• support.sas.com
• KNOWLEDGE BASE
• SUPPORT
• LEARNING CENTER
• COMMUNITY
•  

Hot Topics

• Updates for SAS 9.2 (March 2008)
  See the compatibility calculator to determine whether you need to migrate your libraries to SAS 9.2. Use the PROC MIGRATE calculator to find the right example code for your migration.
  
  
• Get a Smarter COMPARE
  Validation tools for the MIGRATE procedure now work with CEDA and provide additional details about catalogs, indexes, and integrity constraints.
  
  
• Start Planning
  See Getting Started for the most efficient pathway through all of the SAS®9 migration documentation.
  
  
• Coexistence
  Many SAS®9 products can install side-by-side with SAS 8.2 with very good compatibility. See Peaceful Coexistence: SAS®9 and SAS 8.2 for details.
  
  
• Sample Validation SOP
  See an example SOP: SAS Installation Qualification / Operational Qualification (PDF) (updated 19 May 2008) for the pharmaceutical industry.

Related Links

• SAS Notes
• Glossary
• Install Center
• Section 508 Accessibility
• Expanded Table of Contents
• Contact Us

Papers

Migration

Peaceful Coexistence: SAS®9 and SAS 8.2

Moving from one release of SAS to another requires planning and testing. As you expand your SAS environment to include SAS®9, you must test the new environment and compare results to your existing SAS environment. If you have a large migration project, your testing and migration phase can stretch over several months, and you might need to run both versions on one machine. The following guidelines can help you through this transition. Note that many SAS®9 and SAS 8.2 products are extremely compatible, making the transition smooth and straightforward.

Many users print this document for reference, but the Migration focus area is not static; information is continually updated and expanded. Therefore, every link to reference information is followed by its URL. Be sure to check the reference information for updates.

Known Issues for Coexistence

• Data sets and other SAS files: SAS strives wherever possible to support cross-release compatibility.
  • Use the interactive Compatibility Calculator (support.sas.com/rnd/migration/planning/files/calculator/) to determine whether you can use your SAS 8.2 files in SAS®9 without migrating them to SAS®9 format.
  • If you use certain SAS®9 file features (support.sas.com/rnd/migration/planning/files/forward.html), then those SAS®9 files are incompatible with SAS 8.2. The features are optional.
  • If needed, you can run a SAS®9 file in a compatible SAS 6, 7, or 8 session or regress the file to the previous version (support.sas.com/rnd/migration/planning/files/regression.html).
  • It is recommended to not store SAS 8.2 files in the same library with SAS®9 files. The file format is virtually unchanged in SAS®9, so the file extension remains the same as in SAS 8.2. This means you could accidentally overwrite an existing file with the same name that was created under the other release. Read about this and other details involved in maintaining files from different releases (support.sas.com/rnd/migration/planning/files/mixed.html).
  • If you make a copy of a data set to test the new release of SAS and the data set is live (that is, continually updated), then you must either update the two data sets concurrently or designate one data set to be frozen and later discarded.
  
  
• Syntax (PROCs, DATA steps, macros, and so forth): You can use SAS or SCL code from SAS 8.2 in SAS®9 and vice versa. However, some syntax has changed. Research the known issues in code compatibility (support.sas.com/rnd/migration/planning/files/programs.html) as well as changes and enhancements.
  
  
• Installation and configuration:
  • If you are installing both SAS 8.2 and SAS®9, install SAS 8.2 first. Otherwise, you might run into problems with the shared files directory.
  • Be sure to install SAS 8.2 and SAS®9 in separate locations on the machine.
  • It is recommended that you use the SAS configuration file (sasv8.cfg or sasv9.cfg) to segregate the locations of SASWORK.
  
  
• Operating environment:
  • Some SAS 8.2 operating environments (support.sas.com/rnd/migration/planning/platform/sas9platforms.html) are no longer supported in SAS®9.
  • Updates made to an operating environment for SAS®9 system requirements (support.sas.com/documentation/installcenter/) might conflict with SAS 8.2, although this has not been reported.
  • Running two versions of SAS on a machine might require additional disk space or CPU time.
  
  
• Invoking SAS:
  • You can run SAS 8.2 and SAS®9 simultaneously in batch.
  • You can run SAS 8.2 and SAS®9 simultaneously in interactive sessions from the SAS windowing environment (aka Display Manager).
  • The SAS command can be set to one or the other release of SAS by the operating environment. This setting might be done by search paths, registry settings, or operating environment conventions. Take care when invoking SAS to ensure that you are getting the release of SAS that you want.
  • Encoded passwords used in the LIBNAME statement and created by the PWENCODE procedure for SAS®9 do not work in SAS 8.2 programs.
  • SAS environment variables can differ between SAS 8.2 and SAS®9. Failure to set the environment can result in errors, including incorrect user-ID authentication with the SAS®9 Metadata Server. A recommended solution is to write a script that sets the environment variables when SAS is invoked. Here is a sample environment-setting program for UNIX, provided by a customer:

    PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/etc:/usr/sbin:/usr/ucb:/usr/bin/X11:/sbin:$HOME:.
    export SASROOT=/usr/local/sas/sas913
    export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/sas:$SASROOT:$HOME/bin
    

• SAS Web-based applications: Path settings for JDKs, class paths, or environment variables used by SAS®9 Web-based applications might differ from those for SAS 8 applications. These applications include SAS Web Report Studio, SAS Web Report Viewer, SAS Information Delivery Portal, and other Web applications that are supplied by SAS.
  
  
• TCP/IP ports: Make sure SAS®9 doesn't use the same TCP/IP ports as SAS 8.2 for the following: SAS/CONNECT, SAS/SHARE, SAS Integration Technologies, SAS/IntrNet, or third-party software.

Product-Specific Guidelines

SAS has developed coexistence guidelines for selected products:

• SAS AppDev Studio (support.sas.com/rnd/migration/planning/files/appdev.html)
• SAS Enterprise Guide (support.sas.com/rnd/migration/planning/files/entguide.html)
• SAS Integration Technologies (support.sas.com/rnd/migration/planning/files/inttech.html)
• SAS/ACCESS software (support.sas.com/rnd/migration/planning/files/access.html)
• SAS/IntrNet software (support.sas.com/rnd/migration/planning/files/intrnet.html)
• SAS/CONNECT or SAS/SHARE software (support.sas.com/rnd/migration/planning/files/shareconnect.html#tcpipconnect)

No Additional Conflicts

For the following SAS products, all conflicts are covered by the "Known Issues for Coexistence" above, and no additional guidelines are necessary.

• Base SAS
• SAS/AF
• SAS/ASSIST
• SAS/EIS
• SAS/ETS
• SAS/FSP
• SAS/GIS
• SAS/GRAPH
• SAS/IML
• SAS/INSIGHT
• SAS/LAB
• SAS/OR
• SAS/QC
• SAS/SPECTRAVIEW
• SAS/STAT
• SAS Data Quality - Cleanse
• SAS OnlineTutor
• SAS Strategic Performance Management

For SAS products not listed here, either testing is incomplete or coexistence guidelines are under development. New information will be made available from this page. Meanwhile, you can contact SAS Technical Support (support.sas.com/ctx/supportform/index.jsp) for assistance.