After writing my previous blog post about dynamic named sets, I received feedback from multiple people saying the same thing: "How come nobody knew about this great new feature for the last 3 months". Now, one of the constant complains about AS2005 was inadequate documentation. Almost two years after AS2005 release, the documentation improved greatly with several BOL Web releases. In the upcoming AS2008 release, all the new features are properly documented in CTP BOL. However, the problem seems to be with the "What's new" documents. They are written at pretty high level and don't list every single small feature. And since there is no easy way to get a diff between BOLs for different releases. Additionally, after July CTP was released, the "What's new in June CTP" document disappeared, or at least I wasn't able to locate it, there is only "What's new in July CTP" document. Therefore there is simply no way for somebody to get list of all changes from AS2005 to Katmai. Therefore, I compiled the list of changes specifically in the OLAP engine only, i.e. I omit both Data Mining and Tools (UI/AMO). Of course, my list is likely to be incomplete, but until there is a real one - better something than nothing.
Analysis Services Personalization Extensions
This feature includes:
- Plug-in extensions to the AS stored procedures
- Events such as SessionOpened, SessionClosing, CubeOpened, CubeClosing
- Additions to the server ADOMD.NET object model to enable altering of session state (such as adding calculated members, named sets, KPIs etc)
BOL: ms-help://MS.SQLCC.v10/MS.SQLSVR.v10.en/s10md_3devsamp/html/a3e9bc0d-d56d-42a1-9c09-aa93e4f49bb2.htm
CodePlex: http://www.codeplex.com/MSFTASProdSamples/Wiki/View.aspx?title=SS2008%21Readme%20for%20Analysis%20Services%20Personalization%20Extensions%20Sample&referringTitle=Home
MDX: Dynamic sets
BOL for CREATE SET: ms-help://MS.SQLCC.v10/MS.SQLSVR.v10.en/s10md_6mdxassl/html/eff51eeb-5e7e-4706-b861-c57b6f3f89f0.htm
BOL for MDSCHEMA_SETS: ms-help://MS.SQLCC.v10/MS.SQLSVR.v10.en/s10md_9trfmisc/html/abb00dc0-2b83-48d6-b2ba-6615c1488d06.htm
Mosha's blog: http://sqlblog.com/blogs/mosha/archive/2007/08/25/mdx-in-katmai-dynamic-named-sets.aspx
MDX: CREATE/DROP KPIs
BOL for CREATE KPI: ms-help://MS.SQLCC.v10/MS.SQLSVR.v10.en/s10md_6mdxassl/html/87618fef-95e5-4dd0-a650-aeb60ccbddcb.htm
BOL for DROP KPI: ms-help://MS.SQLCC.v10/MS.SQLSVR.v10.en/s10md_6mdxassl/html/d19c6809-b8a6-459d-8554-b41854f7cc45.htm
MDX: UPDATE MEMBER statement
This statement gives ability to modify calculated members on the fly without changing their solve order/pass/calculation precedence. It enables some interesting scenarios.
BOL: ms-help://MS.SQLCC.v10/MS.SQLSVR.v10.en/s10md_6mdxassl/html/07ab708d-d165-4fb1-a9f9-fb8197ff0dab.htm
MDX: CAPTION, DISPLAY_FOLDER, ASSOCIATED_MEASURE_GROUP calculation properties
Previously it was possible to specify these only through AMO or through XMLA ASSL. Now it is possible to use these inside CREATE MEMBER statement.
BOL: ms-help://MS.SQLCC.v10/MS.SQLSVR.v10.en/s10md_6mdxassl/html/49379217-be2c-4139-a206-1168078b9b76.htm
Backup changes
In Katmai Backup changed dramatically to feature new storage implementation, improved performance, better scalability and removing limitations around the size of the database and individual files inside database.
BOL: ms-help://MS.SQLCC.v10/MS.SQLSVR.v10.en/s10md_0evalplan/html/aa69c299-b8f4-4969-86d8-b3292fe13f08.htm
Vidas's blog: http://www.ssas-info.com/VidasMatelisBlog/28_ssas-2008-katmai-upcoming-changes-in-the-next-ctp
MDX: CREATE CACHE statement
Technically this is not a new thing in Katmai, because support for CREATE CACHE/WITH CACHE was introduced in SP2 (previously even though the syntax was accepted, these commands did nothing). However, when I looked at the list of changes in AS2005 SP2, I noticed that this feature was missing there.
SQLCAT blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/sqlcat/archive/2007/04/26/how-to-warm-up-the-analysis-services-data-cache-using-create-cache-statement.aspx
P.S. I have a feeling that I forgot something, if I will remember, I will update this entry.