Azure Analysis Services

Create an Azure Analysis Services Server

The first step is to provision an Azure Analysis Services server instance in your Azure subscription.

1. Navigate to the Azure portal.
2. Click Create a resource.
3. Search for "Azure Analysis Services" and select it.
4. Click Create.
5. Fill in the required details:
   • Subscription: Select your Azure subscription.
   • Resource group: Create a new one or select an existing one.
   • Server name: Choose a globally unique name for your server.
   • Location: Select the Azure region closest to your users.
   • Pricing tier: Select a tier that matches your performance and capacity needs.
6. Review the settings and click Review + create, then Create.

Provisioning typically takes a few minutes. You can monitor the deployment progress in the Azure portal notifications.

Connect to Your Server

Once your server is deployed, you'll need to connect to it to start building your models.

Using SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS):

1. Download and install the latest version of SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) if you haven't already.
2. Launch SSMS.
3. In the Connect to Server dialog:
   • Server type: Analysis Services.
   • Server name: Enter your Azure Analysis Services server name (e.g., yourservername.windows.net).
   • Authentication: Choose Azure Active Directory - Universal with MFA or Windows Authentication (if using integrated authentication).
4. Click Connect.

Using SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT) for Visual Studio:

1. Open Visual Studio and select Create a new project.
2. Search for "Analysis Services Tabular Project" and select it.
3. Give your project a name and location, then click Create.
4. In the Solution Explorer, right-click on the Data Sources folder and select Add Data Source.
5. In the Table adapter wizard, select Analysis Services as the data source type.
6. Enter your server name and click Open.

Build Your First Data Model

Now you're ready to start building your semantic data model. Azure Analysis Services supports tabular and multidimensional models.

Tabular Model Example:

1. In your SSDT project, right-click on the Models folder and select Add Model.
2. Choose Tabular as the model type.
3. Once the model designer opens, right-click on the Tables folder and select Add Table.
4. Connect to your data source (e.g., Azure SQL Database, Azure Synapse Analytics).
5. Select the tables you want to include and import the data.
6. Define relationships between tables, create calculated columns, measures using DAX, and KPIs to enrich your model.

For more detailed guidance, refer to the tutorials section.

Deploy Your Model

After building and testing your model locally, you can deploy it to your Azure Analysis Services server.

1. In SSDT, right-click on your project in Solution Explorer and select Properties.
2. In the Project Properties dialog, navigate to Deployment.
3. Set the Server Name to your Azure Analysis Services server name.
4. Set the Database Name for your deployed model.
5. Right-click on your project again and select Deploy.

This process pushes your model to the Azure Analysis Services server, making it available for querying by BI tools.

Connect with BI Tools

With your model deployed, you can now connect to it from your favorite Business Intelligence tools.

• Power BI: Select "Connect to Analysis Services" and enter your server name.
• Excel: Use "Get Data" -> "From Analysis Services".
• Tableau: Connect to "Microsoft Azure Analysis Services".

You can then create reports and dashboards leveraging the performance and scalability of your Azure Analysis Services model.