Administering Connection Profiles for Desktop Applications

Overview of Connection Profiles

During initialization, SAS desktop applications use a connection profile to connect to a SAS Metadata Server. A successful connection enables secure access to the enterprise resources that are defined in metadata.

Connection profiles are stored on the hosts of the desktop applications at

C:\Documents
                     and Settings\user-name\Application
                     Data\SAS\MetadataServerProfiles

. In the Windows Vista operating environment, the path is C:\Users\user-name\AppData\Roaming\SAS\MetadataServerProfiles. The names of the profiles use the file extension .swa.

Selecting a different profile closes all server connections and terminates any active jobs.

Connections depend on the version of the SAS Metadata Server. Older desktop applications that were delivered with the SAS 9.1.3 connect only to the SAS 9.1.3 Metadata Server. Newer applications that were delivered with SAS 9.2 connect only to the SAS 9.2 Metadata Server.

Users can change, edit, or delete connection profiles at any time.

A successful connection to a metadata server is required to fully initialize the following desktop applications:

SAS Data Integration Studio
SAS Information Map Studio
SAS Management Console
SAS OLAP Cube Studio

The preceding applications use a common interface for connection profiles, as described in this section.

The following desktop applications do not require a connection to a SAS Metadata Server, and they use a different interface for connection profiles:

SAS Enterprise Guide
SAS Add-In for Microsoft Office
SAS Enterprise Miner

Connection profile information for the preceding applications is provided in the chapters of this book that are dedicated to those applications.

About Integrated Windows Authentication

Connection profiles enable users to specify that authentication be performed using Integrated Windows authentication. This type of authentication enables users to connect to SAS Metadata Servers and SAS Workspace Servers without transmitting a name and password over the network. The client and server transmit authentication tokens to a host, and that host confirms or denies the authentication.

Integrated Windows authentication applies only to servers that are installed on a Windows host. For more information about Integrated Windows authentication, see the SAS Intelligence Platform: Security Administration Guide.

About Default Connection Profiles

At installation time, most of the desktop applications create a default connection profile. For all of these applications other than SAS Management Console, the default connection profile prompts users to authenticate using credentials from the operating environment. The resulting connection provides information that enables the assignment of permissions.

After you install a desktop application, users should be directed to create new connection profiles. The new profile implements the users, groups, and roles that are defined at your site.

Disable the Option to Store Credentials in Profiles

When you create a connection profile, the Connection Profile Wizard provides, by default, a check box named Save user ID and password in this profile. If a user selects this check box, then the user's ID and password are stored in the user's connection profile on the local file system. Saving the ID and password in the profile allows users to reconnect in the future without entering these values again.

Follow these steps to remove the Save user ID and password in this profile check box from the Connection Profile Wizard and require the manual entry of credentials:

On the host of the SAS Metadata Server, open in a text editor the file omaconfig.xml.
Change the value of the option SASSEC_LOCAL_PW_SAVE from 1 (or Y or T) to 0 (or N or F).
Save and close the file.
Restart the SAS Metadata Server as directed in the SAS Intelligence Platform: System Administration Guide.

After you change the setting for this option and restart the metadata server, each client uses the previous setting for its first connection. The client then discovers the revised setting and conforms to that revised setting for subsequent connections.

If you change the setting to disallow saved credentials, and credentials are already present in a user's connection profile, those credentials must be manually removed.

Change, Create, Delete, or Edit a Connection Profile

To create, change, delete, or edit a connection profile, follow these steps:

Open the desktop application. If you specified a connection profile previously, then the application uses that profile.
If directed to do so, enter your user ID and password.
Select FileConnection Profile and click Yes to display the Connection Profile window.
To change from the current profile to another profile, click the down arrow, select the other profile, and click OK.
To delete an existing profile, click Delete and Yes. Deletion removes all of the connection information in that profile. Select another profile to continue using the application.
To edit an existing connection profile, click the down arrow to select the profile, and then click Edit to open the Edit Connection Profile wizard. Add profile information as directed by the wizard, and then click Finish. In the Connection Profile window, click OK to connect to the specified SAS Metadata Server using the edited profile.
To create a new connection profile, click Create a New Connection Profile and click OK to display the Connection Profile Wizard. Add profile information as directed by the wizard, and then click Finish. In the Connection Profile window, click OK to connect to the specified SAS Metadata Server using the new profile.