dbag-Nawaz

CHAPTER 2

Database outlines define the structure of a multidimensional database, including all the dimensions, members, aliases, properties, types, consolidations, and mathematical relationships. When a database is created, Essbase creates an outline for that database automatically.

The triggers feature enables efficient monitoring of data changes in a database. Triggers islicensed separately from Essbase. If data breaks rules that you specify in a trigger, Essbase logs relevant information in a file or, for some triggers, sends an email alert

LRO-- cellnote,file,URL,link to data in another cube.

In Administration Services Console, applications and databases are displayed in a tree structure in Enterprise View.A database note can provide useful information in situations where you need tobroadcast messages to users about the status of a database, deadlines for updates, and so on. Users can view database notes in Essbase Spreadsheet Add-infor Excel.

The substitution variable name must be composed of alphanumeric characters or underscores ( _ ). To set a substitution variable value to a duplicate member name, use the qualified member name enclosed in double quotation marks. eg: "[2006].[Qtr1]"

You can use location aliases only with the @XREF function. With this function, you can retrieve a data value from another database to include in a calculation on the current database.

When you create dimensions and save an outline, Essbase automatically sets thenew dimensions in the outline as sparse.Moving members could move a shared member before the actual member in the outline,something that Hyperion does not recommend.You cannot sort Boolean attribute dimensions.Only one dimension is tagged asaccounts, time, currency type, or country.

Level 0 members are not tagged as label only.Dynamic Calc members in sparse dimensions do not have more than 100 children. It moves minus signs in member names from the front to the end of the name; for example,-1 becomes 1-.It strips out leading or trailing zeroes in member names;for example, 1.0 becomes 1, and 00.1 becomes 0.1.

You can use duplicate names in an outline only if the outline that has the allow duplicate members option enabled.A duplicate member outline cannot be converted back to a unique member outline.

Essbase internally constructs shortcut qualified names for members in duplicate member outlines. Essbase calculates the two primary dimension types, time and accounts, before other dimensions in the database. By default, all dimensions are tagged as none.

The time dimension also enables several accounts dimension functions, such asfirst and last time balances. You can specify that members of the accounts dimension are calculated on the second pass through an outline

If you set the time balance as first, last, or average, set the skip property to tell Essbase what to do when it encounters missing values or values of 0.

Variance reporting(expense reporting) properties determine how Essbase calculates the difference between actual and budget data in a member with the @VAR or @VARPER function in its member formula. By default, members are non-expense.

If a dimension is tagged as country, you can set the currency name property When siblings have different operators, Essbase calculates the data in top-down order

Essbase automatically tags members of attribute dimensions as Dynamic Calc. Youcannot change this setting. You cannot associate attributes with label only members. If you tag as label only a base dimension member that has attributes associated with it, Essbase removes the attribute associations and displays a warning message

Essbase retrieves from the bottom of a spreadsheet first.

If you do not want a member to be shared implicitly, mark the parent as Never Share so that the data is duplicated, and is not shared. Essbase does not support aliases for Hybrid Analysis-enabled members. When you create a database outline, Essbase creates an empty alias table named Default. If you don’t create any other alias tables, the aliases that you create are stored in the Default alias table. You can create up to 10 alias tables for an outline. Once an alias table is created, you cannot change its name. Alias table import files have the .alt extension.

By default, Essbase calculates outlines from the bottom up. Two Pass calc works on Members of accounts dimensions,Dynamic Calc members, Dynamic Calc and Store members. If you want to perform a calculation, selectively retrieve data based on attribute values, or provide full crosstab, pivot, and drill-down support in the spreadsheet, create attribute dimensions instead of UDAs.

If you remove the attribute tag from a dimension, Essbase removes prefixes or suffixes from its member names. Prefixes and suffixes are not visible in the outline.

All base dimension members associated with members of a particular attributedimension must be at the same level. The level 0 members of attribute dimensions are the only members that you can associate with base dimension members.

You cannot tag members from attribute dimensions with consolidation symbols (for example, + or -) or with member formulas in order to calculate attribute data.Attribute calculations start at level 0 and stop at the first stored member.Essbase uses the database index to locate and retrieve linked objects. If you

clear all data values from a database, the index is deleted and so are the links to linked objects. If you restructure a database, the index is preserved and so are the links to linked objects.

In a business application requiring currency conversion, the main database is divided into at least two slices. One slice handles input of the local data, and another slice holds a copy of the input data converted to a common currency. Essbase holds the exchange rates required for currency conversion in a separate currency database. The currency database outline, which is automatically generated by Essbase from the main database after you assign the necessary tags, typically maps a given conversion ratio onto a section of the main database

CHAPTER 4

Essbase offers two methods for calculating a database:1 Outline calculation2 Calculation script calculationMember formula size should be less than 64 kilobytes.To control block creation within a calculation script, use the SETCREATEBLOCKONEQ ON|OFF calculation command.

In a calculation script, you cannot calculate a dynamically calculated member or make a dynamically calculated member the target of a formula calculation.When you place formulas on the database outline, you can use only the IF, ELSE,ELSEIF, and ENDIF commands and Boolean functions to control the flow of the calculations

Allocation functions allow you to allocate values that are input at the parent level across child members in the same dimension or in different dimensionsIf you do not specify a list of members or a range of members in a function that requires either,Essbase uses the level 0 members of the dimension tagged as time. If no dimension is tagged as time, Essbase displays an error message.

Within each branch of a dimension, level 0 values are calculated first followed by their level 1, parent value. Then the level 0 values of the next branch are calculated followed by their level 1, parent value.When Essbase encounters a formula in a data block, it locks any other required data blocks, calculates the formula, and proceeds with the data block calculation. If the block is a level 0 block or an input block, Essbase performs a dense calculation on the block.If the block is an upper level block, Essbase either consolidates the values or performs a sparse calculation on the data block.A CALC ALL requires two passes through the database if either of the following conditions is true:> When the accounts dimension is sparse> When the accounts dimension is dense, the time dimension is sparse, and there is atleast one more dense dimension in the outline Essbase calculates level 0 data blocks if a corresponding sparse, level 0 member has a formula applied to it.

Chapter 5:UNDERSTANDING REPORT SCRIPT BASICS===================================

Report include page, row, and column dimension declarations with selected members,Report Script Editor is a text editor that you use to write report scripts. Report Extractor retrieves data information from the Essbase database

when you run a report script. Report Viewer displays the complete report. Saved reports have the file extension .rpt.

<LINK refines the member selection.<SORT determines the order in which membersare sorted: {SUPMISSINGROWS} command suppresses the display of all rows that contain only missing values: {SKIP} skips one or more lines in the final output report. <TOP returns rows with the highest values of a specified data column.

If you do not use a delimiter( <,{}), Report Writer assumes that the command name is a member name. // (double slash) is to indicate a comment

Extraction commands begin with less than signs (<). Formatting commands start with braces ({}), although some begin with less than signs (<).By default, Essbase creates a symmetric report unless you select the same number of members for all column dimensions. A symmetric report uses the <PYRAMIDHEADERS mode of column layout by default.

Formatting Report Pages: Setting Page Length and Width and Centering: WIDTH,LMARGIN,SETCENTERInserting Page Breaks: PAGELENGTH,NEWPAGE,PAGEONDIMENSION,FEEDONSpecifying Column Formats: DECIMALAccommodating Long Column Names and Row Names: NAMEWIDTH,NAMESCOLSuppressing Page, Column, and Row Formatting:

SUPCOLHEADING,SUPEMPTYROWS,SUPMISSINGROWS,SUPPAGEHEADING,SUPALL,SUPHEADING,SUPNAMES,SUPOUTPUT,SUPCURHEADINGRepeating Row Names: ROWREPEAT,NOROWREPEATUsing Tab Delimiters: TABDELIMIT}Totaling Columns: CALCULATE COLUMN,REMOVECOLCALCSTotaling Rows: CALCULATEROW,OFFROWCALCS,ONROWCALCS,SETROWOP,PRINTROW,CLEARROWCALC,CLEARALLROWCALC,SAVEROW,SAVEANDOUTPUT. Member names are not supported in expressions with the CALCULATE ROW command.Underlining: UNDERLINECHAR,UCHARACTERS,UCOLUMNS,UDATA,UNAME,UNAMEONDIMENSIONSuppressing Data Formatting: SUPBRACKETS,SUPCOMMAS,SUPZEROROWS,SUPEUROPEAN,SUPFEED,SUPFORMATS,SUPMASKIndenting: INDENT,INDENTGEN,

Inserting Custom Titles :TEXTReplacing Missing Text or Zeros with Labels: MISSINGTEXTAdding Blank Spaces: SKIP,SKIPONDIMENSIONTo select a Dynamic Time Series member: LATEST,reservedName

UDAs are particularly useful when performing member selections from an outline with an unbalanced hierarchy (a hierarchy where the members of a dimension do not have identical member levels).

MDX is a language for anyone who needs to develop scripts or applications to query and report against data and metadata in Essbase databases.A set is an ordered collection of one or more tuples that have the same dimensionality. A tuple is a way to refer to a member or a member combination from any number of dimensions. An axis is a specification determining the layout of query results from a databaseeg: SELECT {[100-10],[100-20]} ON COLUMNS, {[Qtr1],[Qtr2],[Qtr3],[Qtr4]} ONROWSFROM Sample.Basic

Functions: MemberRange,CrossJoin (),Children.levels(0)

Exporting Text Data Using Calculation Scripts: the following calculation commands to select and format a text import file: DATAEXPORT, DATAEXPORTCOND, SET DATAEXPORTOPTIONS, FIX...ENDFIX, andEXCLUDE...ENDEXCLUDE

The DATAEXPORT calculation command also enables export directly to relational databases, eliminating the usual intermediary import step.Data mining is the process of searching through an Essbase database for hidden relationships and patterns in a large amount of data. It is descriptive.predictive.

Hybrid Analysis eliminates the need to load and store lower–level members and their data within the Essbase database.Through Integration Services Console, you first specify the relational data source for the OLAP model. The OLAP model is a schema that you create from tables and columns in the relational database. The information enabling Hybrid Analysis is stored in the OLAP Metadata Catalog, which describes the nature, source, location, and type of data in the Hybrid Analysis relational source.

The metadata that defines the Hybrid Analysis data resides in both the Essbase outline and in the Integration Services metaoutline on which the Essbase outline is based. Any changes that are made to Hybrid Analysis data in an OLAP model or metaoutline that is associated with an Essbase outline must be updated to the outline to ensure accuracy of the data reported in EssbaseUpper level members and their associated data reside in the Essbase database.

In Hybrid analysis, Accounts dimensions is not supported. Also time dimension doesnt support DTS. When building a dimension that is enabled for HybridAnalysis, ensure that the column in the data source table that contributes to the leaf level of the Essbase portion of the dimension is non-nullable.Hybrid Analysis doenst support Aliases,Scaling,Time Balance property,ignores

member properties. Essbase requires the OLAP Metadata Catalog created in Integration Services in order to drill down in a Hybrid Analysis data sourceIn Hybrid Analysis, Formulas are supported only on a measures dimension,cannot be attached to relational members,cannot reference a relational member by name.

CHAPTER 6> Essbase user management and security is provided through Shared Services.Shared Services provides user management, user provisioning, and external authentication definition.We can use Essbase in native security mode to manage security for Essbase applications, databases, and artifacts.

Provisioning refers to the process of assigning roles and access permissions to users for Essbase applications. By default, after installation, Essbase Administration Server and Essbase Server are in native security mode> Roles: Product-specific roles,Shared Services roles> You can provision a user with the following roles for an Essbase Server:

1. Administrator2. Create/Delete Application3. Server Access

> You can provision a user with the following roles for an application:1.Application Manager 2. Database Manager 3. Calc 4.Write5.Read 6. Filter 7. Start/StopApplication

> The Provisioning Manager role is automatically assigned when you migrate Essbase Administrators (previously known as Supervisors) and ApplicationManagers. However, when you create an Essbase Administrator or Application Manager in User Management Console, you must manually assign the Provisioning Manager role.> In User Management Console, roles belonging to Essbase are grouped under the Essbase node;roles belonging to Essbase applications are grouped under the application nodes.> There is no concept of provisioning an Administration Services Administrator user role through Shared Services> Shared Services artifacts include projects, applications, user roles, users, and groups> Shared Services and Essbase both use the term “application.” Essbase uses “application” to refer to a container for databases. Shared Services uses “application” to refer to an artifact for which you provision users. Once you have migrated to Shared Services, when you create an application and database in Essbase, a corresponding Shared Services application is created within the Essbase Server project and the application is automatically registered with Shared Services> Users and groups are migrated in the following order:

1. Applications are registered with Shared Services.2. Groups are migrated.3. Users are migrated.

> In Essbase, when you copy an application and/or database and the target Essbase Server is in Shared Services security mode, user and group security is not copied with the application. Use the copy provisioning functionality in User Management Console to copy security for an application.> User synchronization refers to the process of ensuring that Essbase reflects the latest security information for a specific user and any related groups. Refresh refers to

the process of ensuring that Essbase reflects the latest security information for all users, groups, and applications on an Essbase Server.> Using the Essbase configuration settings CSSSYNCLEVEL and CSSREFRESHLEVEL in the essbase.cfg configuration file, we can set user synchronization and refresh to happen. The CSSREFRESHLEVEL setting does not affect the SHAREDSERVICESREFRESHINTERVAL setting.

> After installation, both Essbase and Administration Services are in native security mode. To use Shared Services, you must migrate to Shared Services security mode. Once you have converted to Shared Services security mode, you cannot convert back to native security mode.>If you plan to use external authentication in native security mode, you must configure external authenticating through Shared Services.> When you create a user or a group in Essbase, you define a security profile. The security profile is where you define the extent of the permissions that users and groups have in dealing with each other and in accessing applications and databases.

> External authentication means that the user login information needed by Essbase is maintained in a central authentication directory, such as Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) Directory, Microsoft Active Directory, or Windows NT LAN Manager.> If Essbase stops running unexpectedly for any reason, such as a freeze or crash, or as the result of terminating a process, do not restart Essbase Server until you copy the backup file (essbase.bak) to the security file (essbase.sec). If you do not perform the copy first, Essbase may replace the essbase.bak file, with the corrupted essbase.sec file.> Filtering on member combinations (AND relationship) does not apply to metaread. Metaread filters each member separately (OR relationship).

CHAPTER 7Essbase uses the ESSLANG variable to define the locale of a computer. You cannot convert a Unicode-mode application to non-Unicode mode.Essbase provides the EssbaseUnicode File Utility, which converts text files to UTF-8 encoding.

When Essbase Server migrates an application to Unicode mode, the character encoding in the application files is converted to UTF-8 encodingTo avoid mixing Unicode encoding and non-Unicode encoding in the logs, clear or remove log files after backing them up. Log files end with any of the following extensions: .log,.xcp, and .olg.

For transparent and replicated (but not linked) partitions, the application mode of bothends of the partitions must be the same--either Unicode mode or non-Unicode mode.

CHAPTER 8Launching the Agent executable file, essbase.exe, starts the Essbase Server Agent process. The Agent process starts and stops all applications and acts as the traffic coordinator for the Essbase Server.

When Essbase starts a database and loads it to memory, the entire index cache for that database is allocated in memory automatically. The data cache and data file cache are allocated as blocks requested from Essbase clients.When you copy a database, all files associated with the database, except data files (.pag and .ind), are copied to the destination application.

There are two types of triggers: on-update triggers(BSO only) and after-update triggers. On-update triggers are activated during the update process, when the block containing the data referenced by the trigger is brought into memory. After-update triggers are activated after the update transaction is complete.

You cannot define a trigger that requires data from hybrid analysis members. You cannot define an on-update trigger that requires data from Dynamic Calc members or from members from another partition.You can use Log Analyzer to filter, search, and analyze Essbase Server logs and application logs.Based on filters you choose or create, you can view robust graphical charts for a log. An autorefresh option enables you to monitor log information dynamically.

If the Isolation Level transaction setting is Committed, you must restart the data load from the beginning. If the Isolation Level is Uncommitted, you can load only the records that failed by loading the error log.Cache memory locking can only be used if direct I/O is used. You also must use direct I/O if you want to use an operating system's no-wait (asynchronous) I/O.

Kernel Components: Index Manager,Allocation Manager,Data Block Manager,LROManager,Lock Manager,Transaction ManagerThe Index Manager manages the database index and provides a fast way of looking up Essbase data blocks. The Index Manager determines which portions of the database index to cache in the index cache, and manages the index cacheThe Allocation Manager allocates space for index and data files based on the database settings for storage.The Data Block Manager brings data blocks into memory, writes them out to data files, handles data compression, and writes data files to disk.LROs enable you to associate objects, such as flat files, with data cells.The Lock Manager issues locks on data blocks, which in turn controls concurrent access to dataThe Transaction Manager controls transactions and commit operations and managesdatabase recovery.

Essbase uses a data file to store data blocks. Essbase uses an index file to store the index for a database to change DB settings use SETDBSTATEITEMWhen data compression is enabled, Essbase compresses data blocks when it writes them out to disk. Essbase fully expands the compressed data blocks, including empty cells, when the blocks are swapped into the data cache.Compressions used: 1. Bitmap-A bitmap uses one bit for each cell in the data block, whether the cell value is missing or non-missing.(default). Extremely fast2. Run-length encoding->compresses any consecutive, repetitive values

3. zlib compression- This method is used in packages like PNG, Zip, and gzip. Calculation and data loading is fasterwith direct I/O and zlib compression than with buffered I/O and zlib compression4 .Index Value Pair compression- databases with larger block sizes, where the blocks are highly sparse Disable data compression if blocks have very high density (90% or greater) and have few consecutive, repeating data values.

A database compresses better using the RLE setting than the bitmap setting if a large number of repeated non-missing data cells for a given block have the same value

Data block size is 8n bytes, where n is the number of cells that exist for that combination of dense dimensions.Essbase tracks information about transactions in a transaction control file (dbname.tct) and it tracks the current state of each transaction (Active, Committed, or Aborted).Isolation levels determine how Essbase commits data to disk. When data is committed, it is taken from server memory and written to the database on disk. Essbase offers two isolation levels for transactions—committed access and uncommitted access (the default).

Essbase issues write (exclusive) locks for blocks that are created, updated, or deleted, and issues read (shared) locks for blocks that should be accessed but not modified

Committed access provides a high level of data consistency because only one transaction at a time can update data blocks.With uncommitted access (enabled by default), the Essbase kernel allows transactions to hold read/write locks on a block-by-block basis; Essbase releases a block after it is updated but does not commit blocks until the transaction completes or until a specified limit (a “synchronization point”) has been reached. Commit Blocks and Commit Rows are the parameters used.

Committed Access: Good for Data consistencyUncommitted Access: Good for Database performance,Data concurrency

The Essbase index contains an entry for every data block. For every read operation,VALIDATE automatically compares the index key in the index page with the index key in the corresponding data block and checks other header information in the block. If it encounters a mismatch, VALIDATE displays an error message and continues processing until it checks the entire database.

The BEGIN ARCHIVE command performs the following tasks:? Commits modified data to disk.? Switches the database to read-only mode.? Reopens the database files in shared, read-only mode.? Creates in the ARBORPATH\app\appname\dbname directory a file (default name ofarchive.lst) containing a list of files to be backed up.ENDARCHIVE: To return the database to read-write mode, after performing a backup

In non-columnar format, sparse members identifying a data block are included only once for the block. Because the export file in non-columnar format is smaller than in columnar format, reloading a file in non-columnar format is faster

CHAPTER 9: OPTIMIZING ESSBASE

-> Monitoring Performance-> Improving Essbase Performance-> Optimizing Essbase Caches-> Optimizing Database Restructuring-> Optimizing Data Loads-> Optimizing Calculations-> Optimizing Reports and Other Types of Retrieval

Monitoring Performance:> GETAPPSTATE,GETPERFSTATS for server info> GETDBINFO,GETDBSTATE,GETCRDBINFO,GETDBSTATS,for DB info> GETAPPINFO, GETDBINFO for APP/DB statusImproving Essbase Performance:> Resetting Databases (RESETDB) to Increase Performance> Database Cache Settings ( Index cache size,Data file cache size,Data cache size,Index page size,Cache memory locking). Done in Database Properties window Caches tab or ESSCMD SETDBSTATEITEM> Database Disk Volumes Settings (Volume name,Partition size,File type,Maximum file size). Done in Database Properties window ->Storage tab or ESSCMD SETDBSTATEITEM> Database Transaction Control Settings (Isolation level,Commit Blocks,Commit Rows,Wait for write access to locked data block,Pre-image access). Done in Database Properties window ->Transactions tab or ESSCMD SETDBSTATEITEM>Miscellaneous Database Settings (Retrieval buffer size,Retrieval sort buffer size,Data compression,Maximum memory for trigger definitions)

> Fragmentation is unused disk space. It is created when Essbase writes a data block to a new location on disk and leaves unused space in the former location of the data block. Measured using Average clustering ratio or Average fragmentation quotient statistic> For DB > 2 GB, Fragmentation quotient should be 30% or higher> Average clustering ratio database statistic indicates the fragmentation level of the data (.pag) files. The maximum value, 1, indicates no fragmentation> Removing Fragmentation:

> Optimize data loads by sorting load records based upon sparse dimension members

> CLEARDATA, and reload the export file> Force a dense restructure of the database

> Because of internal data structure size changes, 64-bit Essbase requires a larger retrieval sort buffer size than 32-bit Essbase. If you encounter the error, "Sort buffer limit of [x] rows have been exceeded" (where x is the current maximum number of

rows allowed for the current buffer size), increase the retrieval sort buffer size by a factor of two.

Optimizing Essbase Caches:> Index cache- How many index pages are in memory at one time. The size of index pages is fixed at 8 K. Minimum val: 1024KB> Data file cache - holds compressed data files (.pag files).used only when direct I/O is in effect. Def Val: 32768 KB.> Data cache - holds uncompressed data blocks. Def Val: 3072. 0.125 * the value of data file cache size.> Calculator cache - used to create and track data blocks during calculation operations.Size of the calculator cache depends on the number and density of the sparse dimensions in your outline. Def: 200 KB> Dynamic calculator cache - uses to store all of the blocks needed for a calculation of a Dynamic Calc member in a dense dimension. Def: 20 MB> When a block is requested, Essbase searches the data cache for the block. If Essbase finds the block in the cache, it is accessed immediately. If the block is not found in the cache, Essbase searches the index for the appropriate block number and then uses the index entry of the block to retrieve it from the appropriate data file on disk. Retrieving a requested block from the data cache is faster, and therefore improves performance.> In general,if you have to choose whether to allocate memory to the data cache or to the data file cache, choose the data file cache if you are using directI/O.

> Cache Memory Locking:Enabling cache memory locking gives the Essbase Kernel priority use of system RAM. If you enable cache memory locking, leave at least one-third of the system RAM available for non-Essbase Kernel use. If you do not want to give the Essbase Kernel priority usage of system RAM,do not enable cache memory locking.

> Calculator Cache: Essbase can create a bitmap, whose size is controlled by the size of the calculator cache, to record and track data blocks during a calculation. Essbase separates sparse dimensions in the database into two groups.1. Bitmap dimensions 2. Anchoring dimensions.> Essbase starts with the first sparse dimension in the database outline and fits as many sparse dimensions as possible into the bitmap. The dimensions that fit are the bitmap dimensions.

Calculator cache = Bitmap size in bytes * Number of bitmapsBitmap size in bytes = Max ((member combinations on the bitmap

dimensions/8), 4)Number of bitmaps = Maximum number of dependent parents in the

anchoring dimension + 2 constant bitmaps> Dynamic Calculator Caches:

DYNCALCCACHEMAXSIZE= C * S * U.DYNCALCCACHEWAITFORBLK = TRUE/FALSE

> Cache Hit Ratios:

Optimizing Database Restructuring:

> Restructure:> Implicit Restructures

> Dense restructure: If a member of a dense dimension is moved, deleted, or added.Restructures the blocks in the data files and creates new data files and regenerates index automatically

> Sparse restructure: If a member of a sparse dimension is moved, deleted, or added. Restructures the index and creates new index files.

>Outline-only restructure: If a change affects only the database outline, Essbase does not restructure the index or data files.

> If you use incremental restructuring, Essbase defers dense restructuring. If you change a database outline frequently, consider enabling incremental restructuring.Essbase restructures the index and, if necessary, the affected block the next time the block is accessed.

>Explicit Restructures:

> Setting the isolation level to committed access may increase memory and time requirements for database restructure.> Whether or not incremental restructuring is enabled, if an outline has already been incrementally restructured (a dense restructure is already pending), adding shared members causes Essbase to perform a dense restructure.

Optimizing Data Loads

> Essbase loads data block by block. For each unique combination of sparse dimension members, one data block contains the data for all the dense dimension combinations, assuming there is at least one cell containing data. For faster access to block locations, Essbase uses an index. Each entry in the index corresponds to one data block.> Make sure that records are grouped together by unique sparse-dimension member combinations> Group the data into ranges. Eliminating redundancy in the data source reduces the number of fields that Essbase must read before loading data values.> Making fields in a data source smaller enables Essbase to read and load the data in less time.> The index is organized in the same order as the sparse dimensions in the outline. To further optimize the data source, with the sparse data combinations in the data source grouped together,arrange the data so that sparse dimensions are in the same order as the outline.> Optimizing Parallel Data Load Processing:

Optimizing Calculations:

> Block Size and Block Density: A data block size of 8Kb to 100Kb provides optimal performance in most cases.If data blocks are much smaller than 8Kb, the index is usually very large, forcing Essbase to write to and retrieve the index from disk. This process slows down calculation.> Order of Sparse Dimensions: Order standard sparse dimensions by the number of members they contain, placing the dimension that contains the fewest members first.> Incremental Data Loading: To optimize calculation performance when you load data incrementally, make the dimension tagged as time a sparse dimension

> Monitoring and Tracing Calculations: SET MSG SUMMARY and SET MSG DETAIL, SET NOTICE

> Parallel calculation is not supported if you use the committed access isolation level. You must use uncommitted mode for parallel calculation.> Relationship Between Parallel Calculation and Other Essbase Features:

> Placing the largest sparse dimension at the end of the outline for maximum parallel calculation performance may slow retrieval performanc

> @VAR, @ARRAY, or @XREF forces serial calculation> At the start of a calculation pass, Essbase checks the calculator cache size

and the degree of parallelism and then uses the calculator cache bitmap option appropriate for maximum performance. Therefore, the bitmap option used for parallel calculation may be different from the one used for serial calculation.

> Cannot use parallel calculation across transparent partitions unless the calculation occurs at the target.Must set CALCTASKDIMS or SETCALCTASKDIMS to 1 (the default) so that there is only one anchoring dimension.

> Parallel calculation does not support incremental restructuring.> SET CALCPARALLEL is used for enabling it

> Using Formulas:> If you use a simple formula and block size is not unusually large, you can

place the formula on a member of either a sparse or a dense dimension> Apply a complex formula to a member in a dense dimension> the lower the ratio of existing data blocks to possible data blocks, the higher

the calculation performance overhead and the slower the performance.> Optimizing Formulas on Sparse Dimensions in Large Database Outlines

> SET FRMLBOTTOMUP calculation command to optimize the calculation of formulas in sparse dimensions in large database outlines

> To control creation of blocks when you assign non-constant values to members of a sparse dimension, use the SET CREATEBLOCKONEQ ON|OFF command

> For faster calculation script performance, use FIX in the calculation script to qualify the use of a formula instead of using a formula that includes a cross-dimensional operator on the left side of an equation.

> A top-down calculation is less efficient than a bottom-up calculation because more blocks are calculated than is necessary

> Bottom-Up and Top-Down Calculation:> For a bottom-up calculation, Essbase determines which data blocks need to

be calculated before it calculates the database. Essbase then calculates only the blocks that need to be calculated. The calculation begins with the existing block with the lowest block number and works up through each block in number order until the existing block with the highest block number is reached.

> The top-down method slows calculation performance because Essbase must search for appropriate blocks to calculate in order to execute the formula.> Managing Caches to Improve Performance:

> When calculating a database, Essbase uses approximately 30 bytes of memory per member in the database outline. So if the database has 5,000 members, Essbase needs approximately 150K of memory to calculate the database.> Working with the Block Locking System:

> When a block is calculated, Essbase locks the block and all blocks that contain the children of the block. Essbase calculates the block and then releases both the block and the blocks containing the children.

> SET LOCKBLOCK and CALCLOCKBLOCK is used> Two-Pass Calculation:

> Essbase calculates two-pass formulas at the data block level, calculating the two-pass formulas at the same time as the main calculation.

> How Essbase calculates the two-pass formulas depends on whether there is a dimension taggedas time as well as a dimension tagged as accounts. and also on the dense-sparse configuration of the time and account dimensions

> You can tag a member as two-pass if it is in a dimension tagged as accounts or if it is a Dynamic Calc or Dynamic Calc and Store memberof any dimension

> Before the calculation script command that recalculates a two-pass formula, add the SET UPDATECALC OFF command to disable Intelligent Calculation

> Intelligent Calculation with a Large Index:SET UPDATECALC ON;CALC ALL;SET UPDATECALC OFF;SET CLEARUPDATESTATUS AFTER;CALC TWOPASS;

> Intelligent Calculation with a Small Index: SET CLEARUPDATESTATUS OFF;CALC ALL;CALC TWOPASS;SET CLEARUPDATESTATUS ONLY;CALC ALL;

> Intelligent Calculation Turned Off for a Two-Pass Formula: SET UPDATECALC OFF;CALC ALL;

> number of cells in an expanded block = (product of the number of members across the dense dimensions) * potential number of blocks

Optimizing Reports and Other Types of Retrieval

> Setting the Retrieval Buffer Size: The database retrieval buffer is a server buffer, per database, that holds extracted row data cells before they are evaluated. The default buffer size is set to 10KB or 20 KB> Enabling Dynamic Retrieval Buffer Sizing: Set VLBREPORT to True> Setting the Retrieval Sort Buffer Size: The retrieval sort buffer size setting specifies the size, in kilobytes, of the server buffer that holds the data to be sorted during a retriecal.> Symmetric reports provide better processing performance than asymmetric reports, as the Report Extractor composes the member list based on all possible member combinations.> Report Extractor looks at data from bottom to top and right to left, starting from the bottom column member to the top column member and then proceeding from the innermost row member (right) to the outermost row member (left).> The column members come from dense dimensions, and the row members come from sparse dimensions.

> When dense dimensions are nested in the report columns, Report Extractor examines each data block only once, thus improving performance time

CHAPTER10: Comparison of Aggregate andBlock Storage

> Aggregate storage databases enable dramatic improvements in both database aggregation time and dimensional scalability. They address read-only, “rack andstack” applications that have large dimensionality,> Tablespaces is used to optimize data storage and retrieval.> Differences Between Aggregate Storage and Block Storage:

1. Inherent Differences:>supports rapid aggregation,optimized to support high dimensionality

and sparse data> Created by Migrating a block storage outline or define after

application creation> Supports only one DB

2. Outline Differences:> Multiple hierarchies enabled, dynamic hierarchy, or stored hierarchy

designation> No two-pass calculation. No association of attribute dimensions with

the dimension tagged as Accounts> Cannot have formulas. No Dynamic Time Series members> Stored hierarchy dimensions cannot have shared members. Stored

hierarchies within a multiple hierarchies dimension can have shared members.> On stored hierarchies, two limitations if a member is label only:

>> All dimension members at the same level as the member must be label only

>> The parents of the member must be label only.> On conversion from a block storage database, attributedimension

members are tagged as Dynamic Calc. On standard dimension members Dynamic Calc tags are converted and tagged as stored members

> Supports Outline paging3. Calculation Differences:

> No support for Essbase calculation functions> Support only Sum in Attribute calculations dimension

4. Partitioning and Write Back Differences> Replicated partitions are not supported> No outline synchronization

5. Data Load Differences: > Only level 0 cells are loaded> At the end of a data load, if an aggregation exists, the values in the

aggregation are recalculated> The loading of multiple data sources into aggregate storage databases

is managed through temporary data load buffers> When loading data into an aggregate storage database, you can

replace the contents of the database or the contents of all incremental data slices in the database.

> contain multiple slices of data. Data slices can be merged.> support for parent-child build method

6. Query Differences:> Dont support Report writer cmds commands related to sparsity and

density of data> Export of level 0 data only. No columnar export> A shared member automatically shares the attribute associations of

its non-shared member> Query logging Not supported

7. Others:> Currency conversion,Data mining,LROs,Unicode, Variancereporting

Not supported> Only After-update triggers supported

> Hierarchies:> 2 types of hierarchies: Stored ,Dynamic> When you tag a dimension member as multiple hierarchies enabled, it is

automatically tagged as label only> Essbase automatically tags a dimension as a stored hierarchy (except the

dimension tagged as Accounts, which is automatically tagged as a dynamic hierarchy).

> The first hierarchy in a multiple hierarchies enabled dimension must be a stored hierarchy

> Stored Hierarchies:> Stored hierarchies can have the no-consolidation (~) operator (only

underneath Label Only members) or the addition (+) operator.> Stored hierarchies cannot have formulas.

> Dynamic Hierarchies:> Dynamic hierarchies can contain any consolidation operator> Dynamic hierarchies can have formulas

> If a dimension member is tagged as top of a stored hierarchy, the entire dimension is considered to be a single stored hierarchy and no other member in the dimension can be tagged as top of a stored hierarchy or top of a dynamic hierarchy

> If a generation 2 member is tagged as top of a stored hierarchy, allgeneration 2 members in the dimension must also be tagged as either top of a stored hierarchy or top of a dynamic hierarchy. The first hierarchy in the dimension must be a stored hierarchy.

>If a dimension member is tagged as top of a dynamic hierarchy, the entire dimension is considered to be a single dynamic hierarchy and no other member in the dimension can be tagged as top of a dynamic hierarchy or top of a stored hierarchy

> If a generation 2 member is tagged as top of a dynamic hierarchy, all generation 2 members in the dimension must also be tagged as either top of a dynamic hierarchy or top of a stored hierarchy. The first hierarchy in the dimension must be a stored hierarchy.

> The dimension tagged as accounts is automatically considered a dynamic hierarchy. You cannot specify the accounts dimension as a stored hierarchy.

>Alternate Hierarchies: It can be modelled as below:> As an attribute dimension> As a hierarchy of shared members.

> Shared Member:> The first hierarchy in a dimension where multiple hierarchies are

enabled cannot contain a shared member.

> Stored hierarchy dimensions cannot have shared members. Stored hierarchies within a multiple hierarchies dimension can have shared members.

> a stored hierarchy cannot contain multiple copies of the same shared member

> A stored hierarchy cannot contain a non shared instance and ashared instance of the same member.> Attribute Dimensions:

> Only the addition (+) consolidation operator is available for attribute dimensions

> Level 0: You can associate attributes with any level 0 member of a dynamic or stored hierarchy that does not have a formula.

> Non-level 0: You can associate attributes with non shared members of a stored hierarchy only when the members are at the same level as the attribute dmension members

> Attribute dimensions do not have hierarchy types. You cannot specify an attribute dimension as a dynamic or stored hierarchy. Essbase treats attribute dimensions as stored alternate hierarchies of the base dimension> Compression

> By default, the compression dimension in an aggregate storage database is the Accounts dimension

> Dimensions with a large number of stored level 0 members do not perform well if tagged Compression.> Outline Paging:

> When you create an aggregate storage database, the outline is created in a pageable format. When you use the Aggregate Storage Outline Conversion Wizard to convert an existing block storage outline to aggregate storage, the outline is automatically converted to a pageable format.> To build the outline by using a dimension build, Essbase allocates about 100 bytes per member, plus the size of the member name, plus the size of all alias names for the member (up to 10 aliases are allowed).> Essbase allocates about 60 bytes per member, plus the size of the member name plus 5 bytes, plus the size of all alias names for the member (up to 10 aliases are allowed) plus 5 bytes.

> When Essbase loads an outline, it attempts to load into memory the namespaces for both member names and all alias tables to allow optimal performance during name lookup. Name lookup is used during data load, and during report, spreadsheet, and MDX queries> Developing Formulas on Aggregate Storage Outlines:

> To write formulas for aggregate storage outlines, the MDX (Multidimensional Expressions) language is required.

> For block storage databases,formulas can be placed in a calculation script. For aggregate storage databases, you cannot place formulas in a calculation script.> When designing an aggregate storage database calculation, consider that aggregate storage database members with MDX formulas are dynamically calculated. The dynamically calculated members have a value of #Missing until they are queried> Formula Syntax for Aggregate Storage Databases:

> Enclose a member name in braces ([]) if it starts with a number or contains spaces

> Use the IIF function to write conditional tests with a single else condition

> Use the CASE, WHEN, THEN construct to write conditional tests with multiple conditions

> A tuple is a collection of members with the restriction that no two members can be from the same dimension. Enclose tuples in parentheses; for example, (Actual, Sales)

> all tuples of the set must have the same dimensionality. Enclose sets in curly braces, for example:{ [Year].[Qtr1], [Year].[Qtr2], [Year].[Qtr3], [Year].[Qtr4] }

> When you calculate a formula with errors, the formula is ignored and the member is given a value of $MISSING.> Partition to Enable Write-Back:

> a writeback partition potentially decreases calculation time and reduces database size.> Aggregate Storage Time-Based Analysis:

> ASO prodvides time-based functionality through two different dimension types: time dimensions and date-time dimensions.

> Time Dimension:> Aggregate storage time dimensions are similar to block storage time

dimensions. They enable tagging the accounts dimension for such time balance calculations as first, last, average, and todate values. Time dimensions are easily modifiable.

> Date-Time Dimension:> In date-time dimensions we have Create Date-Time Dimension

wizard for quick date-time dimension setup based on special calendars, plus linked attribute dimension setup enabling crosstab reporting of time-related data. Date-time dimensions contain a date hierarchy based on the selection of one of several standard corporate calendars

> the array TI-HIER,TP[3,1,4,5] describes the hierarchy where 3 indicates the hierarchy contains three time periods and remaining numbers in the array, indicate what time periods are included

> The member field uses TI-MBR,TSPAN to define the time range that it covers

> Linked Attributes: > Can be associated only with the date-time dimension> Linked attributes cannot be assigned to year time-depth members.> Linked attribute dimensions reflect two time components:

1 association level 2.attachment level> association level indicates the date-time dimension members

to which the attributes are associated.> attachment level indicates a member level in the associated

date-time dimension> If you delete a date-time dimension, be sure to delete all associated

attribute dimensions> Each linked attribute dimension has two levels only, the parent level

and the children attribute members> Linked attribute member names are sequential numbers, starting with

1.> Rules File Differences for ASO Dimbuilds

> After converting a block storage outline to aggregate storage, be sure to update the rules files by associating them to the aggregate storage version of the outline.

> Solve order: A number (0-127), which specifies the order in which the member is evaluated in the outline. Values less than 0 or greater than 127 are reset to 0 and 127 respectively. Valid Buildmethods: Generation, level, and parent-child references

> Currency name and currency category field types are not supported for aggregate storage outlines.

> Valid Consolidation Properties for Members of ASO: O(labelonly),N(Nevershare),C(Stored hierarchy,D (dynamichierarchy),H(multiple hierarchy)

> To build shared members in ASO,select the autoconfigure setting in the Dimension Build Settings dialog box and enable sharing> Loading Data into Aggregate Storage Databases:

> Allows processing of multiple data sources through temporary aggregate storage data load buffers. Controls the percentage of resources a data load buffer uses. Contains multiple slices of data

> If values have been calculated and stored through an aggregation, Essbase automatically updates higher-level stored values when data values are changed. No additional calculation step is necessary

> Incrementally Loading Data Using a Data Load Buffer:> In the aggregate storage data load buffer, Essbase sorts and commits the

values after all data sources have been read. If multiple (or duplicate) records are encountered for any specific data cell, the values are accumulated

> The data load buffer exists in memory until the buffer contents are committed to the database or the application is restarted, at which time the buffer is destroyed. Even if the commit operation fails, the buffer is destroyed and the data is not loaded into the database

eg: import database AsoSamp.Sample data from server data_file 'file_2' using server rules_file ‘rule’to load_buffer with buffer_id 1;on error abort;

> When performing an incremental data load, Essbase uses the aggregate storage cache for sorting data.

> the total resource usage of all data load buffers created on a database cannot exceed 1.0.

> Data load buffer properties are: ignore_missing_values,ignore_zero_values,aggregate_use_last.

> By default, when cells with identical keys are loaded into the same data load buffer, Essbase resolves the cell conflict by adding the values together (aggregate_use_last property)

> Creating a Data Slice: You can incrementally commit the data load buffer to an aggregate storage database to create a slice. You can merge all incremental data slices into the main database slice or merge all incremental data slices into a single data slice while leaving the main database slice unchanged

> To perform merging operations, use the alter database MaxL statement with the merge grammar.

> To replace the contents of a database or the incremental data slices in a database, use the import database MaxL statement with the override grammar

> If a database has a main slice and multiple incremental data slices, a query statistic of 0.66 means that two-thirds of the query time was spent querying the incremental data slices and one-third of the time was spent querying the main data

slice. If the cost of querying the incremental data slices is too high, you can merge the slices.

> In Essbase Spreadsheet Add-in for Excel, the send command is equivalent to using the incremental data load functionality with the override grammar

> Essbase processes source data records only for the level 0 dimension intersections where the member does not have a formula and all others are skipped.> Rules File Differences for Aggregate Storage Data Loads

> For block storage data loads, through the rules file, you choose for each data source whether to overwrite existing values, add values in the data source to existing values, or subtract them from existing values.

> For aggregate storage data loads using the aggregate storage data load buffer, you make this choice for all data load sources that are gathered into the data load buffer before they are loaded to the database.> Calculating Aggregate Storage Databases:

> Aggregate storage database values are calculated through the outline structure and MDX formulas.

> When a data load is complete, all the information needed to calculate an aggregate storage database is available. When a retrieval request is made, Essbase Server calculates the needed values by consolidating the values loaded for level 0 members and calculating formulas. Values calculated for retrievals are not stored.

> Consolidation operators assigned to members of dynamic hierarchies define the operations used in the roll-up: add (+), subtract (-), multiply (*), divide (/), percent (%), and no operation (~). Members of stored hierarchies can an have only the addition (+) or the no-consolidation (~) operator.> BSO Calculation Features That Do Not Apply to ASO:

> Calculation script calculations. Dynamic Calc and Dynamic Calc and Store member storage properties

> Two-pass calculations tags. Intelligent Calculation> Formulas on members of dimensions other than members of ASO dynamic

hierarchies

> Calculation Order: 1. Aggregates members of stored hierarchies and attribute dimensions2. Calculates dynamic hierarchy dimension members and formulas based on

solve order property> Solve Order:

> It is good practice to specify the solve order for each member by setting the solve order property at the member level or at the dimension level. Members without formulas that do not have a specified solve order inherit the solve order of their dimension. Members with formulas that do not have a specified solve order have a solve order of zero.

> Essbase uses the following information to define calculation precedence: 1. Member solve order2. Dimension solve order

> If two or more members have the same solve order, the members are evaluated in the reverse order in which their dimensions occur in the database outline. The member that occurs later in the outline takes precedence

> When a member formula is dependant on the value of another member, the member with the formula must have a higher solve order than the member or members on which it depends

> Aggregating an Aggregate Storage Database:> An aggregate view is a collection of aggregate cells. The collection is based

on the levels of the members within each dimension.> Aggregations are consolidations, based on outline hierarchy, of level 0 data

values. An aggregation contains one or more aggregate views> aggregation script is a file that defines a particular selection of aggregate

views to be materialized> Query tracking holds query usage information in memory. Performing any

of the following operations clears query usage information.>1.Loading or clearing data 2. Materializing or clearing an

aggregation 3. Turning off query tracking> Query hints tell Essbase what types of queries are likely to occur. It cannot

contain dynamic, label-only, or shared members.> Clearing aggregations clears all data from the database except level 0 values.

This process removes all aggregate views from the database, releasing the disk area for other use> Restrictions on Alternate Hierarchies:

1. The shared level among alternate time hierarchies must be level-0.2. The order of members at shared level among alternate time hierarchies must

be the same in all alternate hierarchies.> Managing Aggregate Storage Applications and Databases:

> Tablespaces define location definitions that map data artifacts, such as aggregate views and aggregations, to files.

> default,log,metadata,temp> When an aggregate storage outline is started, a small area in memory is

allocated as the aggregate storage cache for the relevant application. As additional cache area is needed, the cache size incrementally increases until the maximum cache size is used or until the operating system denies additional allocations