This document provides instructions for setting up and using SAS University Edition on a virtual machine. It outlines downloading and installing VirtualBox, creating a SAS web account, importing and launching the SAS UE virtual appliance in VirtualBox, accessing SAS training modules online, and writing and running SAS code by defining a library and referencing training data files. Troubleshooting tips are included, such as deleting and recreating the virtual machine if errors occur.

1. SAS University Edition
getting started
craigtrim@gmail.com
January 2017

2. SAS University Edition
• Prerequisites:
• Installation of Virtual Box (slide 3)
• SAS Web Account (slide 4)
• launching SAS UE locally (slides 5-11)
• launching SAS training (slides 12-13)
• running SAS code (slides 14-22)

3. Install Virtual Box
What is Virtual Box?
• Enables a Virtual Machine on your
local computer (workstation or
laptop)
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual
_machine
• Similar to VMWare
• Gives you full control over an
environment.
• If something goes wrong, you always
have the option to delete the virtual
machine instance and create a new
one
Installation
• https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki
/Downloads
• Virtual Box is free
• Virtual Box is compatible with
Windows, OS X and all major
Linux distros
• Website has installation
instructions and user manual

4. SAS Web Account
Create a SAS Profile
• https://www.sas.com/profile/ui/
#/create
Download the Virtual Instance
• http://www.sas.com/en_us/soft
ware/university-
edition/download-software.html
• Mac OS X, Windows and Linux
are supported

5. launching SAS UE locally 1-7
• The first time VirtualBox
Manager is started, it will look
like this
• The manager “manages” all of
your virtual machine instances
(there can be several)

6. launching SAS UE locally 2-7
• Double click the OVA file
• “ova” is file extension for virtual
machine appliances in Virtual Box
• This will open VirtualBox
Manager with a configuration
dialog box
• Accept all the defaults
• You can choose to assign more
RAM or CPU instances, but do not
reinitialize the MAC adddresses.

7. launching SAS UE locally 3-7
• The virtual disk image will
import into the manager
• Once completed, you will see
the SAS University Edition
instance in a “powered off” state
in the left-hand pane of the
manager.

8. launching SAS UE locally 4-7
• Don’t forget to add the shared
folder from the Quick Start
Guide*
• Note that the “Make
Permanent” option may not be
visible initially.
• Once the virtual instance boots for
the first time, this checkbox will
automatically enable itself.

9. launching SAS UE locally 5-7
• To start the instance, either
• double-click the instance, or
• right-click and select Start >
Normal Start
• This action will launch the virtual
machine
• It may take a few minutes …

10. launching SAS UE locally 6-7
• SAS runs inside a browser
• Once you see the URL in the
instance window, the startup
process is complete
• http://localhost:10800
• Click (or copy) this URL and open
in the browser of your choice!

11. launching SAS UE locally 7-7
• The first time I ran through this, I
wasn’t able to open the URL in the
browser
• I had chosen to “reinitialize all MAC
addresses” when I imported the
instance
• I deleted the VM Instance and tried
again
• That’s always a viable option when
working with virtual instances
• Monday night chat sessions or
other classroom notification
mechanisms ….
• VirtualBox troubleshooting
Manual:
• https://www.virtualbox.org/manu
al/ch12.html
• Read the Quick Start Guide
• http://support.sas.com/software/
products/university-
edition/docs/en/SASUniversityEdit
ionQuickStartVirtualBox.pdf

12. launching SAS training 1-2
• https://support.sas.com/training/
• Sign In
• Select “Training > My Training”
from the left hand nav pane
• Select “SAS(R) Programming 1:
Essentials (released 2014)”
from the list of courses

13. launching SAS training 2-2
• Follow the “Define Orion Library”
prior to running any SAS module
code
• The setup is here:
• https://support.sas.com/edu/OLTRN/
ECPRG193/setup_reminder.htm

14. running SAS code 1-9
• Create a new folder

15. running SAS code 2-9
• Paste in the libref code
• Don’t execute yet

16. running SAS code 3-9
• Update the filepath for the libref
• The filepath can be found by
right-clicking the SAS folder and
selecting properties, and copying
the location from the dialog path

17. running SAS code 4-9
• Update the path for the orion
libref.
• Execute the snippet and validate
that the LOG has no errors

18. running SAS code 5-9
• Save as a snippet
• Will be accessible via the left-
hand nav pane

19. running SAS code 6-9
• Create a new SAS Program
• Paste in the SAS practice data

20. running SAS code 7-9
• After executing the code, check
the log
• Check the results
• The shared directory between
the virtual instance and your
local machine should now be
populated with files (see third
screenshot)

21. running SAS code 8-9
• Paste in the Activity Code
• Run
• Check the output (LOG, RESULTS,
OUTPUT DATA)

22. running SAS code 9-9
troubleshooting
• The first time I ran the setup, the
LOG had many errors and my
shared directory only had
“sas7bdat” files
• When I attempted to run the
activity code, it didn’t work.
• I have no idea why this happened
• I deleted the entire Virtual
Machine and started again.
Everything worked the second
time.
• This is why VMs are nice!
• You can start fresh at any time.