Providing software solutions since 1976
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Providing software solutions since 1976
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 What is a hot fix?
The answer can vary. To some it is a quick fix to an immediate problem or an essential fix to a commonly recurring problem. To others, it is system maintenance. Technical Support's hot fix focus is on the need to solve critical and frequently recurring problems. These alert priority defects will be evaluated for hot fix consideration. If the fix can be created with a reasonable impact to the source code and testing coverage can confirm accurate results, the hot fix will be pursued. Fixes that require a significant code update, impose a great potential for regressions in the software, are considered enhancements to the existing software, or are considered to have a minor impact on customers will be deferred to a subsequent SAS release. This will help us to ensure the reliability of hot fixes. Hot fixes have been tested and are fully supported. Most hot fixes are incorporated into the next scheduled release. Developing a viable work around to a problem is still the preferred approach over providing a hot fix, and hot fixing every problem that customers encounter is not practical. However, we do want to provide fixes that allow customers to “maintain” their installed production SAS System until they are reasonably able to upgrade to the latest SAS release. |
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What is a container hot fix?
A container hot fix is used to deliver one or more individual hot fixes known as member hot fixes, to multiple software components. For each member hot fix, a separate installation binary file is included in the container. The container installation must be executed on each machine in a deployment where at least one of the components that are to be updated is installed. The installer applies only those member hot fixes that are applicable to the software components that are installed on each machine, based on the SAS Deployment Registry. For SAS 9.2 the contents of a container hot fix are specific to an operating system. If the SAS components are installed across multiple operating systems, you should download and install the hot fix container for each operating system to the applicable machines. The SAS Deployment Registry is updated to reflect member hot fixes that are applied successfully. References to container hot fix ID numbers are not added to the SAS Deployment Registry. Installation functionality for container hot fixes is not available under z/OS. Instead, member hot fixes are delivered in a container .pax file that must be extracted. Then the installer for each member hot fix must be executed individually per the instructions provided on the Hot Fixes and Downloads web page. For example, consider hot fix C80002 for the SAS middle tier. This container hot fix includes member hot fixes for the following components: B75002 - SAS Web Infrastructure PlatformExecuting the C80002 installation binary file automatically executes the individual installers for the member hot fixes for those components that are installed on the machine where C80002 is executed. If the SAS components are installed on multiple machines, then you must execute C80002 on each of the machines. For example, if the SAS Web Infrastructure Client is not installed on the machine where C80002 is executed, then member hot fix B88002 is not installed. You must also execute C80002 on the machine where SAS Web Infrastructure Client is installed in order to apply the B88002 member. When the member hot fixes B75002, B88002, and C32002 are installed successfully, the SAS Deployment Registry is updated to reflect that each of these three hot fixes has been applied. The container hot fix ID number, C80002, is not referenced in the SAS Deployment Registry. For SAS 9.3: Hot fixes are not executable binaries. They are zip files that only include the fixed content; they are installed using the SAS Deployment Manager. Instructions for installing 9.3 hot fixes are documented in the SAS Deployment Wizard/SAS Deployment Manager 9.3: User's Guide (see the Apply Hot Fixes section in Chapter 5 -- SAS Deployment Manager Tasks). Additional post-installation instructions will still be provided in hot fix specific documentation. Another change in SAS 9.3 is that container hot fixes now include updates for all applicable operating systems. Only the one hot fix zip file is required for all machines/operating systems in your deployment. Other container hot fix details described above still apply to SAS 9.3. |
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Which hot fixes should I apply?
There are two philosophies which can be followed when determining which hot fixes should be applied. Philosophy 1: ”Install only what is needed” Some sites are interested in fixing only those problems that they encounter. They do not see the necessity of installing fixes for problems that do not affect them. They want to install just the fixes that are needed to keep their existing jobs running successfully. This minimizes the number of changes and regression testing to their SAS installations and the time spent installing hot fixes. These sites should download hot fixes only on an as-needed basis. Philosophy 2: “Install every fix that is available” Other sites want to be proactive by keeping their SAS installation updated with all of the latest fixes. These are typically larger sites that use many different components of the software. There are also users who are more comfortable with always running the "latest and greatest". For these sites, downloading the available product hot fixes at set intervals of time is the best and most efficient approach. Neither philosophy is better or more correct than the other; they are just two different ways of thinking. It is up to each site to determine which philosophy best meets its business needs. |
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How can I receive automatic notification when a new hot fix becomes available?
When new hot fixes become available, announcements are posted to tsnews-l. If you are not subscribed to this listserv, you can do so from: |
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How can I determine which hot fixes have been applied to my SAS installation?
For SAS 9.2, Phase 2 (TS2M0) and SAS 9.3, the installation of hot fixes is logged in the SAS
Deployment Registry. A reporting utility named ViewRegistry (available in sas.tools.viewregistry.jar)
processes the deployment registry and generates a report file named DeploymentRegistry.html.
This report identifies all SAS 9.2 software that is installed in the current SASHOME location,
including hot fixes. For SAS 9.1.3, an audit file is installed with every SAS Foundation hot fix. This text file contains hot fix specific information such as the hot fix name, product involved, files included in the hot fix, port date, SAS Note numbers and comments. Audit files have the same name as the hot fix (i.e. e9ba01wn.aud) and are installed in a location specific to each host. Do not delete installed audit files. These files may be used by Technical Support to troubleshoot problems.
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Should hot fixes be installed in a specific order? Will installing one hot fix over-write another fix?
No, hot fixes do not have to be installed in any specific order ...
for three reasons:
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Is a "silent" installer or "batch mode" installer available for hot fixes?
For SAS 9.3, see the 'Using the Hot Fix Launcher Script' section in
SAS Deployment Wizard and SAS Deployment Manager 9.3: User's Guide.
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How can I tell which release of SAS a hot fix can be applied to? Unless otherwise noted on the hot fix download page, individual hot fixes are designed for specific releases of SAS. A hot fix should NOT be applied to a SAS release or to an Additional SAS Product or Solution other than the one for which it was intended. An easy way to know if a hot fix is designed for a specific release of SAS is to look at the characters of the hot fix ID and reference the following table:
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Why are some issues addressed in hot fixes labeled "ALERT"? ALERT issues are problems that you need to be aware of before you install or use the software. These may include, but are not limited to, security, data integrity and incorrect output. The Hot Fix download site includes the following features to help you quickly identify hot fixes for ALERT issues:
Hot Fix announcements made to the TSNEWS-L listserv also include special notification when a hot fix is released for an ALERT issue.
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How do I cancel a hot fix installation? For SAS 9.2, Phase 2 (TS2M0) and SAS 9.3, use the Cancel button to cancel an installation. If the installation is cancelled through an acceptable means (for example, by clicking the Cancel button) rather than by terminating the process, you might receive the following message: Installation could not be completed. No changes have been made to your system. |
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Is it possible to apply a hot fix multiple times on the same SAS image? Once you have applied a hot fix, it cannot be reapplied. If you attempt to reapply a hot fix, the installer will fail. For SAS 9.2, Phase 2 (TS2M0), see SAS Note SN-35780, "Attempts to re-apply SAS 9.2 hot fixes will fail." |
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How do I know if my hot fix installation was successful? For SAS 9.2, Phase 2 (TS2M0) and SAS 9.3, the final dialog box of the installation (the Installation Complete dialog box), provides information about the files that were successfully updated during an installation. An installation log file for each hot fix installation is stored in the following location: SAS 9.3: !SASHOME\InstallMisc\InstallLogs\*_hot-fix-name_*.logThe *preexec.log file provides detailed information about the installation process before the install has executed; the *postexec.log file provides detailed information after it has executed. |
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What is SASHFADD? The SAS Hot Fix Analysis, Download and Deployment Tool (SASHFADD) creates a customized hot fix report listing hot fixes available for any SAS 9.2 or SAS 9.3 deployment and generates scripts that will automate the download and installation of hot fixes. For more details, see the HFADD Usage Guide and the HFADD download page. |
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What is a hot fix bundle?
A hot fix bundle is simply an accumulation of one or more individual hot fixes. Hot fix bundles are currently available for Base SAS 9.1.3 Service Pack 4. New Base SAS hot fixes t that are released after a bundle is created must be downloaded and installed individually or installed with the next bundle. Hot fixes for other products must also still be downloaded individually. Since Base SAS has a number of fixes in different components of the software, the bundle allows customers to download and install multiple Base SAS hot fixes at one time instead of downloading and installing hot fixes individually. These bundles are available by platform. Fix lists are provided to document which hot fixes are included in a bundle. Audit files will also be installed with each bundle. These files may be used by Technical Support to troubleshoot problems, so please do not remove them. The frequency at which these bundles are updated and released is based on the number of hot fixes released since the last bundle and on the number and nature of hot fixes under development at a given time.
While neither the SAS release number nor the tslevel are incremented when a bundle in installed, a new message is written to the log at invocation time:
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What is the significance of the
IMPORTANT! message and hot fix list displayed before I am able to download a bundle? How does this list compare to the
hot fixes listed on the Hot Fixes not included in Hot Fix Bundle report? When the download of a bundle is initiated, you may see the following: IMPORTANT! The hot fixes listed on this intermediate download page are ones which were released after the hot fix bundle was released, but which contain updated versions of modules that are included in the bundle. If any of these recent hot fixes have been applied to your system, and the hot fix bundle is installed afterward, the recent fixes will be lost (overwritten). This synchronization problem can be avoided by reapplying any hot fixes to your system that are listed on the IMPORTANT! message page. It is critical that you review this page carefully and reinstall any hot fixes that appear on the list! The hot fixes listed on the IMPORTANT! message page are only a subset of the fixes listed on Hot Fixes NOT included in bundle report, which shows all hot fixes that are not included in the bundle. These hot fixes were either intentionallly excluded from the bundle, or they are new hot fixes that have been released since the bundle was produced. Most of the hot fixes on this report will be included in the next iteration of the bundle. |
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What is a Service Pack? A Service Pack is a software update containing system enhancements and bug fixes in one installable package. Service Packs are available only for SAS 9.1.3 (9.1 TS1M3). Service Packs contain all previously released SAS 9.1.3 hot fixes. The individual hot fixes contained in a Service Pack are no longer available for separate download.
The latest Service Pack can be downloaded from the SAS Hot Fix web site, and
must be applied to your system before installing any currently available hot fixes.
The content of Service Packs varies by operating system. Click on an operating system link below to view the list of fixes and enhancements included in the latest Service Pack:
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Are Service Packs Cumulative?
Yes. The fixes and enhancements (including hot fixes) that were in previous service packs are included in the latest service pack.
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Why are previously available hot fixes no longer available for download?
All 9.1.3 hot fixes released prior to the current service pack have been removed from the hot fix download site. These hot fixes are all contained within the current service pack and will no longer be available for individual download.
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The SASNote I am reading says there is a 9.1.3 Fix available. I clicked on the link and it takes me to a table that says "SAS 9.1.3 Service Pack *
". What does this mean?
It means that the fix you are looking for is contained in the latest service pack. This can be verified on a fix-by-fix basis by clicking on the Service Pack Fix List link that is included in the service pack download table.
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Can I apply new 9.1.3 hot fixes without having the latest SAS 9.1.3 Service Pack on my system?
In most cases, the latest service pack is required for all new 9.1.3 hot fixes. For Foundation software,
changes have been made to the hot fix installers to specifically check for the presence of the latest
service pack. If the service pack is not found, then the hot fix installers will fail with a clearly
stated error message. For mid-tier and client java applications, the hot fix installation will not
check for the latest service pack. You should confirm that the latest service pack is installed before
applying these hot fixes.
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