Analysis Services and cube processing overview

SQL Server Analysis Services

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services (SSAS) delivers online analytical processing (OLAP) and data mining functionality for business intelligence applications. Analysis Services supports OLAP by letting you design, create, and manage multidimensional structures that contain data aggregated from other data sources, such as relational databases. For data mining applications, Analysis Services lets you design, create, and visualize data mining models that are constructed from other data sources by using a wide variety of industry-standard data mining algorithms.

Analysis Services Concepts and Objects

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services (SSAS) delivers online analytical processing (OLAP) and data mining functionality through a combination of server and client technologies, further reinforced through the use of a specialized development and management environment coupled with a well-defined object model for designing, creating, deploying, and maintaining business intelligence applications. For more information, see the Additional Resources section on the SQL Server 2005 – Analysis Services page on the Microsoft TechNet Web site.

Analysis Services Architecture

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services (SSAS) uses both server and client components to supply online analytical processing (OLAP) and data mining functionality for business intelligence applications:

* The server component of Analysis Services is implemented as a Microsoft Windows service. SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services supports multiple instances on the same computer, with each instance of Analysis Services implemented as a separate instance of the Windows service.

* Clients communicate with Analysis Services using the public standard XML for Analysis (XMLA), a SOAP-based protocol for issuing commands and receiving responses, exposed as a Web service. Client object models are also provided over XMLA, and can be accessed either by using a managed provider, such as ADOMD.NET, or a native OLE DB provider.

* Query commands can be issued using the following languages: SQL; Multidimensional Expressions (MDX), an industry standard query language for analysis; or Data Mining Extensions (DMX), an industry standard query language oriented toward data mining. Analysis Services Scripting Language (ASSL) can also be used to manage Analysis Services database objects. Related topics: Key Concepts in MDX (MDX), Multidimensional Expressions (MDX) Reference, Analysis Services Scripting Language (ASSL), Data Mining Extensions (DMX) Reference

Analysis Services Concepts

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services (SSAS) provides online analytical processing (OLAP) and data mining functionality for business intelligence solutions. Before designing a business intelligence solution using Analysis Services, you should familiarize yourself with the OLAP and data mining concepts required for a successful solution.

Analysis Services combines the best aspects of traditional OLAP-based analysis and relational-based reporting by enabling developers to define a single data model, called a Unified Dimensional Model (UDM) over one or more physical data sources. All end user queries from OLAP, reporting, and custom BI applications access the data in the underlying data sources through the UDM, which provides a single business view of this relational data.

Analysis Services provides a rich set of data mining algorithms to enable business users to mine their data looking for specific patterns and trends. These data mining algorithms can be used to analyze data through a UDM or directly from a physical data store.

For more information, see the Additional Resources section on the SQL Server 2005 – Analysis Services page on the Microsoft TechNet Web site.

Analysis Services Objects

A Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services (SSAS) instance contains database objects and assemblies for use with online analytical processing (OLAP) and data mining.

• Databases contain OLAP and data mining objects, such as data sources, data source views, cubes, measures, measure groups, dimensions, attributes, hierarchies, mining structures, mining models and roles.
• Assemblies contain user-defined functions that extend the functionality of the intrinsic functions provided with the Multidimensional Expressions (MDX) and Data Mining Extensions (DMX) languages.

In This Section

The following topics describe objects shared by both OLAP and data mining features in Analysis Services.

• Data Sources (Analysis Services) Describes a data source in Analysis Services.

• Data Source Views (Analysis Services) Describes a logical data model based on one or more data sources, in Analysis Services.

• Cubes (Analysis Services) Describes cubes and cube objects, including measures, measure groups, dimension usage relationships, calculations, key performance indicators, actions, translations, partitions, and perspectives.

• Dimensions (Analysis Services) Describes dimensions and dimension objects, including attributes, attribute relationships, hierarchies, levels, and members.

• Mining Structures (Analysis Services) Describes mining structures and mining objects, including mining models.

• Roles (Analysis Services)Describes a role, the security mechanism used to control access to objects in Analysis Services.

• Assemblies (Analysis Services) Describes an assembly, a collection of user-defined functions used to extend the MDX and DMX languages, in Analysis Services.