Chapter 6: SAS ARM Macros

Definition of ARM Macros

The ARM macros provide a way to measure the performance of applications as they are executing. The macros write transaction records to the ARM log. The ARM log is an external output text file that contains the logged ARM transaction records. You insert the ARM macros into your SAS program at strategic points in order to generate calls to the ARM API function calls. The ARM API function calls typically log the time of the call and other related data to the log file. Measuring the time between these function calls yields an approximate response-time measurement.

An ARM macro is self-contained and does not affect any code surrounding it, provided that the variable name passed as an option to the ARM macro is unique. The ARM macros are used in open code (code that is not in PROC or DATA steps) and in DATA step or SCL environments.

There are two categories of ARM macros:

• ARM macros to instrument applications

• ARM post-processing macros to use with the ARM log.

Note: The ARM macros are not part of SAS Macro Facility. They are part of the SAS ARM interface. See 'Monitoring Performance Using Application Response Measurement (ARM)' in SAS Language Reference: Concepts for information about the SAS ARM interface that consists of the implementation of the ARM API as an ARM agent, ARM macros, and ARM system options.