A few miscellaneous notes today on the location of various file when working with Analysis Services.
1. Be aware that you can control the location of files by right-clicking and choosing “Properties” in Object Explorer of SSAS Management Studio.
2. You should consider having separate directories for Olap backups, TempDir, Data, Logs & Backups as shown:
3. SSAS uses the TempDir…Don’t mess with it! It gets filled with hundreds of files…like i said, you can just leave it alone. But, since you can’t mess with it…that’s why you put it by itself…otherwise, SSAS files your ‘active’ directory with lots of ‘junk’ that you would just as soon not know about.
4. By designating a separate ‘data’ directory, you’ll be able to see what and when SSAS changes back-end files that are supporting the cube.
5. Logs…this is where you go to do ultimate troubleshooting.
6. Backups…just remember… Jesus saves…so should you!