September 10, 2008 at 9:32 am
PaulB (9/10/2008)
Alvin Ramard (9/10/2008)
Backup of the abacus would be easy. Just take a picture and store it in a safe place.;)That would be good for DR... you can send the picture to your remote location and have somebody set a second abacus as the one that shows on the picture 😎
Point a webcam at the abacus and you can have mirroring; or would that be replication?
For best practices on asking questions, please read the following article: Forum Etiquette: How to post data/code on a forum to get the best help[/url]
September 11, 2008 at 2:42 am
Alvin Ramard (9/10/2008)
Point a webcam at the abacus and you can have mirroring; or would that be replication?
mmhhh... neither one, if you loose your primary-abacus-site you would have nothing at the other end of your web camera 😛 but, you may have developed a remote access device for abacus-based-datawarehousing 😀
_____________________________________
Pablo (Paul) Berzukov
Author of Understanding Database Administration available at Amazon and other bookstores.
Disclaimer: Advice is provided to the best of my knowledge but no implicit or explicit warranties are provided. Since the advisor explicitly encourages testing any and all suggestions on a test non-production environment advisor should not held liable or responsible for any actions taken based on the given advice.September 11, 2008 at 8:16 am
You do not have a data warehouse, and what they are asking for (a big report) does NOT justify you creating a data warehouse (DW).
So what is a data warehouse? According to The Kimball Group (http://www.rkimball.com/), "the data warehouse is the platform for business intelligence." As you continue your investigation into data warehousing, and as the Kimbal Group also agrees, a data warehouse "is NOT merely a centralized and highly normalized store of data in the back room, far from the end-users."
There are several good books by the Kimball Group that I recommend you read, like "The Microsoft Data Warehouse Toolkit" (SQL Server 2005); Wiley, The Kimball Group.
In summary, Data Warehousing is very different from what most of us have been trained to understand (Cobb, normalization, RDBM systems, etc.), and what is the confusing point for most is that it uses the same database "stuff" like SQL Server, SSIS, ETL, etc. to create a DW; of course, there are additional critical components like Analysis Services (where one builds the "cubes" for the DW) which really (to ma anyway) is the point where a database system begins to "earn" the name Data Warehouse. DW is certainly too big to define here, so keep researching and learning.
September 11, 2008 at 10:26 am
:w00t: You are only mentioning Kimball... that's blatant discrimination!!!
If you mention Kimball you are required by law to mention Inmon... -or was it Inmoff? 😀
_____________________________________
Pablo (Paul) Berzukov
Author of Understanding Database Administration available at Amazon and other bookstores.
Disclaimer: Advice is provided to the best of my knowledge but no implicit or explicit warranties are provided. Since the advisor explicitly encourages testing any and all suggestions on a test non-production environment advisor should not held liable or responsible for any actions taken based on the given advice.September 11, 2008 at 10:59 am
Glen (9/11/2008)
Design of a DWH using relational model or cubes should be defined by client's requirements
I totally disagree.
Business requirements specify where you have to go, no how to go there.
_____________________________________
Pablo (Paul) Berzukov
Author of Understanding Database Administration available at Amazon and other bookstores.
Disclaimer: Advice is provided to the best of my knowledge but no implicit or explicit warranties are provided. Since the advisor explicitly encourages testing any and all suggestions on a test non-production environment advisor should not held liable or responsible for any actions taken based on the given advice.September 11, 2008 at 11:49 am
I was just trying to say there is more to a DW than a "big report" or a bunch of data! Just the way the original question was presented told me the asker had really no clue what a DW is. He, and apparently you to, need to do some research.
September 11, 2008 at 1:00 pm
Glen (9/11/2008)
I totally disagree.
Business requirements specify where you have to go, no how to go there.
In ideal world? Yep. In reality? ...
After all: the design of the DWH will always come from requirements either your client dictating it or not.
Business requirements would never, ever dictate the architecture of your DWH. Period.
_____________________________________
Pablo (Paul) Berzukov
Author of Understanding Database Administration available at Amazon and other bookstores.
Disclaimer: Advice is provided to the best of my knowledge but no implicit or explicit warranties are provided. Since the advisor explicitly encourages testing any and all suggestions on a test non-production environment advisor should not held liable or responsible for any actions taken based on the given advice.September 11, 2008 at 1:17 pm
I am certainly not disappointed. You have just proven my point for me, most beautifully. That is, there are many definition, depending on who you ask!!! BUT, for the fella that asked the original question, the answer was "NO", he was NOT talking about a DW; and frankly, almost all of your "definitions", in my opinion, are flat wrong, at best, they are "inaccruate". The only one that comes close to correct is:
"a logical collection of information, gathered from many different operational databases, that supports business analysis activities and decision-making tasks
http://www.321site.com/greg/courses/mis1/glossary.htm"
If I hit a nerve, maybe you need to check yourself. Spewing "definitions" doesn't mean you know what you are talking about. In terms of communications, you are "unconsciously ignorant" (i.e., you don't know what you don't know) about Data Warehouses. I have built several, successful DWs which included standard reporting functionality...and a whole lot more!
September 11, 2008 at 1:22 pm
And the reason for your sarcasim is?
September 11, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Ok, msanchez, since you are clearly getting upset, I am going to pour some gas on the fire.
The last definition you posted:
[font="Courier New"]"a logical collection of information, gathered from many different operational databases, that supports business analysis activities and decision-making tasks
http://www.321site.com/greg/courses/mis1/glossary.htm"[/font]
Meets neither the Inmon or Kimball definitions. It includes something very strange in that it specifies that you must have "many different operational databases" - strange that the author does not believe that a data warehouse could be created from data coming from a single operational database.
Now, other than the data coming from a single source (I presume), I challenge you to tell us what part of the requirements the OP's original "report" does not meet. It is certainly a logical collection of information and is intended to be used for analysis and decision making. In fact, any report seems to meet these two requirements.
Now, it's not a great example, and I would personally not call it a data warehouse, but I have to believe that any reasonable person that understands data warehousing can see how an argument can be made that the OP's report is at least part of a data warehouse.
September 11, 2008 at 2:04 pm
Well, I am not upset. I am sitting here laughing at you folks. You all have gone way over the edge. The definition in my last post was copied from the other argumentative poster and I said it was the only definition that was "close" to what I think a DW is.
So, let's just leave it as this: the OP asked if he should consider building a DW, and I think the general consensus is "NO". He also asked what a DW is, and I suggested a source, a fine, reliable, proven, source he could use to further answer his question as to what a DW is.
Those who chose to respond so negatively to my post are out of line; the OP can make up his own mind. Give you opinion to him, and leave your evangelical efforts towards me out of it. You are certainly entitled to your own opinions, as I am!
September 11, 2008 at 3:23 pm
Inmon is also a good source for the OP to learn data warehousing, but I still prefer Kimball. I grew up on IBM mainframes, migrated to UNIX (Berkeley), and finally ended up in the Microsoft camp, so I have given most everyone a good shot at impressing me regarding DW, and, in my humble opinion, Microsoft is on the right track, and certainly not the only good source for DW.
Was I required by "law" to mention Inmon? No. Was I being dicriminatory? You bet. Is Kimball (or Microsoft) the only answer? Absolutely...not! 8-))
September 12, 2008 at 2:34 am
Glen (9/11/2008)
Does it mean that what you are saying should be translated to: "When I am designing a data warehouse, I am not basing my architecture and design of a particular solution on business requirements"?
Exactly, that's the difference in between designing a Reporting Application and designing a Data Warehouse.
Data Warehouse by definition is generic; you design your underlying architecture no matter what the Business Requirements are then... after you have your horizontal structure in place you start building Datamarts one at a time -vertically- Customization based on Business Requirements happens only at Datamart level -and you customize just reporting, never the structure. 😉
_____________________________________
Pablo (Paul) Berzukov
Author of Understanding Database Administration available at Amazon and other bookstores.
Disclaimer: Advice is provided to the best of my knowledge but no implicit or explicit warranties are provided. Since the advisor explicitly encourages testing any and all suggestions on a test non-production environment advisor should not held liable or responsible for any actions taken based on the given advice.September 12, 2008 at 8:26 am
Glen (9/12/2008)
that is interesting approach. So, you are delivering to any customer, irrelevant from his needs, a framework which is based on a predefined “Information Factory"? Wouldn't it lead to a very expensive and inflexible design?
Nope.
1- I'm delivering a comprehensive, solid, consistent, flexible horizontal infrastructure for the whole organization where you can vertically plug Datamarts as you need them.
2- As I said before I take into consideration Business Requirements at the Datamart level.
3- The original poster was designing a single report, the term Data Warehouse does not apply to what original poster was doing.
_____________________________________
Pablo (Paul) Berzukov
Author of Understanding Database Administration available at Amazon and other bookstores.
Disclaimer: Advice is provided to the best of my knowledge but no implicit or explicit warranties are provided. Since the advisor explicitly encourages testing any and all suggestions on a test non-production environment advisor should not held liable or responsible for any actions taken based on the given advice.September 12, 2008 at 8:57 am
try again, you missed the point. 😉
_____________________________________
Pablo (Paul) Berzukov
Author of Understanding Database Administration available at Amazon and other bookstores.
Disclaimer: Advice is provided to the best of my knowledge but no implicit or explicit warranties are provided. Since the advisor explicitly encourages testing any and all suggestions on a test non-production environment advisor should not held liable or responsible for any actions taken based on the given advice.Viewing 15 posts - 16 through 30 (of 37 total)
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