Glossary

access control template

a reusable named authorization pattern that you can apply to multiple resources. An access control template consists of a list of users and groups and indicates, for each user or group, whether permissions are granted or denied. Short form: ACT.

ACT

See access control template.

Application Response Measurement

the name of an application programming interface that was developed by an industry partnership and which is used to monitor the availability and performance of software applications. ARM monitors the application tasks that are important to a particular business. Short form: ARM.

ARM

See Application Response Measurement.

authentication

See client authentication.

authorization

the process of determining which users have which permissions for which resources. The outcome of the authorization process is an authorization decision that either permits or denies a specific action on a specific resource, based on the requesting user's identity and group memberships.

batch mode

a noninteractive method of running SAS programs by which a file (containing SAS statements along with any necessary operating system commands) is submitted to the batch queue of the operating environment for execution.

client authentication

the process of verifying the identity of a person or process for security purposes.

column

a vertical component of a table. Each column has a unique name, contains data of a specific type, and has particular attributes. A column is analogous to a variable in SAS terminology.

data set

See SAS data set.

data view

See SAS data view.

database management system

a software application that enables you to create and manipulate data that is stored in the form of databases. Short form: DBMS.

DBMS

See database management system.

encryption

the act or process of converting data to a form that is unintelligible except to the intended recipients.

engine

a component of SAS software that reads from or writes to a file. Various engines enable SAS to access different types of file formats.

job

a collection of SAS tasks that can create output.

library reference

See libref.

libref

a SAS name that is associated with the location of a SAS library. For example, in the name MYLIB.MYFILE, MYLIB is the libref, and MYFILE is a file in the SAS library.

localhost

the keyword that is used to specify the machine on which a program is executing. If a client specifies localhost as the server address, the client connects to a server that runs on the same machine.

metadata

descriptive data about data that is stored and managed in a database, in order to facilitate access to captured and archived data for further use.

metadata LIBNAME engine

the SAS engine that processes and augments data that is identified by metadata. The metadata engine retrieves information about a target SAS library from metadata objects in a specified metadata repository.

metadata object

a set of attributes that describe a table, a server, a user, or another resource on a network. The specific attributes that a metadata object includes vary depending on which metadata model is being used.

metadata repository

a collection of related metadata objects, such as the metadata for a set of tables and columns that are maintained by an application. A SAS Metadata Repository is an example.

metadata server

a server that stores information about servers, users, and stored processes and that provides this information to one or more client applications.

observation

a row in a SAS data set. All of the data values in an observation are associated with a single entity such as a customer or a state. Each observation contains either one data value or a missing-value indicator for each variable.

SAS data file

a type of SAS data set that contains data values as well as descriptor information that is associated with the data. The descriptor information includes information such as the data types and lengths of the variables, as well as the name of the engine that was used to create the data.

SAS data set

a file whose contents are in one of the native SAS file formats. There are two types of SAS data sets: SAS data files and SAS data views. SAS data files contain data values in addition to descriptor information that is associated with the data. SAS data views contain only the descriptor information plus other information that is required for retrieving data values from other SAS data sets or from files whose contents are in other software vendors' file formats.

SAS data set option

an option that appears in parentheses after a SAS data set name. Data set options specify actions that apply only to the processing of that SAS data set.

SAS data view

a type of SAS data set that retrieves data values from other files. A SAS data view contains only descriptor information such as the data types and lengths of the variables (columns) plus other information that is required for retrieving data values from other SAS data sets or from files that are stored in other software vendors' file formats. Short form: data view.

SAS library

one or more files that are defined, recognized, and accessible by SAS and that are referenced and stored as a unit. Each file is a member of the library.

SAS Management Console

a Java application that provides a single user interface for performing SAS administrative tasks.

SAS Metadata Model

a collection of metadata types that are used for saving information about application elements.

SAS Metadata Server

a multi-user server that enables users to read metadata from or write metadata to one or more SAS Metadata Repositories.

SAS Open Metadata Architecture

a general-purpose metadata management facility that provides metadata services to SAS applications. The SAS Open Metadata Architecture enables applications to exchange metadata, which makes it easier for these applications to work together.

SAS table

another term for SAS data set.

SAS variable

a column in a SAS data set or in a SAS data view. The data values for each variable describe a single characteristic for all observations (rows).

SAS/ACCESS software

a group of software interfaces, each of which makes data from a particular external database management system (DBMS) directly available to SAS, as well as making SAS data directly available to the DBMS.

statement option

a word that you specify in a particular SAS statement and which affects only the processing that that statement performs.

transformation

in data integration, an operation that extracts data, transforms data, or loads data into data stores.

variable

See SAS variable.