Is it possible to export a cube to a local PC?

Hi,

I have the cube on Analysis Services (on our server) and thus can only browse/analyze/use the cube while connected to the LAN (and thus the server).

Is there any option in either Analysis Service or via some tool to export the whole cube as a single file to a local machine so that the user can do the analysis when off-line e.g when not connected to the LAN or when at home?

Will appreciate any suggestions. Many thanks.

If you have Analysis Services installed locally you can cut and paste the cube from server to PC. Or you can archive/restore but this requires use of the command line msmdarch utility. Ensure you have enough disk space, etc.

Tom Pullen
DBA, Oxfam GB

Or even.. copy and paste, if you want to keep the copy on the server!

Tom Pullen
DBA, Oxfam GB

Hi,

Thanks for the replies. However my requirement of creating (exporting) a single local file fom a cube is for users who will not have Analysis Services installed.

Thom can you kindly tell me a little more about the msmdarch utility? Does it come with the installation of SQL/Analysis service or? Where is it installed and how to run/use it? I'll appreciate your reply.

For either of my ideas the users would need to have Analysis Services installed and running. I don't know of any way to browse cube data without it.

msmdarch is installed with AS, you'll find it in the BIN folder wherever you installed the program files. you have to call it from the command line with various parameters - details are in Books Online.

Tom Pullen
DBA, Oxfam GB

Yes it is possible to create an "Offline" Cube. Offline Cubes contain the file extension .cub
You can create a local cube on the users computers and they dont need AS installed, however Local Cubes have lots of limitations.

no parent Child Dimensions
no aggregations
no member properties
no shared dimensions
no virtual dimensions or cubes
no partitions

Regards
Raulie

quote:Originally posted by Raulie

Yes it is possible to create an "Offline" Cube. Offline Cubes contain the file extension .cub
You can create a local cube on the users computers and they dont need AS installed, however Local Cubes have lots of limitations.

no parent Child Dimensions
no aggregations
no member properties
no shared dimensions
no virtual dimensions or cubes
no partitions

Regards
Raulie

Hi Raulie,

Many thanks for the reply. This is disappointing since it sounds like off-line cubes are then not of much use???

Really appreciate your reply.
Regards.