File System Access

SAP ASE provides access to the file system through the SQL language. With file system access, you can create proxy tables that are mapped to file system directories, or to individual files.

Only SAP ASE users with system administrator (sa) or System Security Officer (sso) roles are allowed to create proxy tables that are mapped to files or directories

This requirement addresses the concerns over the security aspects of accessing file system data from within the SAP ASE server process (which may have root permission as it runs).

• Directory Access
  Proxy tables can be created to reference file system directories.
• Recursion Through Subordinate Directories
  If the path name specified in the create proxy_table statement contains the ;R extension, Component Integration Services traverses all directories subordinate to the path name, and returns information for the contents of each subordinate directory.
• File Access
  Another class of proxy tables allowed in SAP ASE enables SQL access to individual files within a file system.