SAS Metadata repository physical location

In this article you will get to know where Metadata repository is stored physically and in Metadata level.

I have already posted article about three different types of Metadata repositories and their uses. You can locate any type of repositories using SAS Management Console.

Metadata Manager plug in shows repository location

Expand Metadata manager plug in, under Active Sever you will find all the repositories configured in you SAS environment. By expanding Active Server you can see the Foundation repository. All the Metadata contents will be stored under this. There should be exactly one foundation repository.

Physical location

In Metadata manager plug in, expand active server and click on the foundation. You will get repository id, repository type and repository path. Repository path shows the physical location. It only show you the relative path.

In above figure, I have merged snapshot of SAS Management Console and snapshot of physical location.

You can get details about the type of repository and the repository ID. You can also see the format of Metadata data sets are sas7bdat. You should use OS command line editor like vi or vim to edit the file. Editing the file directly will corrupt and may cause severe damage to metadata server.

Default location of Metadata repository is SAS-configuration-directory/Lev1/SASMeta/MetadataServer

However you can use different location for custom or project repository.

Metadata repository format

Metadata repositories are nothing but tables in sas7bdat format. The sas7bdat is SAS dataset format. You should not access those tables directly. These tables get locked while Metadata server is in running state. If you to access repository tables, you should use Metadata queries. It is safe to use Metadata queries because PROC Metadata, Metadata management batch tools and DATA step function will be processed by Metadata several.