OLAP Setup and User's Guide
The following list provides an overview of the significant changes in
DB2 OLAP Server Version 7.1:
- Two New DB2 OLAP Server Add-on Products
- DB2 OLAP Server offers two additional add-on products in Version
7.1:
- DB2 OLAP Integration Server lets you map and transfer data from
relational databases to OLAP cubes quickly and easily. It includes a
set of graphical tools and a shared, enterprise OLAP metadata catalog that
contains reusable data mappings, dimensions, hierarchies, calculation logic,
and business rules. End users and IT professionals can combine and
customize objects that are stored in the OLAP metadata catalog and then create
new analytic applications that are tailored to satisfy specific business
requirements from relational data sources.
- DB2 OLAP Server Allocations Manager is an analytical
application for managing the allocations of shared revenues, costs, and
capital across organizations. The Allocations Manager provides a
graphical interface and offers several commonly employed allocation
methods.
- Choice of Storage Manager
- Now you can choose your storage manager (multidimensional or relational)
when you create your OLAP application, not during installation. In the
DB2 OLAP Starter Kit now includes controls in the DB2 OLAP Integration Server
desktop that you can use to select storage managers. In DB2 OLAP
Server, you can select storage managers in either the DB2 OLAP Integration
Server or the Application Manager.
- Tivoli support
- DB2 OLAP Server now supports Tivoli systems management solutions to help
you control your IT resources. For more information about Tivoli
products, go to the Tivoli Web site:
http://www.ibm.com/software/sysmgmt/
- Sophisticated, Economical Attribute Analysis
- Attributes are characteristics of your data. For example, products
can have attributes such as colors, sizes, or flavors. DB2 OLAP Server
provides a number of attribute-related features that help you define and store
attribute information and analyze attribute data in meaningful ways:
- You can use attribute dimensions and members in the outline to define
attributes. Attribute dimensions and members are dynamically created
with the Dynamic Calc feature. Therefore, attribute data is not stored
in the database, and outlines may be smaller.
- Through the system-defined Attribute Calculations dimension, DB2 OLAP
Server provides access to five consolidations of all attribute data:
sums, counts, averages, minimums, and maximums.
- Flexibility at retrieval time means that viewing attribute data is
optional.
- You can create meaningful summaries of the data through crosstabs.
Crosstabs are a way of displaying summaries of your data, based on multiple
characteristics of that data. For example, you can group different
attribute information by columns and rows to see the total sales of
grape-flavored soda packaged in 12-ounce cans.
- Through text, numeric, Boolean, and date-based comparisons, you can
selectively view only the data that you want to see.
- Optionally, you can use numeric attributes to group and summarize
attribute data by ranges of values. For example, you can analyze your
data by population ranges such as 0 through 1000000, 1000001 through 2000000,
and so on.
- DB2 OLAP Server provides three new attribute-related functions:
@ATTRIBUTE, @WITHATTR, and @ATTRIBUTEVAL. In addition, all relevant
functions have been enhanced to support attribute processing or
calculations.
- New and Updated ESSCMD Commands
- See the OLAP Technical Reference for more information.
- Parallel Login and Application Startup Tasks
- You can now log in to the DB2 OLAP Server server and load and unload
applications in parallel. Parallel login processing is now faster
because of a new command-line parameter, quicklogin, which caches
the security file and writes it to disk at specified time intervals.
- Enterprise Architecture
- With concurrent agent operations, you can now deploy a larger number of
applications, databases, and users on one or more servers. The new
multitasking agent executes certain tasks in parallel. You can perform
the following tasks simultaneously:
- Start multiple applications.
- Stop multiple applications.
- Log on multiple users. Users can log on when an application is
loading or the database is recovering.
- MERANT (INTERSOLV) ODBC Drivers
- MERANT ODBC drivers Version 3.11 and their documentation are
provided with the SQL Interface add-on product. Note that INTERSOLV
Solutions has changed its corporate name to MERANT Solutions.
- Enhanced Support for Large Outlines
- DB2 OLAP Server has improved support for large outlines by improving
performance for the following outline-related operations:
- Outline editing
- Dimension building
- Restructuring
- Calculating
- New API Features
- New C and Visual Basic APIs, and enhanced functionality of existing C and
Visual Basic APIs, that enable attributes. See the OLAP API
Reference for more information.
- New Features in the Multidimensional Data Storage Manager (Kernal)
- The DB2 OLAP Server kernel (also known as the multidimensional data
storage manager) offers improved performance with direct I/O (input/output)
and no-wait I/O on most server platforms and file systems. The kernel
also adds a data file cache that improves performance. See the
OLAP Database Administrator's Guide, Volume I for more information.
- New Features in the ESSBASE.CFG File
- See the OLAP Technical Reference for more information.
- New Features in the Spreadsheet Add-in
- DB2 OLAP Server offers the following new features in the Spreadsheet
Add-in:
- The new Query Designer (EQD), which replaces the Retrieval Wizard to
create queries for reports.
- Support for Attributes
- Support for Microsoft Excel 2000 and Lotus 1-2-3 Millennium Release 9 and
9.1.
- New Features in the Calculator
- DB2 OLAP Server offers enhanced function in the following areas:
- Member Set Functions
- Statistical Functions
- Allocation and Forecasting Functions
- Relationship Functions
- Date and Time Functions
- Calculation Method function
See the OLAP Technical Reference for more information.
- New Features in Partitioning
- DB2 OLAP Server can use attribute functions to base partitions on
attribute values associated with a base dimension.
- New Features in Security Filters
- DB2 OLAP Server can define filters on attribute values associated with a
base dimension.
- Large Data Export Capability
- DB2 OLAP Server imposes no limitation on the size of data files you can
export. The only limitations are the maximum file size and volume size
allowed by your operating and file systems. Import file size remains
limited to 2 GB.
- New Features in Report Writer
- DB2 OLAP Server extends support for attributes to report writing.
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