Administration and Optimization: SQL Server Profiler for Analysis Services Queries - Page 5

The MDX query appears in the lower half of the trace viewer, as follows:

SELECT
   {[MEASURES].[Internet Order Quantity]} ON AXIS(0),
   NON EMPTY {[Customer].[Customer Geography].[Full Name].MEMBERS}
      ON AXIS (1)
FROM
 
   [Adventure Works]
<PropertyList xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xml-analysis">
     <Catalog>Adventure Works DW</Catalog>
<SspropInitAppName>Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio -    
   Query</SspropInitAppName>
          <LocaleIdentifier>1033</LocaleIdentifier>
          <ClientProcessID>5820</ClientProcessID>
          <Format>Native</Format>
          <AxisFormat>TupleFormat</AxisFormat>
          <Content>SchemaData</Content>
          <Timeout>0</Timeout>
        </PropertyList>

The Query Begin event indicates the syntax that was dispatched to the Analysis Server. The Query Cube events that follow provide notification that the formula engine has initiated query execution, indicating code as it is executed. Moreover, subsequent events are logged (other than the core events, these can differ, depending upon query complexity) to report upon events that occurred in resolution of our query. The information provided can be highly useful when we need to diagnose issues, or if we otherwise want to understand details of the steps of query execution. We can filter for MDX queries just as we did for SQL queries, should isolation of this sort prove useful.

And so we see, through our brief overview of its capabilities, that SQL Server Profiler can serve as a formidable tool in assisting us in understanding the details of what is going on within Analysis Services. The trace mechanism that the Profiler provides us allows for sophisticated control over the selection of events for our analysis and diagnosis efforts. As we have discussed, the SQL Server Profiler trace can be highly useful in our efforts with tuning of processing and query performance within Analysis Services 2005. We employ the SQL Server Profiler within other articles of this series, as well is in my MDX Essentials Series, here at Database Journal.

Conclusion

In this article, we introduced the SQL Server Profiler, a monitoring and troubleshooting tool that is highly useful in performance tuning Analysis Services 2005, including SQL and MDX queries. Our examination of the Profiler began with a discussion surrounding its use, in preparation for gaining some hands-on exposure via our practice exercise. We performed a connection to the Analysis Server with SQL Server Profiler, and defined a trace to monitor examples of processing and queries within Analysis Services.

We next executed our trace to monitor Analysis Services events, adding a filter as we proceeded to examine sample processing events, and then moving on to monitor sample query events, all of which we initiated, for purposes of our practice session, via the SQL Server Management Studio, just as we might in many real-world scenarios. Throughout the steps of our practice session, we touched upon various details to consider surrounding the usage of the SQL Server Profiler trace within our respective business environments.

» See All Articles by Columnist William E. Pearson, III

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