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

Tasks That Are Common to SAS/CONNECT and SAS/SHARE

System Administrator, User, Applications Programmer, or Network Administrator
To use the NetBIOS or the MNetBIOS access method with an OS/2 host for SAS/CONNECT and SAS/SHARE, perform these tasks:
  1. Verify that you have met all your site and software requirements.

  2. Verify that you know how to set options in SAS software.

  3. Set the SAS/CONNECT and SAS/SHARE options that you want.

System and Software Requirements for SAS/CONNECT and SAS/SHARE

Ensure that the following conditions have been met:

  1. SAS software is installed on both the local and remote hosts.

  2. Release 3.0 or a subsequent release of OS/2 has been installed.

  3. NetBIOS has been installed at your site.

    You may choose between the IBM NetBIOS 3.0 Interface or the LAN Manager 1.0 Submit Interface.

If you plan to use the IBM NetBIOS 3.0 Interface, you must install one of the following products:

If you use the LAN Manager 1.0 Submit Interface, you must install one of the following products:

Note:   Be sure to use the same vendor or compatible vendors on the local and the remote sides of the connection.  [cautionend]

Setting SAS Options

You may need to set specific options to allow the desired connections with SAS/CONNECT and SAS/SHARE using the NetBIOS communications access method.

Consult with your network administrator to determine what options must be set and what values to assign to them.

You may specify an option in several forms, as follows:

Values for these options may contain up to eight characters, consisting of alphanumeric characters, the percent sign (%), the dollar sign ($), the pound sign (#), the at sign (@), and the underscore (_).

If you set multiple forms of the same option, here is the order of precedence that is followed:
OPTIONS statement
AUTOEXEC file
SAS invocation
SAS configuration file
DOS environment variable.

SAS/CONNECT and SAS/SHARE Options

VQMLINKS number-of-links
specifies the number of links that can be active simultaneously.

For SAS/CONNECT, each time you sign on to a remote host, you initiate one link. If you want to sign on to more than one remote host during a single SAS session, set VQMLINKS to the number of links that will be active at the same time. There is no limit to the number of links that you can specify, but use the smallest number possible to conserve NetBIOS session resources. The number that you specify for this option must be the same as or less than the maximum number of sessions that are configured for NetBIOS when it is installed. If you specify 0, VQMLINKS defaults to the number of sessions configured for a single NetBIOS user.

At the SAS/CONNECT remote host, set both VQMLINKS and VQMCONVS to 1. Specify a higher value if you are accessing a SAS/SHARE server from your SAS/CONNECT remote session or you are using Remote Library Services. See the VQMCONVS option in this section.

At a SAS/SHARE server, set the VQMLINKS option to a value that represents the maximum number of clients that can be connected simultaneously. Specifying 0 implies that no limit is to be enforced and that the maximum is constrained by the number of sessions that are configured for NetBIOS when it is installed. The default is 0.

The server administrator should specify this value if a limit is desired.

VQADAPTR adapter-number
specifies which network adapter and, therefore, which network to use when establishing the link. You do not need this option if you are connected to only one network. Use this option only when COMAMID=NETBIOS. If COMAMID=MNETBIOS, see the VQNETNAME option.

Note that if both the SAS/CONNECT local and remote hosts or a SAS/SHARE server and clients are connected to multiple networks, both hosts must specify the same network to establish a connection. For example, if your node has network connections for a token-ring network and an Ethernet network and you want to connect to another node on the Ethernet network, you must set VQADAPTR to the correct adapter number for that network. This doesn't necessarily mean that the value of VQADAPTR is the same on both hosts. One host may have adapter 0 set to Ethernet while the other host has adapter 1 set to Ethernet. In this case, VQADAPTR must be 0 for one host and 1 for the other host.

Check with your SAS Software Representative for help on determining which adapter to use for each network.

Ask the system administrator for help on determining this value.

VQCAMLEN access-method-buffer-and-packet-length
specifies the access method buffer and packet length. This option determines the maximum number of characters that can be transmitted in a single packet. The value can range from 55 to 65535 characters. The default value is 4096.

Ask your system administrator for help on determining this value.

VQMCONVS number-of-sessions
specifies the number of sessions that can occur simultaneously. Each time you sign on to a remote host or access a library, you initiate one session; therefore, set this value to at least the same value as VQMLINKS. There is no limit on the number of sessions that you can specify, but use the smallest number possible to conserve NetBIOS command resources. The number you specify for this option must be the same or less than the number of commands that are configured for NetBIOS. If you specify 0, VQMCONVS defaults to the number of commands configured for a single NetBIOS user.

VQNETNAME netname
specifies which network in the NetBIOS driver to be used. Currently, Netware Requestor does not allow the access method to specify the network name but instead always uses the first network driver in the table.

Ask your network administrator for help in determining this value.

Setting Security for SAS/CONNECT and SAS/SHARE

For SAS/CONNECT, you must supply identifying information to sign on without a script to a remote host running a spawner program. A SAS/SHARE server, running secured, requires identification from each connecting client. The next two sections outline the alternatives for specifying security information.

Providing Client Identification in a Version 8 Session

In Version 8, you provide client identification to a SAS/CONNECT remote host or a SAS/SHARE server using the USER= and PASSWORD= options. These options are valid in the following statements:

SIGNON
RSUBMIT
LIBNAME
PROC SQL
Connect to Remote
PROC OPERATE
(in the PROC statement)
set server
stop server
quiesce server
start server
display server

Specifying client identification in the SASUSER= and SASPASS= options is still accepted but is not recommended in Version 8. The USER= and PASSWORD= options take precedence over the client SASUSER= and SASPASS= options when both are specified. For example, a SAS/SHARE client's execution of a LIBNAME statement with values assigned to the USER= and PASSWORD= options would override the SASUSER= and SASPASS= options setting in the same client SAS session.

Here is the syntax and definitions for these options:

USER | USERNAME | USERID | UID=username | _PROMPT_

PASSWORD | PASSWD | PASS | PWD | PW=password | _PROMPT_

Specifying these options allows a user on the local host whose username and password have been verified to access the remote host.

username
is a valid userid for the remote host and is thus host-dependent in form. If the value contains blanks or special characters, it must be enclosed in quotes.

password
is the password, if any, required for authentication of the supplied username. This value will not be echoed in the SAS log. If the value contains blanks or special characters, it must be enclosed in quotes.

_PROMPT_
specifies that the SAS System prompts the client for username and password.

Note:   The values provided when prompted must NOT be quoted.  [cautionend]

Specifying USER=_PROMPT_ and omitting the PASSWORD= specification will cause SAS to prompt you for both userid and password.

This is especially useful for allowing the SAS statements containing the USER= and PASSWORD= options to be copied and otherwise effectively reused by others.

For SAS/SHARE, the values supplied for the USER= and PASSWORD= options are valid for the duration of the remote host connection. Additional accesses of the remote host while the connection to that host is still in effect do not require re-supplying of the USER= and PASSWORD= options. For example, while the first connecting library assign to a SAS/SHARE server may require specification of the options, subsequent assigns to the same server will not need specification of these options as long as the original connection is in-effect. A subsequent re-connect to the same server or connect to a different server would require re-supplying of the USER= and PASSWORD= options.

Here is a Version 8 example for SAS/SHARE: 

libname test 'prog2 a' user=joeblue password="2muchfun" server=share1;

For SAS/CONNECT, these values are valid until SIGNOFF.

Here is a Version 8 example for SAS/CONNECT: 

signon rmthost user=joeblack password=born2run;

As a security precaution, PASSWORD= field entries echoed in the log are replaced with Xs. If _PROMPT_ was specified for entering the password, the entry would not be displayed on the screen as it is typed.

Providing Client Identification in a pre-Version 8 Session

SASUSER userid
SASPASS password

On the local host, either assign a valid userid and password to the SASUSER and SASPASS options or supply them to SAS, when prompted.

Consult with the system administrator of the remote host at which the spawner is invoked for a valid userid and password.

The SASUSER and SASPASS options store the userid and the password of the remote host that, when passed to the remote host, allow a local host connection.

Example: 

options set=sasuser bass;
options set=saspass time2go;

See Setting SAS Options for examples of the forms that you can use to specify the SASUSER and SASPASS options.

Also see PC Spawner Program for information about the -SECURITY option in the PC spawner program, which controls the security of the remote host.


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Copyright 1999 by SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA. All rights reserved.