Chapter 1: Getting Started

SAS: Exploiting the Power of Windows

SAS Runs in Enterprise Environments

The Windows enterprise environment provides a flexible, easy-to-use working environment by which you can integrate SAS into your enterprise solutions. The following Windows environments are supported in SAS 9.1:

Table 1.1: Supported Windows Environments for SAS 9.1

Processor Bus Size	Operating System	Operating Environment
32-bit	Windows NT	Workstation Server Server Enterprise Edition Terminal Server Edition
	Windows 2000	Professional Edition Server Advanced Server Datacenter Server
	Windows XP	Professional Edition
	Windows Server 2003	Standard Server Datacenter Server Enterprise Server Web Server
64-bit	Windows XP	Professional Edition
	Windows Server 2003	Enterprise Server Datacenter Server

An Integral Part of Your Windows Environment

SAS under Windows is designed to let you complete your data “ and computation- intensive tasks while integrating with the Windows applications that are already in place on your desktop and within your enterprise. SAS supports information sharing through the most powerful tools and techniques that Windows has to offer, including

• OLE

• Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE)

• Open Database Connectivity (ODBC)

• e-mail system

• Lotus Notes

• pipes and named pipes

• the Windows clipboard.

Compatible and Maintainable

Read and Write SAS Data Sets from Previous Releases

SAS can read and write SAS data sets that were created by earlier releases of SAS.

However, in order to bridge the upgrades in the SAS catalog architecture and differences in the operating environment structure, catalogs must be converted from earlier formats (such as Release 6.12 under Windows) to SAS 9.1 format using the transport procedures CPORT and CIMPORT.

Use the Graphical Interface or the Command Line Interface

You can still use the command line as you did in previous releases. However, you can also use the graphical user interface (GUI) to issue commands. Most existing SAS commands and windows are available through the GUI. In some cases, you select operations through dialog boxes and various other GUI controls.