Analysis Server
The Analysis server is the server component of Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2000 Analysis Services. It is specifically designed to create and maintain multidimensional data structures and provide multidimensional data in response to client queries.
When you run Setup to install Analysis Services, you can choose to install the Analysis server component. The name of the Analysis server matches the computer name on the network. To connect to the Analysis server, client applications must specify this name in the connection string. End users typically supply a name to indicate the Analysis server they want to connect to.
Installing the Analysis server also creates the Analysis server object.
The Analysis server is the root object in the object hierarchy. As the root object, the Analysis server is the first object to be created and the object to which all other Analysis Services objects are subordinate. After an Analysis server is created, the next objects to be created are databases.
The principal tool for administering the Analysis server and its subordinate objects is Analysis Manager, which provides an extensive user interface. For more information, see Analysis Manager.
In Analysis Manager, a connected Analysis server is identified by the following icon.
Each Analysis server has a repository called the Analysis Services repository. This repository stores the meta data (that is, definitions) of the objects defined on the Analysis server. By default, the Analysis Services repository is Msmdrep.mdb on the computer running the Analysis server. However, the Analysis Services repository can be migrated to a SQL Server database. For more information, see Migrating Analysis Services Repositories.
Each Analysis server has an associated Data folder, which stores multidimensional structures for the objects defined on the Analysis server. These structures are contained in files that are created when the objects are processed. These structures are referenced to resolve queries sent to the Analysis server. Some of these structures contain
Important The Data folder also contains security files that control end users' access to objects on the Analysis server. For this reason, the Data folder must be secured against unauthorized access.
The location of the Data folder is specified during installation and can be changed. You can read and change the location of the Data folder in the Properties dialog box. You can also set other properties of the Analysis server in the Properties dialog box.
The service associated with the Analysis server is MSSQLServerOLAPService. By default, this service starts automatically and logs on as the system account. You can maintain the MSSQLServerOLAPService service in the Services application, which is either in Control Panel in Microsoft Windows NT® 4.0 or in the Administrative Tools folder in Windows® 2000.
If you are programming with Decision Support Objects (DSO), the class type associated with the Analysis server is clsServer.