Databases Reference
In-Depth Information
When you choose the
Process Full
option for processing a cube, the server
performs three internal operations. If the storage mode for the cube is
MOLAP, the server first reads the data from the relational data and stores the
data in a compact format. If there were aggregations defined for the cube, the
server will build those aggregations during this processing. Finally, the server
creates indexes for the data that helps speed access to data during querying.
Even if there were no aggregations specified for the cube, the server still cre-
ates the indexes. The
Process Data
option actually is the first step of the Pro-
cess Full option where the server reads data from relational data sources and
stores it in proprietary format. The second and third steps of processing ag-
gregations and indexes can be separately accomplished by the
Process In-
dex
option. You might be wondering why you have the Process Data and Pro-
cess Index option when the Process Full and Process Default option actually
accomplish the same task. These options provide the administrator a fine
grain of control. These are especially important when you have limited time to
access the relational data source and want to optimize the processing. Under
such instances, you first process data. Once you have all the data on the
Analysis Service you can then create your aggregations and indexes, which
do not need access to the relational data source.
If you choose the
Process Structure
option, the server processes all the
cube's dimensions and the cube definitions so that the cube's structure is pro-
cessed without any processing of the data. The server will not process the
partitions or measure groups of the cube, therefore you cannot see any of the
fact data; however, you can browse the cube because the cube definitions
are processed. You can retrieve metadata information about the cube (meas-
ure names, measure groups, dimensions, KPIs, actions, and so on) after pro-
cessing the cube's structure. However, you will not be able to query the cube
data. For a cube that has been processed with Process Structure, you can
see the cube in SQL Server Management Studio MDX query editor when you
select the drop-down list for the cube. If your cube linked measure groups has
been processed with Process Structure option, you will be able to query the
measures in linked measure groups. Often when you design your UDM you
will want to make sure your design is correct and your customers are able to
see the right measures and dimensions. Process Structure is helpful in valid-
ating your design. As soon as the data for the cube is available the cube can
be processed with the Process Default option so that end users can query the
data from the cube.
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