administrator session, use an ALLOCATE LIBRARY command in the OPERATE procedure to pre-define a library.

Note: In addition to these recommended methods, you can also define a libref externally to SAS. For this information, see the SAS documentation for your operating environment. [cautionend]

Pre-Defining a Server Library by Using the LIBNAME Statement

In your server program, before specifying the PROC SERVER step, you may pre-define one or more SAS data libraries to the server. The following syntax is typical:

LIBNAME libref 'SAS-data-library' <options>;

How you specify the physical pathname of the SAS data library and options are host-specific. For details about the LIBNAME statement and host-specific options, see SAS Language Reference: Concepts and the SAS documentation for your operating environment.

Here is an example of how to pre-define a library to the server with the LIBNAME statement for a UNIX host:

libname mylib '/payroll/div2/emp';

After you define a library to the server, a message is displayed to the SAS log. An example of a message for a server on a UNIX host follows:

1     libname mylib '.'; 
NOTE: Libref MYLIB was successfully assigned as follows:
Engine: V8
Physical Name: /payroll/div2/emp

Pre-Defining a Server Library by Using the ALLOCATE LIBRARY Command in the OPERATE Procedure

From a server administrator session, while the server is running, pre-define one or more SAS data libraries to the server by using the following syntax:

PROC OPERATE SERVER=serverid;

ALLOCATE LIBRARY libref ' SAS-data-library' <options>;

How you specify the physical pathname of the SAS data library and options are host specific. For full details about the ALLOCATE LIBRARY command, see Allocating a Library to a Server That Is Already Running. For details about host-specific options, see SAS Language Reference: Dictionary and the SAS documentation for your operating environment.

Here is an example of how to use the ALLOCATE LIBRARY command of the OPERATE procedure for a Windows host:

proc operate server=share1;
  allocate library mylib '\payroll\dev2\emp';

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