SAS Global Forum 2011

Systems Architecture and Administration

Paper 363-2011

Understanding the Anatomy of a SAS® Deployment:
What's in My Server Soup?
Mark Schneider, Donna Bennett, and Connie Robison, SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC

ABSTRACT
Did you want to better understand the pieces of a SAS metadata-based deployment and where they go and what they do? This paper highlights the major components of a metadata-based SAS deployment of solutions and business intelligence. Using the concepts of topology and tiers as a framework, this paper illustrates the location of key components and how they can be distributed across machines.

INTRODUCTION
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Administrators have a great deal of flexibility when defining the topology for a SAS deployment. The SAS Business
Analytics Framework includes many tools to help solve specific business problems. Customers who implement a metadata-based deployment (the SAS Intelligence Platform) will have SAS software, a Java application server, and third-party software. This software framework supports shared business processes, including data management, analytics, and reporting.
This paper describes the components found in typical metadata-based SAS deployments and introduces some common practices for distributing those components across computer resources. End users access user interface
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components such as SAS Enterprise Guide and SAS Web Report Studio to derive business intelligence from data. Administrators, on the other hand, care more about the underlying infrastructure and content, how those components are distributed across computer systems, and how they interact with available computing resources.
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They use tools such as SAS Management Console and the SAS Deployment Manager to manage the SAS software components.
This paper provides a quick overview of the components (that is, the ingredients) of a SAS deployment and how they blend together. Primary audiences include the following: teams who are just starting to think about a SAS deployment administrators who will be managing the daily operations of the SAS deployment administrators responsible for networking, security, or Web environments who need to understand a bit more about how their areas interact with the SAS deployment teams who assume responsibility for a SAS deployment that was created by someone else

READING THE RECIPE
First, we outline some typical topologies, starting with a basic recipe for a single machine and advancing to variations of more complex, distributed configurations. We present three general categories of topologies: simple, basic distributed, and advanced distributed. You can think of these as ―starter recipes‖ that you will spice up to meet specific requirements.
Then we explore the basic ingredients of SAS topologies in more detail: machines, tiers, servers, and third-party software. As administrators, we interact with the set of machines on which we install and configure SAS software. We recognize that the term ―server‖ has many meanings and use the term ―server‖ to refer to software processes. The term ―machine‖ is used to refer to physical or virtual hardware and operating systems on which the software servers run. Next, we discuss ways you can ―spice up‖ your deployment by choosing options and interactions based on your requirements. We identify key options that administrators can choose, as well as considerations to keep in mind when tailoring a topology for specific needs.
An appendix summarizes key terms and concepts and identifies recommended resources for background information and advanced configuration topics.

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SAS Global Forum 2011

Systems Architecture and Administration

Anatomy of a SAS Deployment, continued

The concepts in this paper are covered in much more detail in the administration documents that are part of the SAS
Intelligence Platform documentation series.
Designing and implementing advanced deployments