SAS Through VPN

[GMAN33]

Hi All

We can connect to our servers remotely but when trying to execute a SAS session, it is extremely slow. The SAS software is installed on the server and just the client runs on the enduser PC.

To those that work through a VPN, do you the complete installation of SAS installed on each local user PC? I am not that familiar with SAS and all I know is that the way they installed SAS, they would not have to replace the license of every PC.

Thoughts? Thanks

 

[klaz2002]

gman33,
I am not sure how your SAS is installed on your pc's. I have not heard of a pure SAS setup that would not require a license for every machine. Now, there are setups where SAS is installed in one location and via a telnet type interface the client interacts with the main SAS machine. These could be anywhere from a simple telnet or Remote desktop to the very advanced and expensive Cytrix setup. I use SAS over VPN. I had a full SAS install on my local machine and interacted with SAS data files. Initailly his was slow. I had to rework my programs so that data was not going up and down the VPN tunnel. I rewrote the code to take as much data as I needed for the analysis and after that was done sent a small data file back up. This increased the speed of the programs.

I also used the remote desktop via a vpn tunnel to execute SAS jobs. These ran on the desktop in my office and obviously much quicker.

If you have any questions post and I will try to answer.
Klaz

 

[GMAN33]

Thanks Klaz

Initially we had complete SAS installed on our machines and there was no issue. We had outsourced our IT group to a very large and well known computer company and they changed the install to have the minimal SAS installed locally but have the license file stored on our network. It is easier to update one license then 30. I am assuming that there is also a configuration file stored as well on the network.

What I am trying to do is come to a solution for our group that will speed the tranfer of data files back and forth through the VPN. I am not sure if Remote Desktop is available for our use. How did you rewrite your code? I am not a SAS programmer, only technical support, so please be newbie friendly ;-)

Thanks again, your help is very appreciated

gman

 

[klaz2002]

The licenses can be intalled on one server and all the servers can link to that that license (so don't think that they did anything fancy with that setup of yours). That is not the small client setup that you speak of. I believe (from your description) that they installed less SAS stuff on the machines period. You can pick and choose the number of SAS modules that are installed from the SAS setup manager.

As far as how I rewrite my code, I don't think thats an option with your setup. What I do when I write now is try to have a local copy of the data that I need, and any temp tables are stored locally.

Open your SAS session and do the following
insert this code below into your SAS session and then hit the run icon (or press F3 in win o/s)

data _null_;
  x = pathname('work');
  put x =;
run;

Check the log and see where your SAS temp files are stored. If they are not saved locally that is your problem. All temp table traffic is also going over your VPN tunnel.

 

[GMAN33]

Thanks Klaz

I will pass this along to the programmers and see what response I get.

I appreciate it

gman