Power View Now Works with Cubes!

This is a very significant day in the progression of the Microsoft Business Intelligence platform.  Earlier this year, Power View was released with SQL Server 2012; a remarkable step forward in data visualization. It wasn’t all bad news that Power View only worked with the new tabular semantic models and PowerPivot worksheets published in SharePoint but it did limit our options.  We’ve quietly lived with the fact that this great new reporting tool couldn’t be used with Microsoft’s flagship analytical data (OLAP) engine without building new semantic models.  Well, now it does, and that’s very good news.

SQL Server BI & SharePoint eBooks, Guides and Resources

There are many free eBooks & resources available from Microsoft and members of the MVP community.  This is a collection of several very useful free publications:

Power View Infrastructure Configuration and Installation
Link

Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2012
PDF | EPUB | MOBI

Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2
PDF | XPS

The Many-to-Many Revolution
Link

SQLBI Methodology
Link

 

Configure Kerberos Authentication for SharePoint 2010 Products
DOCX | PDF | EPUB | MOBI

Business continuity management for SharePoint Server 2010
PDF | EPUB | MOBI

Deployment guide for SharePoint Server 2010
PDF | EPUB | MOBI

Get started with SharePoint Server 2010
PDF | EPUB | MOBI

Governance guide for Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010
PDF | EPUB | MOBI

Profile synchronization guide for SharePoint Server 2010
PDF | EPUB | MOBI

Remote BLOB storage for Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010
PDF | EPUB | MOBI

Technical reference for Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010
PDF | EPUB | MOBI

Upgrading to SharePoint Server 2010
PDF | EPUB | MOBI

Getting Started with SharePoint Server 2010
PDF | DOC | XPS | EPUB | MOBI

Planning guide for sites and solutions for Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010, Part 1
PDF | DOC | XPS

Planning guide for sites and solutions for Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010, Part 2
PDF | DOC | XPS

Planning guide for server farms and environments for Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010
PDF | XPS | DOC

Capacity planning for Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010
PDF | XPS | DOC

Most of these resources and many others can be found on Eric Ligman’s blog

SQL Server 2012 Upgrade Technical Guide is available

The SQL Server 2012 upgrade white paper is now available from Microsoft.  I’m proud to have made a contribution and to work with these industry leaders.  This extensive 454 page guide was published and edited by Microsoft and written by mentors from SolidQ.  It is a valuable reference for administrators, developers and business intelligence professionals planning to upgrade solutions to the latest version of SQL Server.

Thanks and congratulations to the SolidQ authors:
Ron Talmage, Nigel Sammy , Allan Hirt, Herbert Albert, Antonio Soto, Danilo Dominici, Régis Baccaro, Milos Radivojevic, Jesús Gil, Dejan Sarka, Johan Åhlén, Simran Jindal, Paul Turley, Craig Utley, Larry Barnes, Pablo Ahumada

Download the SQL Server 2012 Upgrade Technical Guide

Content:

• Upgrade Planning and Deployment
• Management Tools
• Relational Databases
• High Availability
• Database Security
• Full-Text Search
• Service Broker
• SQL Server Express
• Database Development Tools
• Transact-SQL Queries
• Spatial Data
• XML and XQuery
• CLR
• SMO
• BI Tools
• Analysis Services
• Integration Services
• Reporting Services
• Data Mining
• Other Microsoft Applications and Platforms

Come to SQL Saturday 92 in Portland

Are you In Portland, Oregon?

Do you plan to be in Portland on Saturday, October 8th?

Can you be in Portland on October 8th?

…then go to the Oregon SQL Saturday #92. Register right now. Yes, now!

We have dozens of great speakers coming from all over the world.  It’s a terrific community networking opportunity, a career builder and an awesome learning experience.

Dad always said “there’s no free lunch” but he was wrong.  Lunch is provided and it’s free!  The conference is free!  What more could you possibly want?

If you have anything at all to do with SQL Server and you don’t make it to SQL Saturday #92 in Portland on October 8th, you will beat yourself over the head with a two-by-four after you find out what you missed.

Analysis Services Operations Guide Released

The Analysis Services team has been working overtime lately to provide added community support for the traditional UDM-based OLAP engine (not that any of our friends in Building 35 have actually ever worked as little as a 40 hour week during their tenure at Microsoft!)  In light of the team’s focus on project Gemini (now known as PowerPivot and the forthcoming BI Semantic Model in SQL Server Denali) over the past couple of years, it’s very encouraging to see their continued commitment to this staple analytic data platform.  Last year they announced the Maestros enterprise-scale training and certification program with the second round of sessions scheduled this month in Redmond and Madrid.

The latest deliverable is the SQL Server 2008 R2 Analysis Services Operations Guide, a very comprehensive, 108-page document that focuses on operational support for Analysis Services database servers and solution environments.  This guide was written by Thomas Kejser, John Sirmon, and Denny Lee from the SQL Server Customer Advisory Team (SQLCAT); with contributions from 26 product team members and leading independent industry experts; which include Alejandro Leguizamo and Alberto Ferrari from SolidQ.  I attended an excellent session at TechEd 2011in Atlanta last month by Adam Jorgensen on large-scale SSAS operational guidance where he made reference to the forthcoming operational guide. 

This will be a welcome and complimentary addition to a library of guides and white papers which include the Analysis Services 2008 Performance Guide, Analysis Services Processing Best Practices and Analysis Services Query Performance Top 10 Best Practices.  In addition to several recommended Analysis Services configuration and operational best practices, the new operations guide covers:

• Server configuration
• Memory configuration
• Thread pool & CPU configuration
• Partitioning strategies
• Network considerations
• Monitoring & tuning
• Testing strategies
• Security & auditing
• High availability & disaster recovery
• Diagnosing issues & optimizing
• Server maintenance

For more information on SSAS best-practices and product support, visit the SQLCAT community site.