First Impression of Analysis Services "Denali"

Installation:

The installation is very similar to the SQL Server 2008 R2. However, while installing SSAS you should choose either the good old SSAS or the new Tabular Mode. BTW, there is another new configuration window regarding Distributed Replay Clients. About this subject in another post. Meanwhile you can read a little about it here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff878183(v=sql.110).aspx

Installing the sample data

You can download sample Tabular database from codeplex.

The new db should look like this:

Installing PowerPivot for Denali CTP

The PowerPivot is used to create the Tabular data which later be uploaded to the SSAS Server. There are other ways to create a tabular model; this is the simplest one. I'm working on another post to demonstrate creating a Tabular Mode Database based on AdventureWorksDW2008.

If you download the PowerPivot add-in from http://www.powerpivot.com/, you might get an error.

Go to this great post to solve the problem: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/oneclickbi/archive/2011/07/22/installing-and-using-powerpivot-for-excel-in-denali-ctp.aspx .

Browsing the “cube”

As you can see there are no cubes. Browsing the data is done by right clicking on the database. Tip: if you can’t see the dimensions, click twice on the Design Mode button.

As you can see, even if the dimension has a hierarchy, the Management Studio Browser flattens the information, exactly as the SSRS 2008 Wizard for SSAS Cubes. For ex. I could not place the Calendar attribute on the "Columns" axis. Click on the Excel icon to open the database using Excel 2010 (regular Excel, no PowerPivot is needed). I guess Microsoft is telling us to use this as a simple browsing tool instead of Management Studio.

Right Click on the Database, New MDX Query. The MDX function works well (so far so good). I also checked some hierarchy oriented functions such as Parent and Children for the hierarchies in the database.