How to move SSAS from one server to another ?

  • We are running performance issues these days, and decide to purchase a new box and separate SSAS with SQL Server 2008 instance, so, question is how to move SSAS to the new box and keep SQL Server 2008 instance on the existing one ? What configurations should we change on the new box ? Any concerns that the performance will be even worse?

    Thanks.

    ddfg

  • awu (12/16/2011)


    We are running performance issues these days, and decide to purchase a new box and separate SSAS with SQL Server 2008 instance, so, question is how to move SSAS to the new box and keep SQL Server 2008 instance on the existing one ?

    High-Level POA...

    1. install new instance of Analysis Services (AS) on the new server

    2. ensure service account has appropriate access to the database instance on old server (for processing)

    3. update old AS projects to point to new server for deployment

    4. deploy, process, test/validate

    5. uninstall AS instance on old server

    awu (12/16/2011)


    What configurations should we change on the new box ?

    What were your points of pain on the old box...meaning, what are you trying to improve by spreading out your footprint? Query speed, processing speed, memory issues etc etc? I'd recommend starting with a default install and tweaking if necessary.

    or are you just asking about general settings for a stand-alone Analysis Services server?

    awu (12/16/2011)


    Any concerns that the performance will be even worse?

    Thanks.

    Processing performance may suffer since you will now be going over the network to load data into the cube.

  • High-Level POA...

    1. install new instance of Analysis Services (AS) on the new server

    2. ensure service account has appropriate access to the database instance on old server (for processing)

    3. update old AS projects to point to new server for deployment

    4. deploy, process, test/validate

    5. uninstall AS instance on old server

    Thanks for quick response, 1 and 2 are easy to understand, but not very sure about 3 to 5.

    Can I just do:

    3. copy all SSAS databases from old box to new box;

    4. restore all SSAS onto new box;

    5. point the connections to old box ( or they point to old connections anyway after move).

    6. Stop the SSAS services on old box

    Are the above steps will work ?

    By the way, you are saying the process performance will worse because the network, do you recommand they should sit on the same box but with more resources ? Thanks

    ddfg

  • awu (12/20/2011)


    Can I just do:

    3. copy all SSAS databases from old box to new box;

    4. restore all SSAS onto new box;

    5. point the connections to old box ( or they point to old connections anyway after move).

    6. Stop the SSAS services on old box

    Are the above steps will work ?

    Yes, that should work.

    awu (12/20/2011)


    By the way, you are saying the process performance will worse because the network, do you recommand they should sit on the same box but with more resources ? Thanks

    "potentially" ... but you'll have to test to find out.

    awu (12/20/2011)


    do you recommand they should sit on the same box but with more resources ? Thanks

    If the hardware on a single box will support your OLAP and DBE needs, then yes I'd recommend that you should keep both on the same box...saves you on the cost of an extra license.

  • FWIW we found that creating a compressed backup, moving that, and restoring to the new AS instance was much faster than the file copy. YMMV

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