SAS ODBC Driver User's Guide and Programmer's Reference

Defining Servers

The SAS ODBC driver uses a SAS server to access your data sources. To access local data, the driver uses a SAS ODBC server. To access remote data, it uses a SAS/SHARE server. (See SAS Servers for more information.)

This section explains how to provide the SAS ODBC driver with necessary information about the server(s) you will be using.

Select the Servers tab in the SAS ODBC Driver Configuration dialog to go to the Servers page. Supply the information described in the following steps. If at any time you want to clear all of the fields on the right side of the dialog and start again, select [Clear].

Servers Page
In the Name field, enter a name for the SAS server that you are defining. If you supply a one-part name such as shr1, the SAS ODBC driver infers that the server is local. If you supply a two-part name such as machine.shr2, the driver infers that the server is remote.
- The driver interprets the first part of the name as a node name and the second part as the server name. The server name must match both the ID= field in PROC SERVER (the SAS/SHARE server that is running on the remote host), and the server-name that you (or your server administrator) specified when you defined the server as a service in the TCP/IP SERVICES file. See The TCP/IP Services File for more information.
If user access to the server is password protected, then enter the password in the Password field. This should be the same password that was specified for the UAPW= option in PROC SERVER (for a SAS/SHARE server), or in PROC ODBCSERV (for a local access server).
If the server is a SAS ODBC server (used to access local data sources), then Local (Single User) is displayed in the SAS Server Type field. If the server is a SAS/SHARE server (used by multiple users), SAS/SHARE (Multi-User) is displayed.

Select [Configure]. A configuration dialog appears.

If you specified a one-part server name in the Name field of the Servers page (Servers Page), then the SAS ODBC driver infers that you are using a local SAS server. The Local Options dialog appears.

Local Options Dialog

When you access a local SAS data source from an ODBC-compliant application, the SAS ODBC driver uses the information in this dialog to invoke a SAS ODBC server, provided there isn't one already running. (If a SAS ODBC server is already running, the driver finds it and connects to it.) Each field contains default values that you can change by typing over them.
Path:

This field specifies the fully qualified path name for the SAS executable file (SAS.EXE) that you use to start a SAS session. The default is c:\sas\sas.exe. If this field is empty, then no attempt is made to start a SAS ODBC server when you connect to your data source.

Working Directory:

This field specifies the fully qualified path name for the directory that you want to use as the SAS working directory. This directory is usually where your SAS program files and documents are located. The default is c:\sas.

Startup Parameters:
This field specifies the parameters that are used to invoke the SAS System. The default values are as follows: The initialization statement ( -initstmt) executes a SAS macro ( %sasodbc), which in turn invokes the ODBC server. The shr1 value is only an example. It is a SAS macro parameter whose value is taken from the name that you specified in the Name field of the Servers page (Servers Page). The -icon option specifies that the server session should be invoked in iconified mode, because no interaction with the server is required. The -nologo option (not shown) specifies that the SAS session will be invoked without displaying the SAS System logo and copyright information.
The %sasodbc macro is shipped with the SAS System and is found in !SASROOT\CORE\SASMACRO\SASODBC.SAS.(footnote 1) The SASODBC.SAS file executes the SAS procedure PROC ODBCSERV.
The SASODBC.SAS file can be modified to add additional SAS system options or SAS statements such as the LIBNAME statements mentioned in Defining Libraries at Server Startup Time. You can also specify options for PROC ODBCSERV. The available options are the same as those for PROC SERVER. See the SAS/SHARE User's Guide for details.
An additional option, LOG=QUERY, is particularly relevant for servers that are used by the SAS ODBC driver. This option causes the server to log SQL queries. (By default, the server logs update and output operations, but not queries.) Hence, this option is useful when you need to see the queries that the server receives from an ODBC client application.
If your SAS session is installed on a network drive and is shared by multiple users, then you probably don't want individual users to modify the SASODBC.SAS file. Instead, users can make their own copies of the file and can store them in their personal libraries. In this case, they must also add the -sasautos option either to the Startup Parameters field or to their local CONFIG.SAS file to indicate the pathname for the library, as in the following example:
```
-sasautos c:\programs\sas
```
For more information about SAS system options and SAS statements, see the SAS documentation for the Microsoft Windows or Microsoft Windows NT operating environment.
Timeout:

This field specifies in seconds how long to wait for the local SAS ODBC server to start and to register itself. The default is 60 seconds.

If you specified a two-part server name before selecting [Configure], the SAS/SHARE Options dialog appears.

SAS/SHARE Options Dialog

[IMAGE]

Supply the requested information in the dialog as follows:

Server Address:

This field is automatically filled with the node name that you specified in the Name field of the Servers page (Servers Page). In a complex networking environment, you may need to supply a fully qualified domain address for the server (for example, machine.sas.com).

User Name:

This field is for your userid on the system where the server is running. It is required if the server is running in secured mode; otherwise, it is ignored.

User Password:

This field is for your password on the system where the server is running. If you supply a Server User Name without a Server User Password, then you will be prompted for a password at connection time.

Connect Options:

This field is for providing additional connection options that are used when you are connecting to an SPDS server through the ODBC client. The connection options are name value pairs delimited by white space. Each of the values must be in single quotes. For example:

DBQ='tmp' HOST='bigone.unx.sas.com' SERV='5129'

where:

	DBQ is the SPDS server libname domain.
	HOST is the location of the host computer on your network where the SPDS nameserver is running.
	SERV is the port number of the SPDS name server running on the HOST.

See the documentation shipped with the SPDS server for more details.

When you have finished making any necessary changes to the Local Options or SAS/SHARE Options dialogs, select [OK] to return to the Servers page (Servers Page).
Important! Select [<<Add<<] to save your server definition. The server name now appears in the list of defined servers at the left.
To define another server, select [Clear] and then repeat steps 2-8.

Deleting a Server Definition

To delete a previously defined server, do the following:

Select the server name from the Servers list at the left of the Servers page.
Select [>>Remove>>].

CAUTION:
If you delete a server, then any data sources that use that server will no longer be accessible until you redefine that server.

Modifying a Server Definition
To change the information for a previously defined server, do the following:

Select the server name from the Servers list at the left of the Servers page.
Make the desired changes to the Password field. Select [Configure] to make changes in the Local Options or SAS/SHARE Options dialogs (Local Options Dialog and SAS/SHARE Options Dialog).
The Name field is greyed out to indicate that you cannot change the name of the server. The reason for this is that you may have already defined data sources that use that server; if you changed the server name, then you would no longer be able to access those data sources.
Select [<<Update<<] to save your changes.

For instructions on how to specify a different server for a data source that you have already defined, see Specifying a Different Server for a Defined Data Source.

FOOTNOTE 1: !SASROOT is a logical name for the directory in which you install the SAS System. For more information, see the SAS documentation for the Microsoft Windows or Microsoft Windows NT operating environment.

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