SAS Viya is SAS Institute’s cloud-native analytics platform. It runs on Kubernetes (Viya 4, called “the SAS Viya platform”) or, for the earlier SAS Viya 3.5, on conventional hosts. SAS sells it as packaged offerings, “with the flexibility to expand”, and offers deployment in cloud, hybrid and on-premises environments.[1] Whatever the offering, “Usage of your SAS software is controlled by a license file”. The file comes with the deployment assets from my.sas.com as a JSON web token and applies to both the CAS in-memory engine and the SAS programming run-time.[2] See SAS licensing for the overview.
Editions
The offering matrix on sas.com compares four packages.[1]
| Capability | SAS Viya | SAS Viya Advanced | SAS Viya Enterprise | SAS Viya Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Access and manage data; workload management; develop code and flows; explore and visualize; machine learning and deep learning; statistics | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Discover and govern data; build models; manage models | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Text analytics; forecasting; optimization; econometrics; matrix programming | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Accelerate data | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Build decisions; streaming analytics | No | No | Yes | No |
Source: SAS Viya offering matrix.[1] As commentary: the matrix shows capabilities, not product codes. The licence file lists the individual products actually licensed, and those are what an auditor would compare with deployed use.
Standalone and marketplace products. SAS features SAS Viya Workbench on AWS Marketplace, and SAS Viya and SAS Data Maker on Microsoft Marketplace.[1] Students, educators and independent learners can use the free SAS OnDemand for Academics for learning purposes.[9]
Metrics
| SAS term | Catalog row | Where it appears |
|---|---|---|
| Expiration date, grace period, warning period | License period | proc setinit output, CAS listabout, the sas-viya licenses CLI[2] |
| maxCPUs | maxCPUs | CAS licence section (SAS Viya 3.5)[3] |
| Site name and number | SAS site | Licence file name and site validation data[3] |
Counting / floors
Expiry. The Viya 3.5 documentation describes four licence states: current, due for renewal (grace period), about to expire (warning period), and expired. “As of June 2024 the grace period is now zero days” and “the warning period is 15 days.” In SAS’s example, a licence expiring on 30 June gives a warning period from 1 July to 15 July, and SAS stops running at midnight on 16 July.[3] The example licence output in the current SAS Viya platform documentation also shows a grace period of 0 days and a warning period of 15 days.[2] Catalog: Grace period 0 days and warning period 15 days since June 2024; An expired SAS license means SAS does not run.
CPU limits. CAS licence information includes maxCPUs. The documentation notes: “If you have an unlimited license, maxCPUs is not reported in the output.”[3] A licence manager can therefore read the CPU entitlement of a CAS server from its licence information. Catalog: maxCPUs is omitted for unlimited CAS licenses.
Viewing the licence. Administrators can see licence status in SAS Environment Manager or run proc setinit and cas casauto listabout in SAS Studio. The sas-viya licenses command-line interface lists site information, expired products, and SAS Data Connector products covered within the grace period.[2] These interfaces are read-only.[2]
Virtualization & partitioning
The SAS Viya platform runs on Kubernetes. The public licensing documents for Viya 4 describe no core-counting rule. Entitlement is defined by the products and expiration dates in the licence file, and by the Order Form.[2] SAS’s support terms put Viya platform releases running on an alternate Kubernetes distribution under Limited Support.[5] For CPU-limited Viya 3.5 CAS licences, see the maxCPUs field above.
Cloud / BYOL
SAS Viya can be licensed “direct from SAS, through our trusted partners or via cloud marketplaces”.[1] On the Microsoft and AWS marketplaces, customers choose pay-as-you-go or bring-your-own-license (BYOL). Azure Marketplace purchases can count toward a Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment.[7] A BYOL deployment still needs a SAS licence file from the customer’s order. Catalog: Marketplace purchases: pay-as-you-go or BYOL, MACC-eligible on Azure. See cloud BYOL.
Programs
Renewal. Applying a new licence extends the expiration date of deployed offerings or enables new products. SAS sends a “Software License Renewal Confirmation email” that links to my.sas.com, where the .jwt file is downloaded.[2] SAS states that a licence-only update “is required each time you are issued a new license through a software purchase or contract renewal”.[4] Catalog: A new SAS Viya license extends expirations or enables products; A license-only update is required for each new license.
Two operational details affect whether a renewal takes effect:
- If the
secretGeneratorblock inkustomization.yamlcontains a licence, “that license is used regardless of the license included in the deployment assets”. An old pinned licence can therefore make a site run out even though SAS has issued a new one.[2] Catalog: A license pinned in kustomization.yaml overrides the delivered license. - Applying the licence with the SAS Viya Platform Deployment Operator “requires an outage”, and a longer one if the software is updated at the same time.[2] Catalog: Applying a license with the deployment operator requires an outage.
Temporary licence extensions are requested per site in my.sas.com.[8]
Stable and Long-Term Support cadences. The SAS Viya platform follows continuous delivery. Stable versions are released monthly and Long-Term Support (LTS) versions every six months.[5] Standard Support covers the current Stable version and the three previous ones, so Stable customers “are required to update to the latest Stable version at least every three months”. LTS customers must update “at least once every two years”.[5] Deployments in Limited Support cannot download patches, but they can download assets for a supported version.[5] Standard Support also requires “no outstanding maintenance fees”.[6] Catalog: Viya Standard Support requires regular updates; Standard Support requires no outstanding maintenance fees.
Audits and compliance
For a licence manager, the SAS Viya licence file is both the entitlement record and the enforcement mechanism. Useful checks are:
- Export licensed products and expiration dates with the
sas-viya licensesCLI and compare them with the Order Form.[2] - Confirm that the renewed licence is actually applied, including any pinned licence in
kustomization.yaml.[2] - Track the release cadence. A deployment that falls behind loses Standard Support even though its licence is current.[5]
Contractual audit rights sit in the SAS Universal Terms. See SAS contracts, support and audit.
Out of scope
- Prices and order-level metrics for SAS Viya offerings, which SAS does not publish.
- SAS Viya Workbench and SAS Data Maker marketplace terms, which are on the marketplace sites.
- SAS Cloud (hosted by SAS) service descriptions.
- SAS 9, covered in SAS 9 setinit and license renewal.