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• Running SAS on UNIX
• Non-Interactive (Batch) Mode
• Interactive (Windowed) Mode

SAS on UNIX

SAS 9.12 is available on the new high-performance Unix server tombstone. Users of tombstone need to register before using this service; to find out more and register an account, see OIT's information page.

On UNIX, SAS can be invoked in non-interactive (batch) mode and in interactive (Windowed) mode. Batch mode can be run in foreground or background processes.

Non-Interactive (Batch) Mode

Often, it is easier and more efficient to invoke SAS in a non-interactive mode. You will have to run SAS this way if SAS does not support your terminal type. SAS can be run in non-interactive mode as a UNIX foreground process or as a UNIX background process.

UNIX Foreground

To run SAS in non-interactive mode, type SAS and then the name of a file containing SAS commands. For example, to run a SAS program named myprog.sas , type the following command at the UNIX prompt:

     sas myprog

If the file extension is .sas as in this example, you need not type the file extension when you invoke the program. SAS will execute the program, and control will be returned to your terminal when the SAS job is complete. SAS will put log messages to a file of the same name as your program but with a .log file extension (myprog.log in this example). Output generated (if any) will be written to a file with the same name as your program file but with a .lst file extension (myprog.lst ).

UNIX Background

You may want to run SAS jobs in the background by placing an ampersand ("&") after your SAS invocation. For example:

   sas myprog &

Interactive (Windowed) Mode

If you wish to run SAS in an interactive mode and have access to the SAS Display Manager, you can run SAS in full screen mode. The X-Windows interface is similar in appearance and functionality to Stata for Windows and has full graphing capabilities.

To run SAS from a Windows PC with an X-Windows interface, you need two things: a connection to tombstone, which SAS will be running from, and an X-Windows server running on your computer.

There is at present no OIT-sanctioned and supported X-Windows server for the PC. However, one freely available option that has been tested and found to work for some people is MI/X. The program is available here:

• MI/X

Once you have an X-Windows server program running, you need to use an SSH program to connect to the machine you will be running SAS from. The program SSH Secure Shell should be installed on all Windows machines. You will need to configure it to allow XWindows "tunneling."

Click on Profiles, and choose "Edit Profiles". Next click on "Quick Connect", and check "Tunnel X11 connections" under "X11 Tunelling.

Connect to tombstone using Quick Connect, and in your SSH window, type "xterm&" .

	xterm&

An XTerm window will open on your PC. Click in that window and type sas to run SAS.