Analysis Services Architecture

Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2000 Analysis Services includes the Analysis server and PivotTable® Service. The Analysis server creates and manages multidimensional data cubes for online analytical processing (OLAP) and provides multidimensional data to PivotTable Service, which in turn provides this data to clients through Microsoft ActiveX® Data Objects (Multidimensional) (ADO MD) and OLE DB for OLAP provider services.

The server stores cube meta data (cube definition specifications) in a repository. Completed cubes can be stored in a variety of storage modes: as multidimensional database files (MOLAP), as tables in a relational database (ROLAP), or as a hybrid of multidimensional database files and relational tables (HOLAP).

Source data for multidimensional cubes resides in relational databases where the data has been transformed into a star or snowflake schema typically used in OLAP data warehouse systems. Analysis Services can work with many relational databases that support connections using ODBC or OLE DB. When used as part of SQL Server 2000, Analysis Services offers enhanced security and other capabilities. The Data Transformation Services (DTS) feature of SQL Server 2000 provides a means to manage the data warehouse from which Analysis Services creates cubes.

Control of the server is accomplished through the Analysis Manager user interface, or through custom applications developed using the Decision Support Objects (DSO) object model. DSO controls the creation and management of cubes by the server, and manages the cube meta data in the repository. The object model is used by the Analysis Manager program that provides the user interface through a snap-in to Microsoft Management Console (MMC). The DSO object model can be used by applications written in Microsoft Visual Basic® to provide custom programmatic control of the server. You can also develop custom applications to interact with the Analysis Manager user interface.

The following diagram illustrates the elements and functions of the Analysis server and its use of PivotTable Service to provide multidimensional data to client consumer applications. The Analysis Manager user interface uses PivotTable Service to obtain multidimensional data from the server for browsing by the server administrator. For more information about client applications, see PivotTable Service.