Book Image

SQL Server Analysis Services 2012 Cube Development Cookbook

Book Image

SQL Server Analysis Services 2012 Cube Development Cookbook

Overview of this book

Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database management system. As a database, it is a software product whose primary function is to store and retrieve data as requested by other software applications. SQL Server Analysis Services adds OLAP and data mining capabilities for SQL Server databases. OLAP (online analytical processing) is a technique for analyzing business data for effective business intelligence. This practical guide teaches you how to build business intelligence solutions using Microsoft’s core product – SQL Server Analysis Services. The book covers the traditional multi-dimensional model which has been around for over a decade as well as the tabular model introduced with SQL Server 2012. Starting with comparing MultiDimensional and tabular models – discussing the values and limitations of each, you will then cover the essential techniques for building dimensions and cubes. Following on from this, you will be introduced to more advanced topics, such as designing partitions and aggregations, implementing security, and synchronizing databases for solutions serving many users. The book also covers administrative material, such as database backups, server configuration options, and monitoring and tuning performance. We also provide a primer on MultiDimensional eXpressions (MDX) as well as Data Analysis expressions (DAX) languages. This book provides you with data cube development techniques, and also the ongoing monitoring and tuning for Analysis Services.
Table of Contents (19 chapters)
SQL Server Analysis Services 2012 Cube Development Cookbook
Credits
About the Authors
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Introduction


This chapter teaches how to secure Analysis Services starting at the instance level and working all the way down to the individual cube cells. Analysis Services administrators have unrestricted access to all items within the server—they can restart the service, read and process data in every database, dimension, and cube, alter configuration settings, collect traces, and so on. This level of access is best reserved for database administrators. SSAS developers need full access to the database they're working with but not necessarily to the entire instance; each instance could host multiple databases constructed by multiple development teams. Individual users may need access to all or some of the cube and dimension data depending on their job requirements. In addition to explicitly defining the list of dimension members, you can also dynamically configure the security if your cube is queried by many users, each requiring access to a specific dataset.

Unlike the SQL Server relational...