Introduction to MSSQL Server 2000 Analysis Services: Build a Web Site Traffic Analysis Cube: Part II - Page 3

August 25, 2003

11. Select / type in the appropriate Server name in Box 1.
12. Make the appropriate selection, and enter any authentication information required by your local environment, to log on to the server in Box 2.
13. Click the Allow Saving Password checkbox, to check it for this exercise.
14. Select the WebTrafficAnalysis_DB database in Box 3.

The Data Link Properties Dialog - Connection Tab appears similar to that shown in Illustration 5, except for the environmental differences we have noted.

15. Click the Test Connection button in the bottom right hand corner of the Connection tab.

We should get a verification dialog confirming that the source has been established in our definition (as depicted in Illustration 6).

16. Click OK, and the Microsoft Data Link verification dialog box closes.

We will leave all the other Data Link Properties at their default setpoints for now.

17. Click the OK button on the Data Link Properties dialog.

The Data Link Properties dialog closes, and a Security Warning dialog appears, as shown in Illustration 7.

For purposes of this lesson, we will overlook the warning and proceed. Keep in mind that most real-world environments would likely not allow for the luxury of this flexibility, and to take steps to secure any embedded passwords, etc., as appropriate.

18. Click the OK button on the Security Warning dialog.

The Security Warning dialog closes.

19. Expand the Data Sources folder, within which we have created the source, if necessary.

We can see that the new source appears under the Data Sources folder in the tree area, again on the left side of the Analysis Manager Console. The data source displays the actual file name, a composite of the server and database names, and as shown in Illustration 8.

Let's rename the file to be a bit more concise.

20. Right-click the new data source.
21. Click Copy.
22. Right-click the Data Sources folder.
23. Select Paste from the context menu that appears.

This causes Analysis Services to indicate that a duplicate has been detected, and to prompt us for a unique name. We will respond to the new name request with WebTrafficSource, using the dialog box that appears (as shown in Illustration 9).

24. Type WebTrafficSource into the Name box of the Duplicate Name dialog.
25. Click OK to close the Duplicate Name dialog.

Once we click OK, the Duplicate Name dialog disappears, and the newly named data source appears under the Data Sources folder. All that remains is to delete the original data source, from which we cloned WebTrafficSource.

26. Right-click the original data source.
27. Select Delete on the context menu that appears.
28. Click the Yes button, to confirm the deletion.

Our tree should now resemble that shown in Illustration 10.

In Lesson One, as well as in other lessons, we used the Cube Wizard, together with the specialized "sub-wizards" (including the Dimension Wizard), as called by the Cube Wizard, to rapidly create a simple cube to explore the various aspects and steps of the process from a relatively high level. In this lesson, we will create a simple cube from the table we created in our last lesson, using the DTS package we created to perform extraction, transformation and load of the original data source, the sample Server Access Log.

Our preparation for the lesson is complete. We now have an Analysis Services database in place, linked to a valid data source (the WebTrafficAnalysis_DB database, containing the ServerAccessLog table, created via the DTS package in our last lesson). Next, we will initialize the Cube Editor, and begin creating our cube.