This section provides an overview of significant changes in DB2 OLAP Server
Version 8.1.
The following changes are specific to Release 6.5 of Hyperion
Essbase OLAP Server.
- Hybrid Analysis for relational data support
- DB2 OLAP Server supports Hybrid Analysis, a method of accessing the lowest
level members of an OLAP database from a relational database. This
relationally stored data is not physically loaded into DB2 OLAP Server.
The data is mapped to the appropriate OLAP hierarchies.
Use OIS and the Hybrid Analysis manager to create applications that access
relational data using Hybrid Analysis. The manager generates queries
dynamically against the relational source, and runs as part of the OLAP
Server.
For more information about how to use Hybrid Analysis, see these
documents:
- Technical Reference in the docs directory, in the Report Writer
and Configuration Settings sections for information about Hybrid Analysis
commands and settings
- OIS online help and Intelligent Help
- Application Manager help: Database Settings, Storage Tab, Access
Mode
- Parallel Calculation
- In addition to the standard means of performing a calculation, where each
task is performed in sequence or serially, DB2 OLAP Server now supports
parallel calculation.
If you enable parallel calculation, DB2 OLAP Server analyzes all the tasks
in a calculation pass and breaks them down into subtasks. The subtasks
that can run independently of each other are scheduled to run simultaneously
on up to four threads, each on a separate CPU.
See the Technical Reference, which entries in the configuration setting and
calculation commands sections. You can enable and adjust parallel
calculation by adding CALCPARALLEL (and optionally CALCTASKDIMS) to your
essbase.cfg configuration file, or you can issue the calculation
commands SETCALCPARALLEL (and optionally SET CALCTASKDIMS).
- Simulated Calculations
- Use the ESSCMD command SET MSG ONLY to perform simulated
calculations. These simulated calculations can help you to select dense
and sparse settings for the dimensions in your outline. See the
Technical Reference in the docs directory for more
information.
- Empty Outline Support in Dimension Building
- DB2 OLAP Server can now build dimensions in empty outline files.
When a new database is created, DB2 OLAP Server creates an empty outline
file. In previous releases, before building outlines from a data
source, users had to add at least one dimension member to the empty outline
manually. Now, DB2 OLAP Server no longer requires the manual
step.
- Substitution Variable Support in SQL Interface
- You can use substitution variables in SQL strings, similar to substitution
variable use in report scripts and calculation scripts. For details,
see the SQL Interface Guide, available in PDF or HTML.
- Connection Information Available
- Client API programs can now access information about users currently
connected to Essbase. The new function EssListLogins() provides a count
of the users logged in to a specified connection and returns information on
the connected client names and IP addresses.
- Server Log Enhancements
- Messages in the server log dealing with user logins and security changes
now include additional details:
- The user name of anyone entering an incorrect password or changing a
password
- The IP address of the computer on which a user logs in
- The user name and group name when the user or group is deleted
In addition, DB2 OLAP Server logs additional security activities in the
server log, including the name of the user and group being changed and the
user performing the change:
- Adding users to groups and removing users from groups
- Granting and revoking database and application access
- I/O Setting Changes
- Previously, configuration setting DIRECTIO controlled the default mode of
I/O access at the server level. Now, DIRECTIO controls only the I/O
mode used for databases when they are created. To change the I/O mode
for an individual database, use Application Manager, and navigate to the
Database Settings window, Storage tab.
- Correct Structure Alignment
- Header files contain new information and structures that enable DB2 OLAP
Server to run more quickly and efficiently. You need not do anything
for new or upgraded installations, the changes are made automatically.
Two header files, esbapi.h and esbotl.h, are no longer needed,
and therefore no longer shipped with Essbase. One new header file,
esstsa.h, has been added.
- SQL Interface Guide in HTML and PDF
- The Essbase SQL Interface Guide is now available in HTML as well as
PDF.
- New Error Message Documentation
- Help for error messages are now available from the Information Map, which
you can launch from the Start > Programs > IBM DB2
OLAP Server 8.1 > Documentation menu.
The following changes are specific to Release 6.2 of Hyperion
Essbase OLAP Server.
- Application and database migration across OLAP Servers
- You can migrate applications and databases from one server to another,
regardless of platform. When you migrate, you can also migrate
user/group security, including filter associations.
- User and group migration across OLAP Servers
- You can migrate DB2 OLAP Server users and groups from one server to
another, regardless of platform. You can migrate individual users and
groups, or you can migrate multiple users or multiple groups at one
time.
- Password propagation
- You can change a password and then propagate that password to other OLAP
Servers.
- Single sign-on to DB2 OLAP Server enterprise environment
- When you log in to Administration Services, the Administration Server
handles your connections to OLAP Servers, applications, and databases.
- Log analysis
- Using Log Analyzer, you can filter, search, and analyze OLAP Server logs
and application logs.
- New MaxL Script Editor
- A new MaxL Script Editor is integrated with the Administration Services
Console. From this editor, you can create, edit, save, and execute MaxL
statements and scripts. You can also use the editor to type and execute
MaxL statements interactively, or to perform one DB2 OLAP Server operation at
a time. Results from MaxL statements are displayed within the
editor.
- Background processing
- You can execute calculations in the background while performing other
tasks. You can also exit the console while the process continues to
run. A message panel in the console window notifies you when the
process has completed.
- Multiple platform support
- Both the middle tier Administration Server and the client console are Java
products that run on multiple platforms. You can now manage DB2 OLAP
Server with a user interface that runs on any platform supported by DB2 OLAP
Server.
- Printing DB2 OLAP Server information
- You can print the contents of many windows in the console. For
example, you can print the contents of the Database Properties window or the
Log Analyzer window.
- Graphical view of DB2 OLAP Server
- You can use the Graphical Enterprise view in the console to operate
directly on DB2 OLAP Server objects and to create custom views of the DB2 OLAP
Server environment.
- Parallel data load
- DB2 OLAP Server now supports parallel data loading. You can specify
the number of data processing threads to be used in parallel in different
stages of data load processing. Allocating processing threads across
processors on multiple CPUs provides the performance advantages of true
parallel operation.
- Limits on query duration and time
- When users create and execute a report or spreadsheet add-in query, they
may unintentionally create a very large query. Some large queries may
require too much time to execute or may access too many blocks to run
efficiently.
To help administrators, DB2 OLAP Server now provides these new
features:
- Administrators can limit the amount of time a query can run before
completion.
- Administrators can limit the number of blocks that a query can
access.
- Administrators can set these new limits at the server, application, or
database level.
This new ability is available using new essbase.cfgfile
settings.
- New control of agent-server threads and user logins
- Two new configuration settings provide more control over agent
activity:
- AGTSVRCONNECTIONS specifies the number of server threads that the OLAP
Server creates during startup to connect to the agent. This subset of
server threads, along with the agent threads controlled by AGENTTHREADS, are
needed when users connect from an agent to the server in order to connect to
an application and database. These threads are unrelated to the threads
that are used to direct client queries, which are specified by SERVERTHREADS
or have default specification based on the number of licenses
purchased.
- MAXLOGIN specifies the maximum number of users that can simultaneously log
in to a single application at a time. This number includes all
instances of the same user on the same computer and application. Both
the server and agent use this setting. MAXLOGIN is unrelated to threads
controlled by AGENTTHREADS, AGTSVRCONNECTIONS, or SERVERTHREADS.
Use these settings to match resources to load patterns:
- To support a small number of users, you can lessen the amount of memory
that the OLAP server uses by decreasing the value of MAXLOGIN.
- To support a large number of users trying to access the same application
at the same time, you can increase the value of AGTSVRCONNECTIONS and
AGENTTHREADS.
- To support many users issuing queries at the same time, you can increase
the value of SERVERTHREADS.
- Log delimiters
- If you need to use external reporting tools or import log data into an
OLAP database, DB2 OLAP Server now provides the ability to specify a delimiter
between fields in DB2 OLAP Server log files:
- The essbase.cfg configuration file now supports an
optional setting DELIMITEDMSG and DELIMITER. When DELIMITDMSG is set to
TRUE, DB2 OLAP Server inserts a tilde (~) between each field of a message and
writes each entry on a single line. If DELIMITER is set to one of three
symbols, that symbol is used instead of the tilde.
- Log files contain standardized fields and field ordering. For
example, an entry with a date and time stamp uses the stamp as the first field
in the message.
- New calculation functions
- DB2 OLAP Server provides three new calculation functions in this
release:
- Use @PRIORS and @NEXTS to skip #MISSING values, zero (0) values, or both,
or neither during a calculation. @PRIOR and @NEXT, which do not skip,
are still available.
- Use @NAME to pass a member name as a string to another function.
- Use @ALIAS to pass a member alias as a string to another function.
See the Technical Reference in the docs directory of
your DB2 OLAP Server installation for details.
- New API functions
- DB2 OLAP Server Version 8.1 has two new API functions. One
is a list of native and custom-defined calculation functions, and the other is
a new function to create a filter.
- External authentication
- DB2 OLAP Server now supports external authentication of users against a
non-DB2 OLAP server. For this release, DB2 OLAP Server installs a
protocol that can authenticate users for an LDAP V3 server.
To enable external authentication, administrators use this procedure:
- Set the AUTHENTICATIONMODULE configuration setting in the server and
client configuration file essbase.cfg.
- Restart OLAP Server.
- Create the user in DB2 OLAP Server with a reference to the LDAP protocol
by using either Application Manager or DB2 OLAP Server Administration
Services.
For instructions about how to set the configuration parameter, see the
Technical Reference in the docs directory of your DB2 OLAP Server
installation.
- Export/Import LROs
- The ability to export and re-import linked reporting object (LRO)
information from a database has been added to improve backup capabilities and
calculation performance.
You can use export LRO and import LRO (MaxL) to perform these tasks:
- Export the catalog that maps LROs to data cells, from a database to a
single file on the server
- Load a file containing the exported LRO information.
- Export of databases larger than 2 GB
- Some file management systems do not support ASCII files larger than 2
GB. To avoid exceeding this limit, if DB2 OLAP Server anticipates that
an export file will be larger than 2 GB, it breaks the file into two or more
export files, as needed. Use the ESSCMD commands, EXPORT and PAREXPORT,
and the MaxL statement, export to export databases. This new feature
works the same on all operating systems.
- New CALCMODE configuration setting
- You can now set CALCMODE to BLOCK or BOTTOMUP by using the configuration
setting CALCMODE in the server configuration file
essbase.cfg, and give it server, application, or database
scope instead of using the @CALCMODE function. For more information,
see the configuration settings in Technical Reference in the
docs directory of your DB2 OLAP Server installation.
- Improved functionality
- DB2 OLAP Server Version 8.1 provides these improvements to existing
functionality:
- Improved Handling of Sessions and Requests
- Multiple DB2 OLAP Server Agents on a Single Server Computer
- Case Sensitivity Improvement
- Improved Add-in Support of Excel in Browsers
- Member Set Function Support in FIX
- New Dimensions Sparse by Default
- Custom-Defined Functions and Macros
- Attribute Association Memory Use
- Buffered I/O Default
- Improved handling of sessions and requests
-
System administrators can log out all users of a particular application or
database, or log out instances of particular users from a selected
scope: an application, a database, or the entire OLAP server
system. If a user request is active when the administrator tries to log
off the user, the administrator can force the user off. Using force
safely terminates the request, and then logs the user off.
Additionally, administrators may terminate specific requests that have
become problematic. For example, if a user loses the connection to the
OLAP Server during a request (for example, a calculation), the abandoned
request may cause the application to stop responding to subsequent
requests.
Each user session has a unique ID number, which can be displayed and used
by the administrator to terminate the current request associated with that
session. When the administrator terminates a request, the user session
remains active. The improved handling of sessions and requests can be
found in any of these areas:
- Application Manager (Security > Connections)
- The MaxL language interface (alter system kill request and
alter system logout session)
- The DB2 OLAP Server Administration Services Console
The improved handling of sessions and requests is also available to API
programmers, who can incorporate the following request management
functions:
- EssListRequests()
- EssKillRequest()
- Multiple DB2 OLAP Server agents on a single server computer
- Three new settings in the DB2 OLAP Server configuration file enable a
single computer to run multiple DB2 OLAP Server agents at the same
time. These settings provide two important improvements:
- Increased service to clients.
- DB2 OLAP Server administrators can research new systems without the need
to use a different server computer. Previous releases required a single
communication port per DB2 OLAP Server agent, per OLAP server. This
constraint has been removed.
- These settings must be in essbase.cfgconfiguration files
on both the client and server.
The new configuration settings are: AGENTPORT, SERVERPORTBEGIN,
SERVERPORTEND, and PORTINC.
- Case sensitivity improvement
- Previous releases of DB2 OLAP Server automatically changed the case of
application and database names when they were created: the first letter
was converted to uppercase, and other letters were all lowercase. With
this release, DB2 OLAP Server creates the database name exactly as it is
entered. Some backward compatibility with previous clients is
provided:
- If a client prior to Version 7.1 FixPak 8 (Application Manager for
example) is used to create a database or application name, the name is created
with the first letter in uppercase and all other letters in lowercase.
- If scripts specify the incorrect case for an application or database name,
DB2 OLAP Server searches for different versions of case for that
object.
Some error messages have been rewritten to provide clarity. With
this release, behavior on NT and UNIX platforms is identical.
- Improved add-in support of of Excel in browsers
- DB2 OLAP Serverr supports the ability access the Spreadsheet Add-in
features when Microsoft Excel is invoked from Internet Explorer. If you
drill down in an Excel spreadsheet accessed using Internet Explorer, Excel
refreshes the browser and displays the requested data automatically.
Users need not perform any additional steps to refresh the browser
view.
- Member set function support in FIX
- All functions that return a member or set of members are now supported
when they occur within FIX statements. Member and member set functions
in FIX is also supported for partition definitions and security
filters.
- New dimensions sparse by default
- When you add a dimension to an existing outline, DB2 OLAP Server makes it
a sparse dimension. Prior to Version 8.1, DB2 OLAP Server made
new dimensions dense by default.
- Custom defined functions and macros
- Several changes have been made to custom-defined functions (CDF) and
custom-defined macros (CDM):
- You no longer need to install the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) to create or
use CDMs. CDFs still require the JVM.
- DB2 OLAP Server no longer validates function records before completing the
creation process. Errors are detected only when an application loads
the CDF. Typically this occurs during server startup and when the MaxL
refresh custom definitions statement is executed. The DB2
OLAP Server agent checks the function for a valid name, but does no other
validation. This means that there is no longer a need to start an
application in order to create a function.
- You can now use MaxL to create and drop function records without loading
or unloading an application.
- The rules for specifying Java classes and methods are now stricter.
- MaxL and Application Manager must be Version 8.1 to create or
delete CDFs and CDMs on the Version 8.1 server. For details, see
the Database Administrators Guide chapters about CDFs and
CDMs.
- Attribute association memory use
- DB2 OLAP Server has improved memory management for processing attributes
requiring less memory. This improvement is most noticeable for
applications using many attributes.
- Buffered I/O default
-
Version 8.1 includes buffered I/O as the default. If you want
to use direct I/O, as was the default for Release 6.0 and 6.1,
you can use the configuration setting DIRECTIO TRUE.
Because buffered I/O may affect some DB2 OLAP Server caches, you may need
to adjust cache size as well as change the DIRECTIO configuration
setting.
- DB2 OLAP Server 8.1 clients not available for Windows 95
- Clients such as Application Manager and the Spreadsheet Add-in for Version
8.1 are not available for Windows 95.