Entries Written By Bill
Processing an Azure AS Database
This post contains a list of various methods that can be used to process (i.e. load data into) an Azure AS tabular model. As you will see – not much has changed from the regular on-premise version (which is a very good thing as it softens the learning curve). Note: In these examples, I’m using …
Interrogating the Azure AS Configuration Files via PowerShell
When brought in the perform a health check or performance optimization, one of the first steps in the process (after getting the perfmon and xevent traces running) is to document review the environment. In addition to the basics (i.e. CPU cores, GB of memory, clock speeds, etc) one item I’m really interested in is the …
On-Premise Data Gateway: Capturing SSAS Query Activity By User
When I’m managing an Analysis Services environment, I’m not just interested in the performance of the workload… yeah that’s important, but I’m also interested in the users who are generating that workload… especially the top users… and here’s why: These top users are your biggest customers. They’ve already bought-in to the product/solution and you should …
Navigating Complex Tabular Models Quickly – Developer Edition
As a developer, working with large/complex tabular models – “large” in terms of the number of tables, columns, and/or measures (not data size) – can be frustrating and borderline soul-crushing. Allow me to paint a picture for you… You’ve just inherited a large tabular model along with a large backlog of “adjustments/tweaks”… rename these columns, adjust …
I’ll Make Them an Offer They Can’t Refuse
Over the past few weeks I’ve been flexing my network to try and get on an Azure DW project…and so far I’ve come up empty handed. Now granted, I could definitely be wrong about this… but I *thought* my offer was overly generous and guaranteed to land me on an Azure DW project… “I will work …
How to Detect Locking and Blocking In Your Analysis Services Environment
This past weekend, after one of my presentations on Analysis Services at SQL Saturday 520, an attendee described a performance issue in his environment that he thought could be related to locking and blocking and asked if there was a way to confirm if this was the cause. The short answer is yes, absolutely! While …
Choosing the Right Instance in Perfmon
There’s been quite a bit posted on this blog regarding the collection of perfmon counters to monitor Analysis Services instances and troubleshoot performance problems. And some of the recommended perform counters (e.g. Process: % Processor Time) are “instance”-specific… meaning you need to select the name of the process for which you want to collect counter …
Load Testing SSAS with PowerShell
Load testing an SSAS database is one of those tasks that everyone should be doing but very VERY few people actually do… and I can only suspect the reason is because it’s hard. Here are the general steps involved: Capture the query workload using an xEvents (basic example, autorestart option) Shred the xEvents trace file(s) and load queries …
Analysis Services Extended Events – AutoRestart Option
The MSDN documentation and SSMS support for Analysis Services xEvents is severely lacking when compared to the database engine. In fact there wasn’t even a GUI for SSAS xEvents until SQL 2016… which meant anyone who wanted to create an xEvents trace had to craft another cryptic XMLA command. To make matters worse, only the …
Agile Fail: Funny User Story Edition
If you’ve ever worked on an “Agile” project, chances are you’ve come across some hilariously written user stories…perhaps even some that were so ridiculous you started questioning the string of choices and decisions you’d made that ultimately led you to being involved with this project in the first place. Don’t be afraid and don’t be ashamed – you are …