Validate SQL Analysis Services Data with QuerySurge

QuerySurge is a smart data testing solution that automates data validation and testing. When paired with the CData JDBC Driver for SQL Analysis Services, QuerySurge can work with live SQL Analysis Services data. This article walks through connecting to SQL Analysis Services data from QuerySurge.

With built-in optimized data processing, the CData JDBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live SQL Analysis Services data. When you issue complex SQL queries to SQL Analysis Services, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to SQL Analysis Services and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (often SQL functions and JOIN operations). Its built-in dynamic metadata querying allows you to work with and analyze SQL Analysis Services data using native data types.

Connecting to SQL Analysis Services Data in QuerySurge

To connect to live SQL Analysis Services data from QuerySurge, you need to deploy the JDBC Driver JAR file to your QuerySurge Agent(s) and add a new connection from the QuerySurge Admin view.

Deploy the JDBC Driver

1. Download the CData JDBC Driver for SQL Analysis Services installer, unzip the package, and run the JAR file to install the driver.
2. Once the driver is installed, stop the Agent Service.
3. Copy the JAR File (and license file if it exists) from the installation location (typically C:\Program Files\CData\CData JDBC Driver for SQL Analysis Services\lib\) to your Agent(s) (QuerySurge_install_dir\agent\jdbc).
4. Restart the Agent Service.

For more information on deploying JDBC drivers for QuerySurge, refer to the QuerySurge Knowledge Base.

Configure a New Connection to SQL Analysis Services

1. Log into QuerySurge and navigate to the Admin view.
2. Click Configuration -> Connections in the Administration Tree.
3. Click Add to create a new connection.
4. In the QuerySurge Connection Wizard, click Next.
5. Name the connection (e.g. CData JDBC Connection to SQL Analysis Services).
6. Set the Data Source to "All Other JDBC Connections (Connection Extensibility)" and click Next.
7. Set the Driver Class to cdata.jdbc.ssas.SSASDriver and click Next.

8. Set the Connection URL using the necessary connection properties to authenticate with SQL Analysis Services. Your Connection URL will look something like the following:

   jdbc:ssas:User=myuseraccount;Password=mypassword;URL=http://localhost/OLAP/msmdpump.dll;

   Built-in Connection String Designer

   For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the SQL Analysis Services JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.

   java -jar cdata.jdbc.ssas.jar

   Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.

   To connect, provide authentication and set the Url property to a valid SQL Server Analysis Services endpoint. You can connect to SQL Server Analysis Services instances hosted over HTTP with XMLA access. See the Microsoft documentation to configure HTTP access to SQL Server Analysis Services.

   To secure connections and authenticate, set the corresponding connection properties, below. The data provider supports the major authentication schemes, including HTTP and Windows, as well as SSL/TLS.

   • HTTP Authentication

     Set AuthScheme to "Basic" or "Digest" and set User and Password. Specify other authentication values in CustomHeaders.

   • Windows (NTLM)

     Set the Windows User and Password and set AuthScheme to "NTLM".

   • Kerberos and Kerberos Delegation

     To authenticate with Kerberos, set AuthScheme to NEGOTIATE. To use Kerberos delegation, set AuthScheme to KERBEROSDELEGATION. If needed, provide the User, Password, and KerberosSPN. By default, the data provider attempts to communicate with the SPN at the specified Url.

   • SSL/TLS:

     By default, the data provider attempts to negotiate SSL/TLS by checking the server's certificate against the system's trusted certificate store. To specify another certificate, see the SSLServerCert property for the available formats.

   You can then access any cube as a relational table: When you connect the data provider retrieves SSAS metadata and dynamically updates the table schemas. Instead of retrieving metadata every connection, you can set the CacheLocation property to automatically cache to a simple file-based store.

   See the Getting Started section of the CData documentation, under Retrieving Analysis Services Data, to execute SQL-92 queries to the cubes.

9. Set the Test Query to enable the Test Connection button for the Connection (e.g. SELECT * FROM Adventure_Works LIMIT 1) and click Next.
10. Click Test Connection to ensure the connection is configured properly and click Save to add the connection.

Once the connection is added, you can write SQL queries against your SQL Analysis Services data in QuerySurge.

Compare SQL Analysis Services Data Queries with a QueryPair

With the connection configured, you can follow the steps below to compare querying SQL Analysis Services data with a QueryPair.

1. Select "Design Library" from the Design Menu
2. Click QueryPairs under QuerySurge Design
3. Click "Create New QueryPair"
4. Name the QueryPair and click Save
5. In either the Source or Target panes, select the connection created above (select the same connection to query SQL Analysis Services twice or another connection to perform a comparison)
6. Write queries in the Editor for each pane, e.g. SELECT * FROM Adventure_Works
7. Click the "Design-Time Run" tab to execute the queries
8. When the query execution is finished, click "View Query Results" to see the SQL Analysis Services data returned by the query

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData JDBC Driver for SQL Analysis Services and start working with your live SQL Analysis Services data in QuerySurge. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.