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Moving and Accessing SAS Files across Operating Environments

Managing Incompatible Client/Server Host Types

SAS/SHARE dynamically translates the client/server host native formats for each client/server transaction, bypassing the explicit creation of a transport file. However, the server does not perform this task. Instead, each client's REMOTE engine is capable of performing its own data translation when interacting with the server. A client automatically invokes a remote engine by specifying the SERVER= option in the LIBNAME statement. Reconciling Incompatible Client/Server Host Formats by Using the Client REMOTE Engine shows that the client REMOTE engine reconciles each client/server transaction.

Reconciling Incompatible Client/Server Host Formats by Using the Client REMOTE Engine

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Numeric Translation

If the numeric representation of the SAS/SHARE client host and the server host are incompatible, the client REMOTE engine performs a translation per client/server transaction. Incompatible numeric representations cause these numeric data problems:

loss of precision
occurs when the source host uses more bits to represent the mantissa than does the target host.

loss of magnitude
occurs when the source host has a greater exponent range than does the target host.

No error or warning message for these conditions is displayed during numeric translation. For a complete description of the numeric representations of SAS variable values, see SAS Language Reference: Dictionary.

Character Translation

EachVersion 8 host supports one of the following character representations:

Note:   Only Version 6 supports the ASCII-MAC character representation on the Macintosh host.   [cautionend]
For a list of Version 8 hosts that support each of these character representations, see Character Architectural Groups.

If the character representations on the SAS/SHARE client host and the server host are incompatible, for each client/server transaction the client REMOTE engine translates incompatible characters by first consulting the SASUSER.PROFILE and then the SASHELP.HOST catalogs for the appropriate catalog entry of type TRANTAB. Default Character Translation Tables lists the default character translation tables and the catalog entries that store them.

Default Character Translation Tables
Translation Table Catalog Entry Name
EBCDIC/ASCII-ISO _0000030
EBCDIC/ASCII-ANSI _0000060
EBCDIC/ASCII-OEM _00000A0
EBCDIC/ASCII-MAC _0000120
ASCII-ISO/ASCII-ANSI _0000050
ASCII-ISO/ASCII-OEM _0000090
ASCII-ISO/ASCII-MAC _0000110
ASCII-ANSI/ASCII-OEM _00000C0
ASCII-ANSI/ASCII-MAC _0000140
ASCII-OEM/ASCII-MAC _0000180

Each catalog entry contains a translation table for importing and a table for exporting. For example, the EBCDIC/ASCII-OEM table on an OS/390 SAS/SHARE client means:

Import
To read data from the server, the client remote engine (set with the RENGINE= option in the LIBNAME statement) translates the server character representation from ASCII-OEM to EBCDIC for the client.

Export
To write data to the server, the client REMOTE engine (which is set by default or set with the RENGINE= option in the LIBNAME statement) translates its EBCDIC character representation to ASCII-OEM for the server.

A system administrator uses the TRANTAB= system option to update or replace translation tables or to add new translation tables. For complete details about the TRANTAB= system option, see SAS Language Reference: Concepts.


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