Bi in private_cloud_white_paper_with_scenarios_final

Optimizing SQL Server 2012 and SharePoint for Private Cloud: Business Intelligence

Published: April 2012

Applies to: Microsoft® SQL Server® 2012, Microsoft SharePoint® Server 2010, and Microsoft

System Center 2012

Summary: Microsoft private cloud potentially can transform the way organizations deliver data

center servers to their business for greater agility and operational efficiency. The managed self-

service business intelligence (BI) capabilities of SQL Server 2012 and SharePoint Server 2010

make it easier than ever for business users to create and share rich, powerful BI solutions

through familiar Microsoft Office applications, while allowing IT administrators to efficiently

monitor the BI infrastructure. Together, managed self-service BI capabilities and private cloud

technologies within System Center 2012 can reduce the time and resources that organizations

need to rapidly provision virtualized BI solutions—and to return the resources when they are no

longer needed.

This white paper is intended for IT professionals, and it explains how organizations can set up

and deploy Microsoft BI solutions within a private cloud environment by using Windows Server®

2008 R2 Hyper-V® and System Center 2012 to either provision infrastructure for a BI solution or

to expand an existing BI solution to meet growing demand for capacity and services.

Optimizing SQL Server and SharePoint for Private Cloud: Business Intelligence | 2

Copyright

© 2012 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. This document is provided "as-is." Information and views expressed in this document, including URL and other Internet Web site references, may change without notice. You bear the risk of using it.

This document does not provide you with any legal rights to any intellectual property in any Microsoft product. You may copy and use this document for your internal, reference purposes.


Contents

Current State of Business Intelligence .......................................................................................................... 4

BI Solutions Built on Cloud Technologies .................................................................................................. 5

BI Solutions for the Private Cloud ............................................................................................................. 6

Implementing BI Solutions in the Private Cloud ........................................................................................... 7

Architectural View of a BI Solution in the Private Cloud .......................................................................... 8

Private Cloud Infrastructure ................................................................................................................. 9

BI Components .................................................................................................................................... 10

Service Delivery and Automation ....................................................................................................... 10

Usage Scenarios ...................................................................................................................................... 11

Creating a Quick-Start BI Environment ............................................................................................... 11

Creating a Burst-Processing Environment .......................................................................................... 18

System Center for Private Cloud Infrastructure...................................................................................... 21

Delivering IT as a Service by Using System Center ............................................................................. 21

Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................... 24

Additional Resources .............................................................................................................................. 24


Current State of Business Intelligence The demand for analytics and business intelligence (BI) continues to be a top priority for

organizations looking to use technology as a source of innovation to grow their business.

According to Gartner’s 2011 survey of CIOs1, analytics and BI was ranked as the number one

technology priority for 2012. Also included in the top-five ranked technologies for 2012 were

mobile technologies, cloud computing (including software as a service, infrastructure as a

service, and platform as a service), collaboration (workflow), and virtualization. The Gartner

report reveals that CIOs are looking to combine the top technologies rather than use them in

isolation to create new capabilities as a way to address business priorities.

The Microsoft solution for managed self-service BI empowers business users to create and

share rich, powerful BI solutions through familiar Microsoft Office applications while enabling IT

administrators to efficiently monitor the BI infrastructure using SQL Server 2012 and SharePoint

Server 2010. SQL Server 2012 provides new and enhanced self-service capabilities that enable

users to explore and unlock new insights from information spread across structured and

unstructured data sources, both on-premises and in the cloud.

There are three major areas in Microsoft BI that help deliver breakthrough insights:

Rapid exploration of data. Users can explore and analyze vast amounts of data spread

across various sources in different formats, and then gain deeper insights from this data

by using new tools to rapidly explore and visualize the information. These new tools and

highly interactive web-based interfaces provide users with the simplified yet powerful

capabilities of data querying and visualization.

Managed self-service BI. Organizations can extend the impact of self-service BI across

the organization through enhanced models and tools, while increasing IT and developer

efficiency by delivering and efficiently managing a highly available, security-enhanced,

and interoperable BI platform. With SQL Server 2012 and SharePoint 2010, business

users can now prepare a quick prototype using familiar tools (such as PowerPivot),

which BI specialists can enhance by using professional tools before deploying for

organization-wide use.

Credible, consistent data. Organizations can get the enhanced capability to integrate,

manage, and cleanse disparate data sources in a simplified manner. Advanced and

efficient tools for data integration help users to reduce the time and effort it takes to

develop integrated data solutions, and to deliver credible and consistent data reliably

and efficiently across the organization. Tools such as SQL Server Integration Services

(SSIS), Master Data Services (MDS), and Data Quality Services (DQS) allow

organizations to make decisions based on a consistent and accurate view of their

business data.

1 “Gartner Executive Programs' Worldwide Survey of More Than 2,300 CIOs Shows Flat IT Budgets in 2012, but IT Organizations Must Deliver on

Multiple Priorities.” Gartner Newsroom. 18 Jan 2012. http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1897514.

http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1897514


BI Solutions Built on Cloud Technologies Organizations are challenged to rapidly provision infrastructure needed for BI projects within a

data center, and then to map their resource consumption back to business priorities. Instead of

deploying BI solutions on traditional non-virtualized platforms, organizations are focusing on the

next generation platform—BI solutions built on a cloud platform. According to Forrester blogger

Bill Evelson2, “Cloud BI will slowly and steadily chip away at on-premises implementations.”

Cloud computing is the abstraction of IT services. With a public cloud, IT services are

completely abstracted. With a private cloud, IT services are abstracted by the IT department. In

both cases, different IT services within cloud platforms can expand and contract on demand.

These services can range from basic infrastructure to complete BI solutions. The key is that the

end consumer requests and uses some abstracted BI service without the need to manage (or

even completely know about) what constitutes that service. Consequently, BI cloud services

free organizations from dedicating their time and resources to running IT operations, allowing

them to focus on analytics and results instead of hardware, operating systems, security,

compliance, and other typical infrastructure and maintenance concerns.

BI solutions are flexible enough to be deployed on any cloud model, including public, private, or

hybrid clouds. The choice of the right deployment BI model is categorized by a number of

factors, such as cost, security, and manageability. The table below summarizes some of these

factors.

Differentiating Factors On-Premises Public Cloud Private Cloud

Hosting location In-house Hosted In-house or hosted

Shared or dedicated resources

Dedicated Shared Dedicated

Architectural control Self Provider Self

Scalability Constrained by capital investment

Constrained by contract

Constrained by capital investment or contract

Security and compliance High Medium High

Integration with application and services

Depends on the platform

Less integrated Highly integrated

Total cost of ownership (capital expenses and operational expenses)

High Low Medium

2 Evelson, Bill. “Top 10 Business Intelligence Predictions For 2012.” Bill Evelson’s Blog, Forrester Blogs. 15 Nov 2011.

http://blogs.forrester.com/boris_evelson/11-11-15-top_10_business_intelligence_predictions_for_2012.

http://blogs.forrester.com/boris_evelson/11-11-15-top_10_business_intelligence_predictions_for_2012


BI Solutions for the Private Cloud Today’s organizations are using different types of database workloads that are spread across

the globe. To provide comprehensive BI capabilities, an organization needs to meet its own

specific set of technical requirements. It is difficult to design and optimize a single database to

run diverse workloads optimally. A more realistic approach is to consolidate these workloads

into a private cloud. A private cloud allows an organization to deploy a data warehousing

environment as a collection of many data warehouses, data marts, operational data stores

(ODS), staging areas, master files, and so on. In addition, common components can be

provisioned as part of a BI solution that includes items such as company approved Open

Database Connectivity (ODBC) and object linking and embedding database (OLEDB) drivers,

common BI semantic models used for the presentation layer, and SQL Server Integration

Services (SSIS) packages used for standard data transformations. This approach provides a

useful platform for co-allocating these diverse but related BI data stores into an enterprise

solution using the bottom-up approach that begins with several data marts, followed by an

integration later, as proposed by Kimball3.

Consolidation. The use of a private cloud as a consolidation platform for diverse data

warehouses and other BI data stores addresses the challenges of mixed-database workloads. A

private cloud can accommodate multiple workloads better than traditional distributed data

warehousing approaches. As data warehouse workloads start up and shut down, the private

cloud provides generous processor and storage resources to help ensure processing speed and

volume scalability. The private cloud can recover and reallocate these resources efficiently as

workload processing ceases or as temporary data warehouse structures (such as data marts)

are no longer needed. A private cloud has similar advantages for BI platforms for reporting and

online analytical processing (OLAP), where the number of reports and concurrent users varies

unpredictably.

Identity management. One of the important aspects of a private cloud is dealing with identity

management. Private cloud identity and access management is beyond the traditional canned

or preconfigured SQL Server logins. It requires a complex collection of technologies to manage

authentication, authorization, and access control across distributed BI environments. The

Microsoft private cloud uses a common identity infrastructure (Active Directory®) driven by

individual user identity and joins all of the virtual machines that are rolled out to that

infrastructure with this identity infrastructure, enabling a unified identity system across physical,

virtual, and cloud computing environments.4

Self-service. The Microsoft BI solution for private cloud provides organizations with self-service

capabilities, which allow users to explore and unlock new insights from information spread

across structured and unstructured data sources, both on-premises and in the cloud. Microsoft

private cloud offerings enable on-demand capacity, self-service provisioning, and usage

metering for BI solutions.

3 Thornthwaite, Warren. “Implementing a Microsoft SQL Server Parallel Data Warehouse Using the Kimball Approach.” Microsoft Developer Network.

June 2011. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh290126.aspx.

4 “Identity and Access Management in the Cloud.” Microsoft TechNet. March 2012.

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/3798.identity-and-access-management-in-the-cloud.aspx.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh290126.aspx

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/3798.identity-and-access-management-in-the-cloud.aspx


There are several options available to get started with Microsoft private cloud technologies:

Self-build. Microsoft private cloud deployment guides are available at

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/private-cloud/trial.aspx.

Reference architecture. Several Microsoft partners have created Microsoft Private

Cloud Fast Track offerings that provide infrastructure with pre-validated configurations

for compute, network, and storage, in addition to value-added software components. For

more information, go to http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/private-

cloud/hyperv-cloud-fast-track.aspx.

Appliance. The HP Enterprise Database Consolidation Appliance is a complete, ready-

to-use solution for consolidating and optimizing database workloads that integrates into

a private cloud environment. For more information, go to

http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/en/us/solutions-technologies/Appliances/HP-

dca.aspx.

Hosted private cloud. The Microsoft Private Cloud Service Provider Program lists

hosting partners that can provide a dedicated private cloud infrastructure. For more

information, go to http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/private-cloud/hyperv-

cloud-service-providers.aspx.

Implementing BI Solutions in the Private Cloud To implement scenarios as described above, a BI solution in the private cloud requires

architectural transformations and the development of a BI services perspective. Private cloud is

the implementation of cloud services on resources that are dedicated to the organization,

whether they exist in the cloud or on-premises. Private cloud is a novel approach to creating

and delivering IT services built on Hyper-V and System Center, which combines the following

components and capabilities:

Pooled data center resources including compute, network, and storage

Ability to elastically scale BI applications

Self-service interfaces

A usage-based model for transparent metering or chargeback, all in an environment

dedicated for the organization

For more information about how SQL Server, Hyper-V, and System Center fit together in a

private cloud, go to http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserverprivatecloud. SharePoint BI components

can be thought of in the same way, as they use SQL Server services.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/private-cloud/trial.aspx

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/private-cloud/hyperv-cloud-fast-track.aspx

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/private-cloud/hyperv-cloud-fast-track.aspx

http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/en/us/solutions-technologies/Appliances/HP-dca.aspx

http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/en/us/solutions-technologies/Appliances/HP-dca.aspx

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/private-cloud/hyperv-cloud-service-providers.aspx

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/private-cloud/hyperv-cloud-service-providers.aspx

http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserverprivatecloud


This section is organized into three parts:

Architectural view of a BI solution in the private cloud. This part describes the

general architecture of a BI solution in the private cloud.

Usage scenarios.This part defines two high-level scenarios that are specific to

implementing BI solutions in the private cloud: Quick-Start BI and Burst-Processing.

Each of these high-level scenarios includes two examples outlined below.

o Quick-Start BI:

Scenario 1: Implementing Quick-Start BI Components for Self-Service Analysis

Scenario 2: Implementing Quick-Start BI Components for Operational Reporting

and Analysis Services

o Burst-Processing:

Scenario 3: Implementing Scale-out for Self-Service BI – Adding Dedicated

PowerPivot for SharePoint Server

Scenario 4: Implementing Scale-out for Operational ReportingError! Reference

source not found.

System Center for private cloud infrastructure. This part describes how System

Center can be used to deploy one of the BI service offerings described in the quick-start

or burst-processing scenarios.

Architectural View of a BI Solution in the Private Cloud To implement BI applications in the private cloud, organizations can refer to the architecture that

binds the application architecture to the underlying infrastructure where it will be hosted

(Figure 1). After the BI application is deployed, it immediately needs to be discovered and

monitored for reporting and health tracking. Through automation, management, and monitoring

tools such as System Center, the organization can simplify overall IT service management for

monitoring, provisioning, orchestrating, and deploying the infrastructure. Then, the organization

needs a set of provisioning tools that actually configure and deploy the application. However, to

get this agile self-service end state, organizations must abstract infrastructure and allocate it

appropriately so that their business units can deploy and manage BI applications on top of it. In

short, the architecture outlined above can be organized into three main categories:

Infrastructure. Deploying and configuring the entire underlying infrastructure on which

business applications and services are running.

BI components. Deploying, configuring, and delivering BI applications and services.

Service delivery and automation. Using common tools to automate service delivery

functions, including deployment, configuration, monitoring, management, and self-

service.


Figure 1. BI in private cloud architecture5

Private Cloud Infrastructure

Private cloud infrastructure is the base layer from which an organization’s business applications

and services are deployed and run. The movement toward private cloud computing began with

data center virtualization and the consolidation of server, storage, and network resources.

Private cloud infrastructure helps organizations to reduce redundancy and to use space, and

equipment more efficiently. In addition, it provides dynamically scalable resources such as

compute, storage, and network and load-balancing based on virtualized infrastructure.

Furthermore, this infrastructure offers automation, identity, and patch-management capabilities.

Microsoft private cloud shares a common set of management, identity, virtualization, and

development technologies. Microsoft private cloud capabilities can be used on traditional

hardware configurations, including conventional or blade servers, a storage area network

(SAN), and various load-balancers. Microsoft has defined a specific reference architecture,

called Hyper-V Cloud Fast Track Architecture, which is designed to support a private cloud,

including compute, storage, networking, and other Microsoft technologies.

5 Microsoft Office 2010 is not included in the private cloud environment


BI Components

The next layer of the BI private cloud architecture comprises BI components. Microsoft private

cloud provides the optimized BI platform by simplifying the provisioning of BI services through

standardized stacks used by a wide range of applications. For creating or working with

analytical data, the Microsoft BI platform includes services provided by SharePoint 2010 and

SQL Server 2012. SharePoint provides the self-service BI, collaboration, and framework for

dashboards and scorecards. Microsoft Excel® provides end-user analytics along with the

PowerPivot, data-mining, and master data services add-in for working with the data. Microsoft

Excel is not managed as a private cloud component. SQL Server provides the analytics and

reporting engines along with Enterprise Information Management (EIM) tools for making sure

that corporate data is reliable. Data integration tools such as SSIS provide extract, transform,

and load (ETL) processing for data warehousing.

Service Delivery and Automation

The next layer is service delivery and automation, which spans the infrastructure and BI

component layers. This layer represents the process perspective and includes the management

tools required to implement a private cloud.

Microsoft provides a set of System Center tools to help organizations manage private cloud

infrastructure. These tools help provide end-to-end service management and deep insight into

the entire infrastructure, including the BI applications. System Center 2012 helps organizations

to simplify and standardize their data centers with a flexible process-automation platform. By

automating repetitive tasks, organizations can lower their costs and improve service reliability.

With Microsoft System Center Orchestrator, organizations can integrate and extend their

existing toolsets and build flexible workflows (runbooks) that can span multiple organizational

silos and systems.

Microsoft provides components such as System Center 2012 App Controller, which allows end

users to create and manage virtual BI instances on their own. System Center Service Manager

allows IT administrators to measure usage and chargeback. Application owners can consume

capacity (and request additional capacity) in a self-service mode using the service catalog

offered by System Center Service Manager. App Controller offers a customized view to users

based on their credentials, which allows them to see exactly how much of the corporate

resources have been dedicated to them regardless of where they are located. This view spans

multiple Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager servers, so users can manage their

services without worrying about the underlying resources. With App Controller, users gain the

ability to deploy services based on preconfigured BI templates. The System Center Cloud

Services Process Pack (release candidate) offers a self-service experience to facilitate private

cloud capacity requests from the business unit’s IT application owners and end users, and

includes the flexibility to request additional capacity as business demands increase.


Usage Scenarios This section details some typical needs and requirements for business intelligence in an

organization and suggests steps to set up and deploy BI solutions within the Microsoft private

cloud infrastructure. First, it covers ways to quickly provision infrastructure for a BI solution.

Then, it covers considerations for expanding an existing BI solution to meet growing demand for

capacity and services.

Creating a Quick-Start BI Environment

With BI in private cloud, organizations can quickly and easily provision a BI development and

collaboration environment. BI solutions deployed in a private cloud empower users to unlock

new insights with self-service and pervasive data discovery across structured, unstructured, and

cloud data sources. Users can quickly gain access to and combine high volumes of data from

virtually any data source (structured or unstructured)—directly from within their native

applications—and build rich, analytical applications using familiar tools such as Microsoft Excel

or Power View (SQL Server 2012 Reporting Services Add-in). The virtually seamless integration

with collaboration platforms such as SharePoint Server 2010 provides an optimized

environment for helping users to share insights and collaborate effectively and easily. IT

organizations can then control and manage these solutions while driving operational efficiencies

and increasing adoption and use of BI throughout the company.

Below are a few scenarios where organizations can quickly provision BI with a variety of tools

that can address a broad range of BI styles:

Self-service analysis. This scenario is characterized by free-form reporting and

analysis by users so that they can integrate data from disparate sources to drill down

and understand the root cause for data anomalies without relying on IT or other people.

Business reporting. This scenario is characterized by formatted reports that are

created by advanced business users or analysts. Reports typically are based on

validated corporate data, and then shared more broadly with managers, teams, or

departments.

Parameter and operational reporting. Similar to business reporting, parameter and

operational reporting also is characterized by fixed-format reports. The reports, however,

are authored and managed by IT instead of by business users, and usually follow a

pixel-perfect format and rendering style.

Performance monitoring. This scenario is characterized by dashboard-style reports

that allow users such as executives or departmental leads to quickly and easily monitor

the business performance.

Scorecards. This scenario includes highly summarized views that show key

performance indicators (KPIs) measured and scored against predefined targets such as

a balanced scorecard.


This section covers how to configure two quick-start scenarios. Scenario 1 looks at self-service

analysis: A department wants to create a simple, single-server environment with SharePoint

2010 and the SQL Server 2012 Power View and PowerPivot with integrated Reporting Services

reports created using Report Builder. In addition, the department wants to take advantage of

data alerts based on data sources that reside in other places. Scenario 2 looks at an operational

reporting environment that uses native Reporting Services and Analysis Services to report

against operational data that resides on a single server.

Implementing Quick-Start BI Components for Self-Service Analysis

This scenario covers implementation of quick-start business intelligence components such as Reporting Services with Power View, plus PowerPivot for SharePoint on blank virtual machine templates. This implementation is required to deploy self-service analysis services that people can use independently to perform reporting tasks.

Scenario Goal

The goal of this scenario is to deploy BI components for self-service analysis in a private cloud environment. Deploying a SharePoint server farm on virtual machines is similar to deploying a farm on physical servers. However, it involves a different level of planning for use of Hyper-V technology in addition to planning how virtual machines, network adapters, and virtual hard disks are implemented on a virtualization server.

Setting Up the Scenario Environment

To deploy Reporting Services with Power View in SharePoint integrated mode, a report server must be added to a SharePoint farm. To deploy PowerPivot for SharePoint, there are two options: Add PowerPivot on a standalone server, or add PowerPivot on a server farm. Adding PowerPivot on a standalone SharePoint server activates and provisions Excel Services, and increases the maximum file sizes to support larger files in a SharePoint environment. This approach can start with a new VM pre-installed with SharePoint Server and SQL Server 2012, and then continue with automating the installation, deployment, and configuration of Reporting Services and PowerPivot for SharePoint using runbooks.

For more information about planning a Power View, PowerPivot, and Reporting Services deployment in a SharePoint farm, go to http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh231680.aspx.

Implementing the Scenario

To implement the quick-start BI for self-service analysis using Reporting Services and PowerPivot for SharePoint, the IT admin needs to perform the following actions:

Create or use the VM template with pre-installed SQL Server 2012 and SharePoint

Server 2010 with SP1.

Create runbooks to execute the VM provisioning, deployment, and configuration of

Reporting Services and PowerPivot for SharePoint.

Make this implementation available as a service offering in the organization.



Detailed steps:

1. Create or use the VM template and store it in the Virtual Machine Manager library.

Create a VM with Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 installed on it. System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 provides many methods for creating and configuring virtual machines. For more information about creating a VM using Virtual Machine Manager, go to http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb963709.aspx.

To install SQL Server, use the SQL Server System Preparation (SysPrep) tool. For more information about how to install SQL Server using SysPrep, go to http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee210664%28v=sql.110%29.aspx. For cases where SysPrep is not supported, consider a silent install through command-line parameters (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms144259.aspx), or use a configuration file (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd239405.aspx), so that server names are set up correctly.

To deploy SharePoint using Windows PowerShell, refer to http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262839.aspx. Another option is to use the Codeplex project AutoSPInstaller, which consists of PowerShell scripts, an XML input file, and a standard Microsoft Windows® batch file. AutoSPInstaller provides a framework for a SharePoint 2010 installation script based on PowerShell. For more information about AutoSPInstaller, go to http://autospinstaller.codeplex.com/.

Save the VM as a VM template in the Virtual Machine Manager library. A general VM template consists of a guest operating system profile, a hardware profile, and one or more virtual hard disks (VHDs). For more information about creating VM templates, go to http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb963734.aspx.

2. Create the runbooks.

A runbook provides information about available tools and offers guidance for automating tasks and processes for the IT environment. This information enables automation for deploying the VM created in step 1, and for installing and configuring the relevant software and services on that VM. For general information about designing and building a runbook, go to http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh403824.aspx.

In the runbook, plan to cover the following activities as a part of automating VM deployment and configuration:

o Source selection and VM identity: Provide information about selecting the source

VM template (containing SQL Server and SharePoint) from the library, and provide

the virtual machine name (the new server name) and any other related information.

o Compute, storage, memory, and network configuration: Provide appropriate

configuration details related to CPU requirements, amount of memory, additional disk

drives (if required), virtual hard drive (SCSI adapters), network adapters, and virtual

machine priority for host CPU resources. For more information about how SQL

Server services such as the Database Engine and Analysis Services can be

optimized in a virtualized private could, see the SQL Customer Advisor Team

(SQLCAT) white paper, High Performance SQL Server Workloads on Hyper-V, at

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb963709.aspx

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee210664%28v=sql.110%29.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms144259.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd239405.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262839.aspx

http://autospinstaller.codeplex.com/

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb963734.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh403824.aspx


http://sqlcat.com/sqlcat/b/whitepapers/archive/2010/05/27/high-performance-sql-

server-workloads-on-hyper-v.aspx.

o Required software installation steps: For deployment and configuration

of Reporting Services in SharePoint integrated mode and of PowerPivot in

SharePoint on a VM, include a specific PowerShell script or command line

(cmdlets) in the runbook activity list. Doing so will invoke the following scripts for

configuration of Reporting Services in SharePoint integrated mode and in

PowerPivot in SharePoint on a VM.

PowerShell cmdlets for Reporting Services in SharePoint mode: SQL Server

2012 introduces PowerShell support for report servers in SharePoint mode,

which covers three categories of functionality: installation, provisioning, and

management of features and service applications. For samples of PowerShell

cmdlets for Reporting Services service applications, go to

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg492249.aspx.

PowerPivot Reference for SharePoint PowerShell: To deploy and configure

PowerPivot for SharePoint, automate the installation using the command line

installation. For more information, go to http://technet.microsoft.com/en-

us/library/ee210645.aspx. To fully configure an installation, it is suggested to use

both the SharePoint cmdlets and PowerPivot for SharePoint cmdlets. For the lists

of PowerShell cmdlets samples to configure or administer a PowerPivot for

SharePoint installation, go to http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-

us/library/hh213341%28v=sql.110%29.aspx.

o Configure BI elements and the SMTP mail server for data alerts: After

deployment is complete, configure required SharePoint services to support the role

that was planned for the new server configuration. For more information about

configuring the SharePoint Server instances, go to http://technet.microsoft.com/en-

us/library/ee794878.aspx.

o Configure Reporting Services for SharePoint to include data alerts using the

SMTP mail server: The following PowerShell script example updates the full

configuration for the report server email delivery extension for the service application:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh231673%28v=sql.110%29.aspx.

o If there is need to build several virtual machines in a single template and put

them in library: Create maintenance host groups with one or more hosts. Use the

script to determine the placement of the host group, and after customization is

completed, use another script to save the resulting virtual machine to the library. For

more information on configuring SharePoint Server instances, go to

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc764306.aspx.

o Set up security groups for access: To enhance security of the VM provisioning,

create a runbook activity that specifies the standard security group that will apply

standard security on the VM to control access to data. The Integration Pack for

Active Directory add-on for System Center 2012 Orchestrator enables you to

http://sqlcat.com/sqlcat/b/whitepapers/archive/2010/05/27/high-performance-sql-server-workloads-on-hyper-v.aspx

http://sqlcat.com/sqlcat/b/whitepapers/archive/2010/05/27/high-performance-sql-server-workloads-on-hyper-v.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg492249.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee210645.aspx


http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh213341%28v=sql.110%29.aspx







automate common Active Directory management functions such as user

permissions. For more information about setting up an Active Directory connection

using runbooks, go to http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh553474.aspx.

o Configure any unique monitoring requirements: Create a runbook activity for a

specific management-pack role to be applied to the BI service. Actions in the

management pack can be customized according to the services.

The SQL Server Management Pack provides both proactive and reactive monitoring

of Microsoft SQL Server, including availability and configuration monitoring,

performance data collection, and default thresholds. For more information about SQL

Server Management Pack, go to http://technet.microsoft.com/en-

us/library/dd767429.aspx.

The SharePoint 2010 Products Management Pack can be used to monitor

SharePoint 2010 Products events, collect SharePoint component-specific

performance counters from one central location, and to raise alerts for operator

intervention as necessary. For more information about SharePoint 2010 Products

Management Pack, go to

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=4419.

3. Make the implementation available as a service offering in the organization.

You can make the complete implementation available as service offerings to end users

as follows:

o From System Center Orchestrator, import runbooks that can execute virtual machine

provisioning into System Center Service Manager.

o Create a request for service offerings and publish it to the service catalog.

o Provide a request-offering template for end users to request virtual machines.

o Use the service manager to invoke the corresponding runbook so System Center

Orchestrator executes this runbook to provision the desired virtual machine.

o Use Virtual Machine Manager to monitor requests for cloud capacity, and then create

and deploy virtual machines as they’re needed.

o Use System Center Operations Manager to automatically monitor the deployed

virtual machines.




http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=4419


Implementing Quick-Start BI Components for Operational Reporting and Analysis

Services

This scenario covers implementation of operational reporting that uses SQL Server Reporting Services and Analysis Services to report against operational data. To achieve this scenario, the IT admin can set up a single server with an SQL Server DB instance, and then install Reporting and Analysis

services on it.

Scenario Goal

The goal of this section is to successfully deploy BI components for operational reporting in a virtual environment.


The IT admin first sets up a single server with an SQL Server DB instance, and then installs Reporting and Analysis services on it. Analysis Services can be installed in the two native modes, Multidimensional and Data Mining (default), and in the tabular model using xVelocity in-memory analytics. To enable the Operational Reporting scenario, the IT service provider needs to install both instances of Analysis Services. For more information about planning the Analysis Services installation, go to http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms175672.aspx.

For more information about planning features and architecture for Reporting Services, go to http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms157231.aspx.


To implement the operational reporting scenario that uses SQL Server Reporting Services and Analysis Services, the IT admin needs to perform the following actions:

Create or use VM templates with the SQL Server installation.

Create runbooks that will execute and automate the VM provisioning, deployment, and

configuration of SQL Server Reporting Services and Analysis Services on a VM.


Detailed steps:

1. Create or use the VM template and store it in the Virtual Machine Manager library.

Follow the same steps as Scenario 1 to create the VM template (ignore the SharePoint

considerations).


Follow the same steps as Scenario 1 (without the SharePoint considerations) to create the runbook for the operational reporting scenario, and consider the following additional activities:

o Required software installation steps: For deployment and configuration of

SQL Server Reporting Services and Analysis Services on a VM, include a specific

PowerShell script or command line (cmdlets) in the runbook activity list. Doing so




invokes the following scripts for configuration of SQL Server Reporting Services and

Analysis Services on the VM.

Reporting Services in native mode: Reporting Services can be installed on the

VM from the command line by using the input settings for the SQL Server setup

program. For examples of native mode installation of Reporting Services, go to

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-

us/library/ms143711(v=sql.110).aspx%23bkmk_commandline.

Analysis Services in tabular mode: To install Analysis Services to use the new

tabular modeling features, install Analysis Services in a server mode that

supports the required model type. The server mode is tabular, and it is

configured during installation. SQL Server Setup includes a parameter

(ASSERVERMODE) that specifies the server mode for command-line setup of

Analysis Services Tabular mode. For an example that illustrates a command-line

setup that installs Analysis Services in tabular server mode, go to

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh231722(v=sql.110).aspx.

Analysis Services in multidimensional mode: Multidimensional mode is the

default mode. SQL Server Setup includes a parameter (ASSERVERMODE) that

specifies the server mode for command-line setup of Analysis Services. If you do

not set ASSERVERMODE, the server is installed in multidimensional server

mode. For an example that illustrates a command-line setup that installs Analysis

Services, go to http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-

us/library/hh231722(v=sql.110).aspx.

o Data sources: For data connectivity to other data sources, create another runbook

activity to install relevant OLEDB and ODBC drivers. For more information about

adding and verifying a data connection or data source (Report Builder and SSRS),

go to http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd207039.aspx.

o Set up security groups for access: To secure the VM provisioning, create a

runbook activity that specifies the standard security group, which applies standard

security on the VM to control data access. The Integration Pack for Active Directory

add-on for System Center 2012 Orchestrator enables you to automate common

Active Directory management functions such as user permissions. For more

information about setting up an Active Directory connection using runbooks, go to

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh553474.aspx.

Use Active Directory users and groups to create user roles and custom settings for

every user. You can use PowerShell to manage this process with automation. For

more information about creating user roles in Virtual Machine Manager, go to

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg696971.aspx.


The steps to make the service available through the self-service capabilities of System

Center are the same as for Scenario 1.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143711(v=sql.110).aspx%23bkmk_commandline

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143711(v=sql.110).aspx%23bkmk_commandline

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh231722(v=sql.110).aspx





http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg696971.aspx


Creating a Burst-Processing Environment

Private cloud provides elasticity that enables organizations to dynamically provision (expand) or de-provision (shrink) BI reporting instances based on immediate workload requirements. Microsoft BI services support bursting scenarios (high-bandwidth transmissions of data in a short period) by deploying all or part of a BI application to the private cloud, where middle-tier services such as additional reporting services instances can be added or subtracted to support variable demand.

This section covers two bursting scenarios. Scenario 3 looks at scaling out an existing SharePoint farm to scale out PowerPivot services. Scenario 4 looks at scaling out a native Reporting Services installation by adding a new virtualized instance of Reporting Services.

Implementing Scale-out for Self-Service BI – Adding Dedicated PowerPivot for

SharePoint Server

Scenario Goal

This scenario covers implementation of scaling out SharePoint PowerPivot services as part of an existing SharePoint server farm to support a higher volume of requests to process PowerPivot queries in a SharePoint farm. The ultimate goal of this scenario is to enable IT admins to scale out new SharePoint servers with PowerPivot installed and configured to support existing analytical solutions in the server farm. In the existing analytical solution, PowerPivot and SharePoint consume data that resides within in-memory tabular models. With additional SharePoint application servers, PowerPivot can meet increasing demands on memory during queries of in-memory tabular models during burst times.


To scale out the deployment of PowerPivot for SharePoint, a new application server (with PowerPivot for SharePoint installed on it) must be added to the existing farm to support additional PowerPivot query processing. The server can be added as a new VM with SharePoint 2010 Server installed. Then, the installation, deployment, and configuration of PowerPivot for SharePoint on the server can be automated by using runbooks.

For more information about planning a PowerPivot deployment in a SharePoint farm, along with planning for server components, service accounts, database storage, disk space, and other relevant topics, go to http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee210603.aspx.


To implement the scale out for PowerPivot for SharePoint, the IT admin needs to perform the following actions:

Create VM templates with SharePoint pre-installation.

Create the runbooks to execute VM provisioning, deployment, and configuration of

PowerPivot for SharePoint.


http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee210603.aspx


Detailed steps:

1. Create VM templates and store them in the Virtual Machine Manager library.

Follow the same steps as Scenario 1.


Follow the same steps as Scenario 1 to create the runbooks, and consider the following

additional activities:

o Required software installation steps: For deployment and configuration of

PowerPivot for SharePoint on the selected VM, include automation for PowerPivot

for SharePoint.

Using Windows PowerShell: To add the new server by using PowerShell

scripts, use the SharePoint 2010 Management Shell and the Windows

PowerShell command prompt. Run these scripts automatically after the

deploying SharePoint by using GUIRunOnce commands or by specifying them in

the custom Answer file. For more information about steps to follow, go to

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc261752(en-us).aspx#addserver.

o Configure BI elements and connection setup to shared corporate data

sources: Configure the server by using PowerShell scripts as an additional activity

in the runbook activity list. For more information about configuring PowerPivot by

using PowerShell, go to http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh230903.aspx.

In case there are any specific requirements, the PowerPivot instance can be

configured as a query-only processing instance. For more information, go to

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee637268.aspx.

On a SharePoint farm, Excel Services (a service application that enables you to load,

calculate, and display Excel workbooks on a SharePoint Server) uses the local

MSOLAP OLE DB provider to connect to PowerPivot data. The provider sends the

connection request to PowerPivot for SharePoint Server in the farm. That server

loads the data, runs the query, and returns the result set. Configuration for enabling

these data access mechanisms needs to be added as additional activity in the

runbook activity list. For more information about the PowerPivot data access

mechanism, go to http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh212997.aspx.




http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc261752(en-us).aspx#addserver


http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee637268.aspx



Implementing Scale-out for Operational Reporting

This scenario covers implementation of scaling out Reporting Services report server instances to enable two or more such instances to share a single report server database.

Scenario Goal

A scale-out deployment of Reporting Services in native mode enables IT admins to increase the number of users who concurrently can gain access to reports during peak times, such as seasonal periods. Such deployment increases the availability and scalability of Reporting Services to handle concurrent users and larger loads related to generating reports.


Scale-out deployments consist of having two or more report server instances share a single report server database. To plan for scale-out deployment, the recommended configuration for report server instances is to use identical settings for each instance. Also, each report server can be configured for specific capabilities and can run as independent instances, so that the interactive report processing can be isolated from scheduled or subscription report processing for simpler maintenance. For more information about planning for scale-out deployment, go to http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb630407(v=sql.110).aspx.


To implement the scale out for Reporting Services in native mode, the IT admin needs to perform the following actions:

Create VM templates with SQL Server pre-installation.

Create runbooks that will execute the VM provisioning, deployment, and configuration of

SQL Server Reporting Services.


Detailed steps:

1. Create VM templates and store them in the Virtual Machine Manager library.

Follow the same steps as Scenario 1 to create the VM template.


Follow the same steps as Scenario 1 to create the runbooks, and consider the following

additional activities:

o Install a report server instance using the command line: To automate the

installation of Reporting Services, run the setup from the command line to perform an

unattended installation. For more information about installing Reporting Services in

native mode by using the command line, go to http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-

us/library/ms143711.aspx#bkmk_commandline.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb630407(v=sql.110).aspx

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143711.aspx#bkmk_commandline

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143711.aspx#bkmk_commandline


o Configure the report server on a network load-balancing cluster: Make sure that

the cluster is accessible through a virtual server name that maps to the virtual server

IP address. Configure view state validation to support interactive report viewing. For

more information about configuring report servers on a network load-balancing

cluster, go to http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc281307.aspx.

o Configure BI elements and set up the connection to shared corporate data

sources: Reporting Services in native mode supports a scale-out deployment model

that enables you to run multiple instances of report servers that share a single report

server database. You can use runbooks to configure the newly added report server

to connect to the existing report server database in the server farm. For more

information about configuring a Reporting Services report server scale-out

deployment in native mode, go to http://technet.microsoft.com/en-

us/library/ms159114.aspx. In addition, based on the method you use for the scale

out, consider copying shared data sources from the original Reporting Services

installation.

3. Make the implementation available as a service offering.



System Center for Private Cloud Infrastructure Microsoft System Center 2012 provides a stack of technologies, products, and packaged

services that enable organizations to operate, manage, and automate private cloud

infrastructure. Microsoft management solutions for private cloud go beyond simply managing

virtual machines; they help organizations to fine-tune service health and performance by

providing in-depth packaged knowledge of business-critical applications.

This section describes how System Center can be used to deploy one of the BI service offerings

described in the quick-start or burst-processing scenarios.

Delivering IT as a Service by Using System Center

Figure 2 shows how System Center 2012 Virtual Machine Manager plays a central role in

private cloud implementation and is where IT service providers can aggregate data center

resources, abstract them into a smooth cloud fabric, and then delegate that fabric to

constituencies within the organization to deploy applications and services. IT service providers

then can use Virtual Machine Manager to configure and manage these fabrics (1).





Figure 2. Steps for using System Center to deliver IT as a service

To configure and publish infrastructure as a service (IaaS) offerings, IT service providers can

use System Center 2012 Service Manager to import the System Center Cloud Services Process

Pack (2). (For more information, go to http://technet.microsoft.com/en-

us/library/hh562067.aspx.) Cloud Services Process Pack offers a self-service experience for a

business unit’s IT application owners and end users to request private cloud capacity, and

includes the flexibility to request additional capacity as business demands increase (3). In

addition, the Cloud Services Process Pack provides standardized and well-defined processes

for requesting and managing cloud services, including the ability to define projects, capacity

pools, and virtual machines.

By using the portal in System Center 2012 Service Manager, project administrators can request

that the project be approved by the service provider (4). The service portal in Service Manager

provides a rich platform for end-user self-service with a set of new functionality, including an

overhauled portal, a request fulfillment package, and self-service reporting. The project

administrator can use the same portal to request the capacity of a project (5). This request can

be provisioned through Virtual Machine Manager by the service provider (6). To automate the

capacity assignment and approve a request workflow, IT can use System Center Orchestrator

to provide a workflow management solution that automates the creation, monitoring, and

deployment of resources in an environment (7).

System Center 2012 App Controller presents a customized view for project users based on their

credentials, so they can see exactly how much of the corporate resources have been dedicated

to them regardless of where they are located. A project user can use Service Manager portal to

request a virtual machine (8). Then, the project administrator can use Service Manager portal in

System Center 2012 Service Manager to approve the virtual machine request (9). After the

project administrator approves the request through the Service Manager portal, Service




Manager invokes the System Center Orchestrator runbook to create virtual machines (10). The

runbook automation process includes installation, configuration, and troubleshooting

procedures. A runbook triggers a workflow to Virtual Machine Manager to create a virtual

machine based on the project user’s request and requirements (11). This virtual machine can be

accessed by a project user based on credentials (12).

For more information about System Center 2012, visit the System Center Technical

Documentation Library at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc507089.aspx.



Conclusion This white paper provided guidance for optimizing Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft

SharePoint to use private cloud for meeting organizational requirements for business

intelligence. It is relatively easy for organizations to set up and deploy BI solutions within the

Microsoft private cloud infrastructure, either to provision the infrastructure for a BI solution or to

expand an existing BI solution to meet growing demand for capacity and services. For more

information about the Microsoft BI solution and private cloud solution, refer to the following

resources:

SQL Server for private cloud and available offers:


Microsoft BI:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/bi/default.aspx

System Center 2012 capabilities and business scenarios:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/system-center/default.aspx

Microsoft Server and Cloud Platform technical resources:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/support-services/technical-resources.aspx

These sites also include a number of technical resources for Microsoft Server and Cloud

Platform products and solutions for IT professionals and developers.

Additional Resources Additional resources are available as follows:

White paper about the Microsoft private cloud (January 2012):

http://download.microsoft.com/download/A/D/9/AD9E9446-D20C-42DE-8FD7-

2352C1D15518/Microsoft_Private_Cloud_Whitepaper.pdf

Data sheet about managed self-service BI:

http://download.microsoft.com/download/C/C/8/CC8ADCCA-5ED1-4B47-9094-

5046823A4F17/SQL_Server_2012_BI_Overview_Oct2011.pdf

White paper about what’s new in Microsoft SQL Server 2012:

http://download.microsoft.com/download/E/9/D/E9DBB1BB-89AE-4C70-AF02-

AAFC29451A85/SQL_Server_Whats_New_Whitepaper_7_11.pdf


http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/bi/default.aspx





http://download.microsoft.com/download/A/D/9/AD9E9446-D20C-42DE-8FD7-2352C1D15518/Microsoft_Private_Cloud_Whitepaper.pdf

http://download.microsoft.com/download/A/D/9/AD9E9446-D20C-42DE-8FD7-2352C1D15518/Microsoft_Private_Cloud_Whitepaper.pdf

http://download.microsoft.com/download/C/C/8/CC8ADCCA-5ED1-4B47-9094-5046823A4F17/SQL_Server_2012_BI_Overview_Oct2011.pdf

http://download.microsoft.com/download/C/C/8/CC8ADCCA-5ED1-4B47-9094-5046823A4F17/SQL_Server_2012_BI_Overview_Oct2011.pdf

http://download.microsoft.com/download/E/9/D/E9DBB1BB-89AE-4C70-AF02-AAFC29451A85/SQL_Server_Whats_New_Whitepaper_7_11.pdf

http://download.microsoft.com/download/E/9/D/E9DBB1BB-89AE-4C70-AF02-AAFC29451A85/SQL_Server_Whats_New_Whitepaper_7_11.pdf

Technology

Bi in private_cloud_white_paper_with_scenarios_final