Using the metadata engine provides the
following advantages:
-
The metadata engine is a single
point of access to many heterogeneous data sources. If an administrator
has registered the metadata with the metadata server, a user or application
can specify the appropriate metadata engine libref, and omit specifications
for the underlying engine. In many cases, the user can change the
data source for their SAS program by simply changing the libref. The
user can ignore the syntax, options, behavior, and tuning that are
required by the underlying engines, because the administrator has
registered that information in the metadata.
-
The metadata engine, in conjunction
with the metadata server's authorization facility, enables an administrator
to control access to data. The Create, Write, and Delete permissions
are enforced only if the metadata engine is used to access the data.
See The Metadata Engine and Authorization.
-
Some data sources do not store
column formats, informats, labels, and other SAS information. This
information is stored by the metadata server and is included with
the data that is accessed by the metadata engine.