In-your-face SETINIT warnings, at a desktop near you

I connect to more SAS server environments than your average SAS user. In a given week, I probably run SAS Enterprise Guide connecting to at least five different Windows-based servers, a few Unix-based servers, and maybe even a z/OS machine as well.

With that many SAS environments, I'm bound to encounter one or two with a SETINIT that's in its "warning" mode: you know, when the initialization log tells you that your SAS products will expire soon and you need to renew your SETINIT (via a SAS Installation Data, or SID, file). (Yes, even inside the walls of SAS, we use SETINITs to keep our software installations working.)

Sometimes I connect too late, and the license has already expired. If that happens, you don't get a nice message from SAS Enterprise Guide that tells you why you can't connect. The message is simply, "Failed to start the SAS server." Without a current SETINIT, a SAS workspace won't start at all, and so we can't get more detailed information than that.

NOTE: This is different from the expiration date sometimes encountered in older SAS Enterprise Guide clients, which has nothing to do with SETINITs.

So for my own selfish purposes, I added a new warning message into SAS Enterprise Guide 4.3. You'll see it whenever you connect to a SAS server that has entered its "warning" stage. I encountered it today (and thanked myself for adding it!); here's what it looks like:

What should you do when you see this warning? You should share the news, of course, and annoy your SAS administrator to apply a newer SETINIT. (In my case though, that's often me.)

I hope that this small touch serves you well, and gives you plenty of warning the next time your SAS licenses are coming close to term.