MicroStrategy Connectivity

Project Source

A Project Source is an alias in which connectivity

information for all the projects in that Project Source is
stored.

2 Tier
Project Source Specifies a DSN
and login for a direct connection
to metadata.
3 Tier
Project Source identifies the
MSTR I-Server machine to
which the client will connect.

Project Source (continued)

A Project Source (PS) houses the information needed to

connect to a Metadata at start-up
A PS can contain several projects, each of which can
potentially connect to a different DW. However, there
can be only one metadata per PS, so all projects within
a PS share the same metadata
PS can be created in either 2-tier (direct connection to
the metadata) or in 3-tier (through Intelligence Server)
mode.
Well have both modes of connection for different
phases of the projects in the class.

Start-up Connectivity Logical Layout

2 - Tier

Project
Source

Direct ODBC

MD DSN
+ login

Intelligence
Server

3 - Tier

MD
Database

Start-up Connectivity Logical Layout

2 Tier (Direct):
A local ODBC DSN must be
specified along with the
login.
This information is stored in
the registry of the local
MSTR Desktop machine.
ODBC PWD is stored
encrypted in the registry of
the local machine.

Start-up Connectivity Logical Layout

3 Tier (Intelligence Server):

No ODBC connection from
the client to the DB
MSTR Desktop client will
connect to I-Server
definition, so the name of IServer and RPC connection
to it are necessary.
All connection information
and MD DSN are located on
the Server machine.

Database Instance

A Database Instance is a logical representation of a

connection to a physical database.

Database Instance

Each PS is associated with one MD DB Instance and at least one

Warehouse DB Instance.
Database Instance stores the following information:

Database Connection
Type of DB (Oracle, SQL Server, Informix, etc.)
Maximum number of connections allowed for the DB Instance
DB specific optimizations (I.e. VLDB properties)
Warehouse table prefixes (if required)
Location for intermediate table storage
Prioritization scheme to be used when submitting jobs to the DB

Database Connection

A Database Connection is
comprised of a DSN and
other information necessary
for connection to a
database.
Each Database Instance can
potentially point to multiple
Database Connections.

DSN and Database Login

The DSNs listed represent

the local machines system
ODBC data sources and
DSNs from other sources.
A Database Login stores the
UID and PWD that will be
used to access the database
or the NT network login

DSN and Database Login

DSNs listed will list local machine DSNs and all

other DSNs recorded in Metadata.
In a 3 tier environment, DSN may or may not
actually be a DSN on a local machine.
Theres unlimited number of Database Logins that
can be created, this functionality is needed for
advanced administration and monitoring by DBAs
and thus wont be discussed in this class.

The Big Picture

Project
Source

MSTR
Intelligence
Server

Project

WH DB Instance

MD DB Instance

Connection Mapping

WH DB Connection

MD DB Connection

WH DSN

MD DSN

WH Login:

MD Login:

WH UID

MD UID

WH PWD

MD PWD

WH
Database

MD
Database

Workshop

Goals:

Create VMALL Warehouse Instance

Prerequisites:

Completion of Database Connectivity

workshop

Workshop
1.
2.
3.

Open MicroStrategy Desktop

Go to Tools Project Source Manager
Click Add

Workshop
4. Enter your group name as the project source name, select your
metadata DSN and enter appropriate login information
5. Click OK twice, your Project Source is created!

Workshop
6. Now connect to your Project Source, your default login is
Administrator, the password is blank.
7. Now well create Database Instance for our Data Warehouse
8. Go to AdministrationDatabase Instance ManagerRight
Click select New Database Instance

Workshop
9. Name your DB Instance VMALL Warehouse, choose your
database type (SQL Server 7.0) and create a new DB
Connection:

Workshop
10. Select your Warehouse DSN in the list of all DSNs, choose
Administrator as your default login.
11. Click OK twice, your Warehouse connection is created!

Next steps

Well go over Data Modeling and create our

project!

Resources:

MicroStrategy Administrator Guide