Database Reference
In-Depth Information
Managing Your Cubes and Dimensions
Our SSAS chapters thus far have focused on your role as a developer. Once the development of an SSAS database
is completed, the administrator role needs to be addressed. SSAS database administrators can manage cubes and
dimensions using SQL Server Management Studio or Microsoft's Visual Studio.
SQL Server Management Studio
Most administrators use SQL Server Management Studio for managing SQL Servers, and the same is true for an
SSAS server. In fact, to connect SQL Server Management Studio to Analysis Server, you perform the same actions
you would as if you were connecting to the SQL Servers database engine.
Make a connection by opening SQL Server Management Studio and clicking the Connection option in SQL
Server Management Studio's object Explorer window. You will see a dialog window that allows you to choose
which server you want to connect to, as shown in Figure
12-41
. The server type must be set to Analysis Server
instead of the database engine option that you normally see.
Figure 12-41.
Connecting to SSAS with SQL Server Management Studio (note the server type)
After typing in the correct server name, click Connect. Once connected, Object Explorer displays the
connection as shown in Figure
12-42
. From here, you can expand the list to see the various databases that have
been deployed to the server. And within each database, you expand the various folders to see your data sources,
data source views, cubes, and dimensions.
Right-clicking an object in the Object Explorer treeview brings up the context menu that allows you to
interact with that object. For example, in Figure
12-42
, we have selected the Process option in the context menu
of the CubeDWPubsSales object. This feature begins processing that cube.
