Analysis Services Administration Programming (SSAS)

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services (SSAS) supports several technologies that can be used to perform administrative tasks on an Analysis Services instance. Using the Analysis Services administration technologies, you can do the following:

• Create or Modify Analysis Services Objects
  You can create or modify Analysis Services objects, such as databases, cubes, dimensions, and mining structures, using Analysis Management Objects (AMO) or XML for Analysis (XMLA) commands containing Analysis Services Scripting Language (ASSL) elements.

  To create or modify Analysis Services objects:

  • You can use AMO in a managed client application to create or modify objects using the interfaces in the Microsoft .NET Framework. For more information, see Analysis Management Objects (AMO).
  • You can use XMLA and ASSL to directly create or modify objects on an Analysis Services instance. For more information, see XML for Analysis (XMLA) and Analysis Services Scripting Language (ASSL).

• Process Analysis Services Objects
  You can process Analysis Services objects, in which the Analysis Services instance retrieves and manipulates data from underlying data sources for databases, cubes, dimensions, mining structures, mining models, measure groups, and partitions.

  To process Analysis Services objects:

  • You can use AMO in a managed client application to process objects using .NET Framework interfaces. For more information, see Analysis Management Objects (AMO).
  • You can use XMLA to process objects, in either a serial or parallel transaction with rollback support, on an Analysis Services instance. For more information, see XML for Analysis (XMLA).

• Manage an Analysis Services Instance
  You can manage an Analysis Services instance by setting configuration properties, managing instance security, and controlling the Windows service for the Analysis Services instance.

  To manage an Analysis Services instance:

  • You can use AMO in a managed client application to manage instance properties using .NET Framework interfaces. For more information, see Analysis Management Objects (AMO).
  • You can use XMLA to manage all aspects of an Analysis Services instance. For more information, see XML for Analysis (XMLA).

In This Section

Topic

Description

Analysis Services Scripting Language (ASSL)

Describes ASSL, an XML schema that extends the XMLA protocol to define Analysis Services objects.

Analysis Management Objects (AMO)

Describes a managed assembly that provides an object hierarchy with which to perform the same administrative functions supported by ASSL, but with validation and deployment functionality.

Decision Support Objects (DSO)

Describes a COM library used to support previous versions of Analysis Services and to provide legacy support for existing client applications accessing a SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services instance.

Note:

  This feature will be removed in the next version of Microsoft SQL Server. Do not use this feature in new development work, and modify applications that currently use this feature as soon as possible.

Note

This section describes the Microsoft.AnalysisServices.dll. Only this API is supported by Microsoft for accessing Analysis Services data.

Microsoft .NET Framework Support

Starting with SQL Server 2005, Analysis Services fully supports the Microsoft .NET Framework. Support of the .NET Framework lets developers access Analysis Services data and metadata using a choice of .NET-compliant languages or by using native code. The Microsoft .NET Framework SDK includes the Microsoft Visual Basic .NET and Microsoft C# compilers, as well as related tools.

To create applications that use Analysis Services, developers can use Microsoft Visual Studio .NET—an integrated design environment (IDE) that offers developers many tools and features that simplify and accelerate the iterative cycles of coding, debugging, and testing, and deployment. However, developers do not have to use Visual Studio .NET to compile and build managed applications for Analysis Services. Developers can use any code or text editor that is compatible with the .NET Framework.

Important

By default, the .NET Framework is installed with SQL Server 2005, but the .NET Framework SDK is not. Without the SDK installed on your computer and included in the Books Online collection, links to SDK content in this section will not work. Install the .NET Framework SDK. After you install the SDK, add the SDK to the Books Online collection and table of contents by following the instructions in SQL Server 2005 Combined Help Collection Manager.

See Also

Other Resources

Analysis Services Data Access Interfaces (SSAS)
XML for Analysis (XMLA)
Administering Analysis Services
SQL Server Management Studio and Business Intelligence Development Studio
Using the Analysis Services Deployment Wizard
Microsoft.AnalysisServices.Deployment Utility

Help and Information

Getting SQL Server 2005 Assistance