How to set the number of parallel processes that SAS® Enterprise Guide® can execute


Beginning with SAS® Enterprise Guide® 5.1, you can submit independent jobs in parallel without additional server configuration.

For an introduction to and description of using parallel processing, see the section PROMOTING PARALLEL EXECUTION, on page 16 of the document Best Practices for Administering SAS® Enterprise Guide®.

As the paper describes, parallel execution in SAS Enterprise Guide 5.1 and above requests additional workspace server sessions as needed, using the same server context. Some SAS users might wish to change the default limit of six workspace server sessions that SAS Enterprise Guide can request.

Note: Before setting the default number of additional workspace servers that SAS Enterprise Guide 5.1 can request, consult with your SAS Administrator. Increasing the default requires more server resources when executing additional workspace server sessions.


After you consult with your SAS Administrator, do the following:

  1. Back up the %appdata%\SAS\SharedSettings\5.1\Engine\SystemSettings.xml file.
  2. Open the %appdata%\SAS\SharedSettings\5.1\Engine\SystemSettings.xml file in a text editor.
  3. Locate the entries <WSPoolSize></WSPoolSize> <UserJobLimit></UserJobLimit> and <WSNormalLimit></WSNormalLimit>.
    WSPoolSize is the total size of the workspace pool. At most, this number of workspace sessions is started for concurrent processing. An additional workspace is the main one that the user interacts with.
    UserJobLimit is the maximum number of jobs that a single user can submit. If this value is more than the pool size, some quick stat jobs are held as pending while waiting for an available server. If this value is less than the pool size, then the pool is never completely allocated when running Enterprise Guide.
    WSNormalLimit is the maximum number of Normal Priority workspaces allowed.
  4. Change the value of <WSPoolSize> <UserJobLimit> and <WSNormalLimit> to a number of your choosing. All options should be set to the same value.

By default, workspace server processes that are started using parallel processing are set to shut down after 7,200 seconds (120 minutes) of idle time. This setting reduces the server cost of reinitializing additional workspace server processes when needed.

This value can be changed by editing the <WSLongLife>7200</WSLongLife> entry.
WSLongLife is the time in seconds that a workspace is allowed to be idle before being ended.

If you want the client-managed workspace servers to shut down after a reduced time, edit the WSLongLife option to a lower value (in seconds). The only implication to shutting down the processes after a reduced time is that when the project later requires additional workspace servers the servers need to be reinitialized again.