Usage Notes for Source Designers and Target Table Designers

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Access to Data on z/OS Platforms

Components affected: source designers and Target Table Designers that are used to access data on a z/OS machine.

Data on a z/OS platform must be stored in a UNIX System Services (USS) directory rather than in an MVS bound library. For a USS directory, the physical name of the library is the same as the directory path. See "LIBNAME Statement: z/OS" in the SAS Companion for z/OS for more information.

See Also: Update Table Metadata on z/OS Platforms

Access to Tables Using ODBC DB2 z/OS Pass-Through

Components affected: the source designer and the Target Table Designer for data in ODBC DB2/z/OS format.

To use the pass-through facility for ODBC DB2/zOS to access tables, you must configure the password and user ID. Since DB2/zOS pass-through does not support the PASSWORD= and USER= options, you must configure these options on the ODBC DB2/zOS source using the ODBC Administrator.

Case and Special Characters in SAS Names

Components affected: source designers and Target Table Designers for data in SAS format; all windows that enable you to specify names for SAS tables and columns.

By default, the names for SAS tables and columns must follow the standard rules for SAS names. However, SAS ETL Studio supports case-sensitive names for tables, columns, and special characters in column names if you specify the appropriate options in the metadata for the SAS table. Double-byte character set (DBCS) column names are supported in this way, for example. Note the following exceptions:

Special characters are not supported in SAS table names.
Leading blanks are not supported for SAS column names. Leading blanks in a SAS column name are stripped out.
Neither the External File source designer nor SAS/SHARE libraries and tables support case-sensitive names for SAS tables or special characters in column names. When using these components, the names for SAS tables and columns must follow the standard rules for SAS names.

How Source Designers for SAS Tables Imports Integrity Constraints

Components affected: the source designers for data in SAS format.

The source designers for data in SAS format import metadata for SAS tables, including the metadata for integrity constraints. Integrity constraints are similar to keys in DBMS tables. To successfully import the metadata for foreign key integrity constraints in SAS tables, the following conditions must be met:

Primary key integrity constraints and foreign key integrity constraints must have unique names across all SAS tables in all SAS libraries from which metadata will be imported.
In the Define Tables window in the source designer, select the primary key constraint table and all related foreign key constraint tables. Otherwise, the metadata will be incomplete. (If the metadata is incomplete, then all registrations must be deleted and the complete set of related tables would need to be imported again to get the complete set of metadata objects.)

After you import the metadata for a table, you can view the metadata for any keys by displaying the properties window for the table and clicking the Keys tab.

Importing Keys and Indexes from SAS/SHARE Libraries

Components affected: the source designer for data in SAS/SHARE libraries.

When working with tables in SAS/SHARE libraries, you can import keys and indexes for SAS tables but not for DBMS tables.

Metadata for a Library and Its Tables Must Be Stored in the Same Metadata Repository

Components affected: all source designers and Target Table Designers.

The metadata for a library and the metadata for the tables in the library must be stored in the same metadata repository. Other configurations are not supported in this release.

ODBC Informix Library

Components affected: ODBC Informix libraries; the source designer and the Target Table Designer for data in ODBC Informix format.

Follow these steps to preserve the case of your table names when using an ODBC Informix library:

From the SAS ETL Studio desktop, select Tools Source Designer from the menu bar. The Source Designer selection window displays.
Open the ODBC Sources folder in the Source Designer selection window.
In the ODBC Sources folder, select ODBC Informix. The ODBC Informix source designer is displayed. The first window enables you to select an ODBC Informix library.
Select the appropriate ODBC Informix library, then click Edit. A library properties window displays.
On the library properties window, click the Options tab.
On the Options tab, click . The Advanced Options window is displayed.
In the Advanced Options window, select the Output tab.
On the Output tab, select YES in the Preserve column names, as in the DBMS field.
Enter the following expression in the Options used in DBMS CREATE TABLE field:
```
       QUOTE_CHAR= 
```
Select theInput/Output tab.
Select Yes in the Preserve DBMS table names field.
Click OK to save your changes.

Password-Protected SAS Data Sets Are Not Fully Supported

Components affected: source designers for data in SAS format; the View Data option on the View menu.

Source designers will not import column metadata from password-protected SAS data sets (tables). You cannot use the SAS ETL Studio View Data feature to view a password-protected SAS data set.

Separate Login for Each Authentication Domain for Database Servers

Components affected: source designers for tables in DBMS format, other features that access DBMS tables.

Administrators define the metadata for users and groups as part of the setup tasks for a data warehousing project. The login metadata for each user and group includes an authentication domain.

You (or a group to which you belong) must have a login for the authentication domain that is associated with the relevant database server definition. The user ID and password in that login must correspond to an account that has been established with the database. Otherwise, you will not be able to read any existing tables in the relational database, and you will not be able to use a source designer or target designer to access tables in the relational database.

Accordingly, you must have a separate login for each authentication domain that contains a database server that you need to access. For more information about defining login metadata for users and groups, see the SAS Management Console: User's Guide.

Setting Table Options

Components affected: Target Table Designers, the property windows for tables.

Both the Target Table Designers and the property windows for tables include a physical storage tab or window. This tab or window includes a button. Click that button to specify options for the current table.

For an summary of how to update the metadata for a table, see "Updating the Metadata for a Table" on page 67. For details about options for SAS tables (data sets and data views), see SAS Language Reference: Dictionary.

Teradata Source Designer Hangs Unless a User ID and Password Can Be Supplied

Components affected: source designer for data in Teradata format.

Source designer wizards enable you to import metadata for one or more tables in a library. One of the first windows in the wizard enables you to select the library that contains the tables. When you select a library, a connection is made to a SAS application server. The server accesses the selected library and lists any tables that are associated with that library. The Teradata source designer will not be able to connect to a Teradata database library unless both of the following conditions are met:

A Windows environment variable, GUILOGON, is defined and set to NO on the computer where SAS/ACCESS to Teradata is running. (This will typically be the SAS Workspace Server component of the SAS application server that is used to access the Teradata database.) For details about how to define Windows environment variables, see the appropriate Windows documentation.
A valid login is supplied to the Teradata database server.

There are two main ways to supply a valid login to the Teradata database server:

Add a default login to the metadata for the Teradata database library. For details, the metadata administrator should see the Managing Data Base Libraries section of the SAS Management Console: User's Guide.
Implement a single sign on (SSO) for the Teradata database on Windows. For details about SSO, the database administrator should see the appropriate Teradata documentation.

Unrestricted Users Cannot Run Source Designers or Target Table Designers

Components affected: all source designers and Target Table Designers.

Because of password masking, unrestricted users should not run source designers or Target Table Designers. In order to use these wizards, users should start a SAS ETL Studio session with a user ID that is not defined as unrestricted.

For details about unrestricted users, see the security chapters in the SAS Intelligence Platform: Planning and Administration Guide.

Update Table Metadata on z/OS Platforms

Components affected: the Update Table Metadata feature; tables on z/OS platforms.

The Update Table Metadata feature updates table metadata so that it matches the corresponding physical table. However, if the physical table resides on a z/OS platform, the update might fail for large tables (tables with more than 100 columns, for example). A z/OS limit on the number of characters in a single line causes this problem.

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