Defining a Data Source

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After you create a Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services (SSAS) project, you generally start working with the project by defining one or more data sources that the project will use. When you define a data source, you are defining the connection string information that will be used to connect to the data source. For more information, see Defining a Data Source Using the Data Source Wizard.

In the following task, you define the AdventureWorksDW sample database as the data source for the Analysis Services Tutorial project. While this database is located on your local computer for the purposes of this tutorial, source databases are frequently hosted on one or more remote computers.

To define a new data source

  1. In Solution Explorer, right-click Data Sources, and then click New Data Source.

    The Data Source Wizard opens.

  2. On the Welcome to the Data Source Wizard page, click Next.

    The Select how to define the connection page appears. On this page, you can define a data source based on a new connection, based on an existing connection, or based on a previously defined data source object. A previously defined data source object is an existing data source definition within the current project or within another project in the current solution. In this tutorial, you will define a new data source based on a new connection.

  3. On the Select how to define the connection page, verify that Create a data source based on an existing or new connection is selected and then click New.

    The Connection Manager dialog box appears. In this dialog box you define connection properties for the data source. A connection manager is a logical representation of the connection that will be used at run time. For example, a connection manager includes a connection string property that you set at design time; at run time, a physical connection is created by using the values in the connection string property.

  4. In the Provider list, verify that Native OLE DB\SQL Native Client is selected.

    Analysis Services also supports other providers, which are displayed in the Provider list.

  5. In the Server name text box, type localhost.

    To connect to a named instance on your local computer, type localhost\<instance name>. When you deploy the project to a particular instance of Analysis Services, the Analysis Services engine will connect to the specified database in the default instance of Microsoft SQL Server on the computer where the instance of Analysis Services resides. If you specify a particular computer name or IP address when you define a data source, the project or the deployed application connect to the specified computer instead of to the local computer. The Analysis Services Deployment Wizard lets you specify the actual server name for the source data at deployment time. For more information, see Using the Analysis Services Deployment Wizard.

  6. Verify that Use Windows Authentication is selected. In the Select or enter a database name list, select AdventureWorksDW.

    The following image shows Connection Manager with the settings that you have defined up to this point.

    Connection Manager

  7. Click OK, and then click Next.

    The Impersonation Information page appears. On this page of the wizard, you define the security credentials for Analysis Services to use to connect to the data source. Impersonation affects the Windows account used to connect to the data source when Windows Authentication is selected. Analysis Services does not support impersonation for processing OLAP objects.

  8. Select Use the service account, and then click Next.

    The following image shows the Completing the Wizard page that appears.

    Completing the Wizard page of Data Source Wizard

  9. On the Completing the Wizard page, click Finish to create the new data source with the name Adventure Works DW.

    The following image shows the new data source in the Data Sources folder in Solution Explorer.

    Adventure Works DW.ds in Data Sources folder

Note

To modify the properties of an existing data source, double-click the data source in the Data Sources folder to display the data source properties in Data Source Designer.

You have successfully defined the Adventure Works DW data source for the Analysis Services Tutorial project.

Next Task in Lesson

Defining a Data Source View

See Also

Other Resources

Working with Data Sources How-to Topics (SSAS)
Defining a Data Source Using the Data Source Wizard

Help and Information

Getting SQL Server 2005 Assistance

Change History

Release

History

14 April 2006

Term

Definition

**Changed content:**Changed provider to Native OLE DB\SQL Native Client