BI | SQLRockstar

Backing Up SSAS Databases

By Thomas LaRock ⋅ January 5, 2010 ⋅ Post a comment

As we get more involved with the BI stack of tools we find ourselves learning some of the nuances of supporting all of these new environments. One such example is SSAS. When people build and deploy cubes to an instance of SSAS they (eventually) get around to asking about restores and recovery. And since the [...]

SQL 2008 Data Mining

By Thomas LaRock ⋅ June 11, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

I often hear people use the terms “Data Mining” and “Data Analysis” as if they are interchangeable. To me, at least, they mean two very distinct things. Hopefully this post will help to explain what I believe to be the difference in their meanings.
So, let’s say you are opening up a mine. First things first, [...]

SSAS Weird Science

By Thomas LaRock ⋅ May 5, 2009 ⋅ 7 comments

The other day we did an install of SSAS on a server without loading the database engine. Everything went fine, the end user started accessing the service and then we started talking about how we should make certain we are taking backups of the objects that are being created. Now, how would you think to [...]

Predictive Analysis

By Thomas LaRock ⋅ May 5, 2009 ⋅ 8 comments

Quick question: Where would you go to find some basil in your local grocery store? Did you say “by the other herbs?” Or did you say “by the tomatoes?” If you are like me, then you would go looking for basil by the other herbs because, well, that is a natural, logical grouping of products. [...]

BI is Still Missing Some Intelligence

By Thomas LaRock ⋅ April 29, 2009 ⋅ 2 comments

I recently had the honor of attending a 2-day training session presented by Peter Myers of SolidQ. Peter is a top-notch presenter and I was impressed by how well he knew his stuff. He easily moved among definitions and terms that are quite foreign to me, such as dimensions, attributes, facts, measures, etc. More impressive [...]

Anyone Got the Time?

By Thomas LaRock ⋅ April 28, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

Had another little note scribbled down from Peter Myers talks this week. He started asking about why he always refers to a date dimension as something different than a time dimension, and noted that some people feel comfortable interchanging the two as if they meant the same thing.
Apparently, to someone like Peter, there is a [...]

When do you need a cube?

By Thomas LaRock ⋅ April 28, 2009 ⋅ 7 comments

I took part in some training this week, specifically for SQL 2008 Business Intelligence. The class was taught by Peter Myers of SolidQ, and he did a wonderful job. I learned quite a bit in the first ninety minutes and could tell that Peter knows his stuff.
One little tidbit that came my way on the [...]