The SERVER Procedure

ALLOCATE SASFILE Command

Note: A statement that is used in the SERVER procedure is called a command. [cautionend]

The SERVER procedure is interactive; that is, its statements are executed as they are encountered. The SERVER procedure executes until it is terminated by a QUIT or a RUN command.

You can use the ALLOCATE SASFILE command to specify that one or more SAS data sets remain open for the duration of a server session until you terminate the server.

Keeping SAS data sets open until you terminate the server can enhance server performance by reducing overhead as users open and close the SAS data sets during the server's processing. Files kept open this way are available for users to read and update, but they are not available for exclusive access. Actions that require exclusive access to a SAS data set include using a DATA step to replace it and using PROC DATASETS to rename variables in it.

Syntax

ALLOCATE SASFILE SAS-data-set1 (data-set-options)
<SAS-data-set2 (data-set-options) ...
SAS-data-set20 (data-set-options)>;

SAS-data-set: descriptor information and its related data values organized as a table of observations and variables that can be processed by SAS.
data-set-options: specify actions that apply only to the SAS data set with which they appear. For complete details about data set options, see SAS Language Reference: Dictionary.

You can specify up to 20 SAS data set names in each ALLOCATE SASFILE command.

You must use either a LIBNAME statement or an external method to define all librefs before you execute the ALLOCATE SASFILE command. SAS data sets that are specified in an ALLOCATE SASFILE command must exist before the ALLOCATE SASFILE command is executed. SAS data sets that are specified in an ALLOCATE SASFILE command may be read or updated by users of the server. Other kinds of SAS files (for example, CATALOG) may not be specified in an ALLOCATE SASFILE command.

Users can access SAS data files through the server regardless of whether the data files are specified in ALLOCATE SASFILE commands. When several users access the same file through a server, the overhead of opening the file for the first access is greater than the overhead for the additional accesses. The ALLOCATE SASFILE command provides a way to ensure that the overhead of opening specific SAS files the first time is incurred only one time (when the server is starting up). While the server is running, less work is required of the server each time a client opens the file.

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