SAS 9.1.2 has Landed.....with a THUD!

By Dr. Elizabeth Hinkle-Turner, Student Computing Services Manager

SAS 9.1.2 has arrived and has been fully tested and implemented by Research and Statistical Support Services and by the Academic Computing Services student computing team. For information about new functionality in this SAS version, please contact the members of Research and Statistical Support. Me - I just install the stuff and, of course, make it available to you! So, the following article gives technical details on how to get SAS for your area of campus (this information is most appropriate for Network Managers -- ed.).

SAS - The EASY Way

SAS has to be metered and we have provided that service for you via ZENworks Application Metering. The actual SAS installation media can be found on \\GAUSS\STATAPPS\SAS_9_1_2\. If you wish to install and create your own application objects please see the instructions below. Otherwise, you can just use the Application Object we have already created in: StatApps.Applications.ACS.Acad.UNT. The license container for SAS 9.1.2 is located in Application Metering.ACS.Acad.UNT.

SAS - The CHALLENGING Way

If you choose to go the 'create your own' route - my, you have got some fun ahead of you! Once you get the setup process started, however, the rest is easy. Getting the setup process to begin rolling is the difficult part! I knew I was in for some real joy when the application arrived on about 25 CD-ROMs! This brought back memories of installing Photoshop 2.0 from sixteen floppies on my Macintosh Quadra about 10 years ago! Luckily, most of those CD-ROMs contain 'extraneous features' (otherwise known as 'digital junk') and the RSS folks narrowed the field down to only 7 CD-ROMs that are needed for installation (approximately five gigabytes???? they've got to be kidding!). The contents of those CD-ROMs are located in folders of the same name in the SAS_9_1_2 directory on GAUSS\STATAPPS:

The first issue is finding the true setup.exe. Common sense would tell one that it is the setup.exe located right here.....

...but one would be wrong to assume this! You can click on this setup.exe all day long and it will launch a setup wizard which promptly does... nothing! I've decided that this is some sort of statistical experiment that the company is conducting to determine how many times a hapless network manager will click on a setup executable that does nothing before he gives up (in my case, it was two times...I have limited patience!)! The REAL setup.exe is located here:

and after finding it, setup is pretty straightforward....except.......be prepared for all sorts of great stuff to happen along the way (we have never been able to duplicate an exact installation, it seems to vary from computer to computer): for example when I first ran the application, I got this message:

"SAS has determined that your computer does not meet minimum system requirements for installation. Please run the System Requirements Wizard."

Fortunately I am intelligent enough to figure out that the folder 'srw' (see picture above) stands for "System Requirements Wizard" and sure enough, if you run THAT setup.exe (let's see...we are now up to three setup.exe's and counting.....), various things like SAS Private Java Runtime Environment 1.4.1 and Microsoft DATA Access Components, etc. may be installed on your machine. Several reboots may be required.

By this time approximately 45 minutes has passed and one still hasn't actually begun installing the application.....

Return to the SAS setup and run it again. Everything should be good to go now. The first hurdle to overcome is the Retrieve SAS Installation Data window. Choose the option File. Browse to the sas91_857918 file indicated in the picture above. That authenticates your license and allows you to continue.

Click....Click.....Click...

You eventually come to the Select Components windows. Choose SAS 9.1 only.

At last! You start getting the messages: "Please insert the disk labeled: -----" Simply browse to the different folders in \\GAUSS\STATAPPS\SAS_9_1_2\ and select them as needed. ex. \\GAUSS\STATAPPS\SAS_9_1_2\Software_Disk_1. After that it is pretty smooth sailing.

Please Note

• A recommendation from the SAS folks: make sure that your Windows machine is fully patched before beginning installation - apparently some of the updates included in the Microsoft patches are needed for full SAS functionality.

• As always, should you have a technical issue with SAS installation, feel free to e-mail me.

• Any questions about licensing issues or individual copies of SAS should be directed to the RSS team.

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