SASjs Server

SASjs Server provides a NodeJS wrapper for calling the SAS binary executable. It can be installed on an actual SAS server, or locally on your desktop. It provides:

• Virtual filesystem for storing SAS programs and other content
• Ability to execute Stored Programs from a URL
• Ability to create web apps using simple Desktop SAS
• REST API with Swagger Docs

One major benefit of using SASjs Server alongside other components of the SASjs framework such as the CLI, Adapter and Core library, is that the projects you create can be very easily ported to SAS 9 (Stored Process server) or Viya (Job Execution server).

SASjs Server is available in two modes - Desktop (without authentication) and Server (with authentication, and a database)

Installation

Installation can be made programmatically using command line, or by manually downloading and running the executable.

Programmatic

Fetch the relevant package from github using curl, eg as follows (for linux):

curl -L https://github.com/sasjs/server/releases/latest/download/linux.zip > linux.zip
unzip linux.zip

The app can then be launched with ./api-linux and prompts followed (if ENV vars not set).

Manual

1. Download the relevant package from the releases page
2. Trigger by double clicking (windows) or executing from commandline.

You are presented with two prompts (if not set as ENV vars):

• Location of your sas.exe / sas.sh executable
• Path to a filesystem location for Stored Programs and temporary files

ENV Var configuration

When launching the app, it will make use of specific environment variables. These can be set in the following places:

• Configured globally in /etc/environment file
• Export in terminal or shell script (export VAR=VALUE)
• Prepended in the command
• Enter in the .env file alongside the executable

Example contents of a .env file:

# options: [desktop|server] default: `desktop`
MODE=

# options: [disable|enable] default: `disable` for `server` & `enable` for `desktop`
# If enabled, be sure to also configure the WHITELIST of third party servers.
CORS=

# options: <http://localhost:3000 https://abc.com ...> space separated urls
WHITELIST=

# options: [http|https] default: http
PROTOCOL=

# default: 5000
PORT=


# optional
# for MODE: `desktop`, prompts user
# for MODE: `server` gets value from api/package.json `configuration.sasPath`
SAS_PATH=/path/to/sas/executable.exe


# optional
# for MODE: `desktop`, prompts user
# for MODE: `server` defaults to /tmp
DRIVE_PATH=/tmp

# ENV variables required for PROTOCOL: `https`
PRIVATE_KEY=privkey.pem
FULL_CHAIN=fullchain.pem

# ENV variables required for MODE: `server`
ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET=<secret>
REFRESH_TOKEN_SECRET=<secret>
AUTH_CODE_SECRET=<secret>
SESSION_SECRET=<secret>
DB_CONNECT=mongodb+srv://<DB_USERNAME>:<DB_PASSWORD>@<CLUSTER>/<DB_NAME>?retryWrites=true&w=majority

# SAS Options
# On windows use SAS_OPTIONS and on unix use SASV9_OPTIONS
# Any options set here are automatically applied in the SAS session
# See: https://documentation.sas.com/doc/en/pgmsascdc/9.4_3.5/hostunx/p0wrdmqp8k0oyyn1xbx3bp3qy2wl.htm
# And: https://documentation.sas.com/doc/en/pgmsascdc/9.4_3.5/hostwin/p0drw76qo0gig2n1kcoliekh605k.htm#p09y7hx0grw1gin1giuvrjyx61m6
SAS_OPTIONS= -NOXCMD
SASV9_OPTIONS= -NOXCMD

Persisting the Session

Normally the server process will stop when your terminal dies. To keep it going you can use the following suggested approaches:

1. Linux Background Job
2. NPM package pm2

Background Job

Trigger the command using NOHUP, redirecting the output commands, eg nohup ./api-linux > server.log 2>&1 &.

You can now see the job running using the jobs command. To ensure that it will still run when your terminal is closed, execute the disown command. To kill it later, use the kill -9 <pid> command. You can see your sessions using top -u <userid>. Type c to see the commands being run against each pid.

PM2

Install the npm package pm2 (npm install pm2@latest -g) and execute, eg as follows:

export SAS_PATH=/opt/sas9/SASHome/SASFoundation/9.4/sasexe/sas
export PORT=5001
export DRIVE_PATH=./tmp

pm2 start api-linux

To get the logs (and some useful commands):

pm2 [list|ls|status]
pm2 logs
pm2 logs --lines 200

Managing processes:

pm2 restart app_name
pm2 reload app_name
pm2 stop app_name
pm2 delete app_name

Instead of app_name you can pass:

• all to act on all processes
• id to act on a specific process id

Server Version

The following credentials can be used for the initial connection to SASjs/server. It is highly recommended to change these on first use.

• CLIENTID: clientID1
• USERNAME: secretuser
• PASSWORD: secretpassword