Manage Azure Analysis Services Servers

Note: This document covers the management of Azure Analysis Services servers, including scaling, monitoring, and configuration.

Overview

Azure Analysis Services provides a fully managed platform that offers enterprise-grade data modeling capabilities. Managing your Analysis Services servers involves understanding various operations such as scaling, monitoring performance, configuring settings, and ensuring high availability.

Scaling Servers

Scaling allows you to adjust the resources allocated to your Analysis Services server to meet changing performance demands. You can scale up or down the Analysis Services Compute Engine (ASCE) tier. Scaling operations can be performed through the Azure portal, Azure CLI, or PowerShell.

Scaling using the Azure Portal

1. Navigate to your Azure Analysis Services server resource in the Azure portal.
2. In the server blade, under Settings, select Scale.
3. Choose the desired ASCE tier (e.g., Developer, Basic, Standard) and the appropriate capacity unit (DU).
4. Click Apply to save the changes.

Scaling using Azure CLI

az ams server update --resource-group <resource-group-name> --name <server-name> --sku S2 --capacity 2

Monitoring Servers

Monitoring your Analysis Services server is crucial for maintaining optimal performance and identifying potential issues. Azure Analysis Services integrates with Azure Monitor to provide detailed metrics and logs.

Key Metrics to Monitor:

• CPU Usage: Indicates the processor load on the server.
• Memory Usage: Tracks the amount of memory being used by the server.
• Query Duration: Measures the time taken for queries to execute.
• Query Count: The number of queries being processed.
• Capacity Units (DUs): Monitor the utilization of your provisioned DUs.

Setting up Alerts

Configure alerts in Azure Monitor to notify you when certain metrics exceed predefined thresholds. This proactive approach helps in addressing performance bottlenecks before they impact users.

Server Configuration

Several server properties can be configured to fine-tune the behavior and performance of your Analysis Services instance.

Common Configuration Settings:

• Max Memory: Sets the maximum percentage of server memory that Analysis Services can use.
• Max Concurrent Connections: Limits the number of concurrent user connections.
• Query Timeout: Specifies the maximum time a query can run before being terminated.

These settings can be accessed and modified via the server properties in the Azure portal or programmatically using tools like SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) or PowerShell.

For detailed instructions on connecting to your Analysis Services server with SSMS, refer to the Connect to Analysis Services with SSMS article.

High Availability and Disaster Recovery

Azure Analysis Services offers built-in features for high availability. You can also implement disaster recovery strategies by replicating your server to another region.

Replication

Replicating your Analysis Services server to a different Azure region provides a disaster recovery solution. In case of a regional outage, you can failover to the replicated server in another region.

Management of replicas, including creating and synchronizing them, is done through the Azure portal or using Azure CLI/PowerShell commands.

Security Best Practices

Securing your Analysis Services server is paramount. Implement role-based access control (RBAC), manage user permissions, and consider using Azure Active Directory (AAD) for authentication.

az role assignment create --assignee <user-principal-name> --role "Analysis Services Contributor" --scope /subscriptions/<subscription-id>/resourceGroups/<resource-group-name>/providers/Microsoft.AnalysisServices/servers/<server-name>

Always adhere to the principle of least privilege when assigning roles and permissions.