OLAP Engine Server Components

Applies to: SQL Server Analysis Services Azure Analysis Services Fabric/Power BI Premium

The server component of Microsoft SQL Server SQL Server Analysis Services is the msmdsrv.exe application, which runs as a Windows service. This application consists of security components, an XML for Analysis (XMLA) listener component, a query processor component and numerous other internal components that perform the following functions:

• Parsing statements received from clients

• Managing metadata

• Handling transactions

• Processing calculations

• Storing dimension and cell data

• Creating aggregations

• Scheduling queries

• Caching objects

• Managing server resources

Architectural Diagram

An SQL Server Analysis Services instance runs as a stand-alone service and communication with the service occurs through XML for Analysis (XMLA), by using either HTTP or TCP. AMO is a layer between the user application and the SQL Server Analysis Services instance. This layer provides access to SQL Server Analysis Services administrative objects. AMO is a class library that takes commands from a client application and converts those commands into XMLA messages for the SQL Server Analysis Services instance. AMO presents SQL Server Analysis Services instance objects as classes to the end user application, with method members that run commands and property members that hold the data for the SQL Server Analysis Services objects.

The following illustration shows the SQL Server Analysis Services components architecture, including all major elements running within the SQL Server Analysis Services instance and all user components that interact with the instance. The illustration also shows that the only way to access the instance is by using the XML for Analysis (XMLA) Listener, either by using HTTP or TCP.

XMLA Listener

The XMLA listener component handles all XMLA communications between SQL Server Analysis Services and its clients. The SQL Server Analysis Services Port configuration setting in the msmdsrv.ini file can be used to specify a port on which an SQL Server Analysis Services instance listens. A value of 0 in this file indicates that SQL Server Analysis Services listen on the default port. Unless otherwise specified, SQL Server Analysis Services uses the following default TCP ports:

See Configure the Windows Firewall to Allow Analysis Services Access for more details.

See Also

Object Naming Rules (Analysis Services)
Physical Architecture (Analysis Services - Multidimensional Data)
Logical Architecture (Analysis Services - Multidimensional Data)