Date:         Tue, 2 Oct 2007 22:48:19 -0700
Reply-To:     Patrick <patrick.matter@GMX.CH>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Patrick <patrick.matter@GMX.CH>
Organization: http://groups.google.com
Subject:      Re: set memory size for sas?
Comments: To: sas-l@uga.edu
In-Reply-To:  <1191378735.155212.13810@g4g2000hsf.googlegroups.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

What is "extreme large"?

What sometimes helps with Proc Sort is NOEQUALS - just because there
is one thing less to care about and so a chance for a "faster" sort
algorithm.

Proc Sort uses by default the maximum memory available (read text
below from Online-Doc). May be you want to check if the default value
is still accurate (could happen if there were later upgrades to the
server where SAS is running and the SAS admin didn't change the value
for max memory usage).

But else: Don't worry even with large datasets as long as you have
enough disk space and time. If there is not enough memory then Sort
just uses disc space - which takes quite a bit longer of course.


>From Online-Doc:
-----------------------------------------------
SORTSIZE= Option

Limiting the Amount of Memory Available to PROC SORT
You can use the SORTSIZE= option in the PROC SORT statement to limit
the amount of memory available to the SORT procedure. This option can
reduce the amount of swapping SAS must do to sort the data set.
Note:   If you do not specify the SORTSIZE= option, PROC SORT uses the
value of the SORTSIZE system option. The SORTSIZE system option can be
defined on the command line or in the SAS configuration file.

Syntax of the SORTSIZE= Option
The syntax of the SORTSIZE= option is as follows:
SORTSIZE=memory-specification
where memory-specification can be one of the following:
n       specifies the amount of memory in bytes.
nK      specifies the amount of memory in 1-kilobyte multiples.
nM      specifies the amount of memory in 1-megabyte multiples.
nG      specifies the amount of memory in 1-gigabyte multiples.

Default Value of the SORTSIZE= Option
The default SAS configuration file sets this option based on the value
of the SORTSIZE system option. The default for the SORTSIZE system
option is MAX; however, the value of MAX depends on your operating
system. To view the value of MAX for your operating environment, run
the following code:
proc options option=sortsize;
run;
You can override the default value of the SORTSIZE system option by
·       specifying a different SORTSIZE= value in the PROC SORT statement
·       submitting an OPTIONS statement that sets the SORTSIZE system option
to a new value
·       setting the SORTSIZE system option on the command line during the
invocation of SAS.

Improving Performance with the SORTSIZE= Option
In general, you should set the SORTSIZE= option no larger than the
amount of physical memory available to the SAS process. If the
SORTSIZE= value is larger than the amount of available memory, then
the operating system will be forced to page excessively. If the
SORTSIZE= value is too small, then not all of the sorting can be done
in memory, which also results in more disk I/O.
When the SORTSIZE= value is large enough to sort the entire data set
in memory, you can achieve optimal sort performance. If the entire
data set to be sorted will not fit in memory, SAS creates a temporary
utility file to store the data. In this case, SAS uses a sort
algorithm that is tuned to sort using disk space instead of memory.
Note:   You can also use the SORTSIZE system option, which has the
same effect as the SORTSIZE= option in the PROC SORT statement.