MicroStrategy Interview Questions Part 10

Does MicroStrategy Web support clustering via Cisco Local Router or any other third-party clustering software?

MicroStrategy Web relies on third-party web-clustering software to provide clustering functionality. MicroStrategy Web is designed to be stateless so that each individual MicroStrategy Web node can function without the knowledge of the existence of other nodes. Therefore, any third-party software used to cluster web servers can be used.

What information is shared by the application across MicroStrategy Web nodes?

MicroStrategy Web is designed to be as stateless as possible. Therefore, no information is shared by the MicroStrategy Web application across cluster nodes. All state information for running jobs is pushed to the client browser.

When a report is submitted by a MicroStrategy Web user, the user will receive a wait page in the client browser. This wait page will poll the MicroStrategy Web Server periodically for the status of the report. This polling is performed as new http requests. This http request will contain all state information, including encrypted login information and MicroStrategy Intelligence Server connection information.

Is MicroStrategy Web "cluster-aware"?

The MicroStrategy Web application is designed so that each MicroStrategy Web cluster node does not need to know that it is a member of a cluster. MicroStrategy Web is designed to be stateless, so that each client http request can be processed individually without having to persist information within the MicroStrategy Web application. Therefore, third-party Web-server clustering software can be used to cluster together multiple web servers running MicroStrategy Web.

Should MicroStrategy Web be specifically configured to access a MicroStrategy Intelligence Server cluster?

No. When the administrator configures MicroStrategy Web to access a particular MicroStrategy Intelligence Server, the MicroStrategy Web application will automatically detect that the MicroStrategy Intelligence Server is a member of a cluster. Once this detection is made, MicroStrategy Web will automatically add all the other members of the same cluster into the pool of available MicroStrategy Intelligence Servers.

Microstrategy Basic Questions

What is Microstrategy Desktop?

Microstrategy Desktop™ is a Windows client-server software application that provides integrated monitoring, reporting, and analysis capabilities.

2. What does Microstrategy Desktop allow users to do?

Using Microstrategy Desktop, users can easily access and share critical corporate information they need to make cost-cutting decisions and improve business processes. The information found in databases can also be used to help increase revenue and boost profits. Users can access this database and SAP data without having to learn technical database query (SQL) or multi-dimensional expression (MDX) syntax.

3. What can users do with the information they access using Microstrategy Desktop?

Users can analyze the information using standard aggregations and more sophisticated functions such as average, summation, percentage contribution, standard deviation and net present value. Investigative reporting, using pivoting, sorting, slicing, and drilling to more detail, can be performed with simple mouse clicks. Users can also format reports to their specifications and view the data as intuitive charts and graphs to identify trends and anomalies quickly.

4. What are the benefits of using Microstrategy Desktop?

Users can obtain critical information immediately without waiting for IT departments to create reports. The software is easy to use and provides context sensitive help, thus eliminating the need for extensive support and maintenance staff.

5. Are the reports created using Microstrategy Desktop available to other products such as Microstrategy Web?

Yes. Reports created using Microstrategy Desktop are immediately available to other Microstrategy products because of our centralized metadata architecture.

6. Can Microstrategy Desktop access SAP data?

Yes. With the release of Microstrategy 8, Microstrategy Desktop incorporates a new dynamic data access engine designed to access multi-dimensional databases (MDDBs or OLAP Cube Databases) such as those from SAP Business Information Warehouse (BW) databases.

7. Can Microstrategy Desktop access operational data systems?

Yes. Microstrategy Desktop users can use a new Operational SQL Engine to include data from any operational system using completely free-form SQL, including stored procedures and views.

8. How fast is the performance on Microstrategy Desktop?

Microstrategy Desktop provides instant access and analysis of information. This high performance is enabled through Intelligence Cubes™, caches, incremental fetches and advanced analytic features.

9. How long does it take to learn Microstrategy Desktop?

Microstrategy Desktop preserves the look and feel of popular desktop software such as Microsoft® Windows® Explorer and Microsoft Office. As such, users are immediately comfortable with Microstrategy Desktop. A customized interface using HTML can be created, simplifying navigation and report execution.

10. Can I make my data and graphs look professional?

Yes. Users can format their data into appealing reports using various formatting styles and graphs for maximum visual impact. Users can choose from more than 30 different charting options to present information in the best layout possible.

11. Is it possible to display multiple reports, images and information on the same page?

Yes, users can easily combine tables, images, graphs and other information onto the same page in a document. Visually impressive and compelling documents can be printed out and shared with corporate executives. Business users can now rearrange the organization of any report with simple drag and drop actions or by clicking on the new toolbar icons to get entirely new views of the data, all from the same report and without requiring assistance from IT.

12. What printing capabilities are available in Microstrategy Desktop?

Microstrategy Desktop offers advanced printing capabilities. Features include repeating row/column headers, customizable headers and footers, and a comprehensive page setup menu. Users can preview reports before sending it to the printer.

13. What subtotaling features does Microstrategy Desktop contain?

Microstrategy Desktop has more than 10 different subtotaling functions that aid analysis of the data. Subtotals can be presented at any level in the rows, columns and pages on the report.

 Does MicroStrategy Web support clustering via Cisco Local Router or any other third-party clustering software?

MicroStrategy Web relies on third-party web-clustering software to provide clustering functionality. MicroStrategy Web is designed to be stateless so that each individual MicroStrategy Web node can function without the knowledge of the existence of other nodes. Therefore, any third-party software used to cluster web servers can be used.

What information is shared by the application across MicroStrategy Web nodes?

MicroStrategy Web is designed to be as stateless as possible. Therefore, no information is shared by the MicroStrategy Web application across cluster nodes. All state information for running jobs is pushed to the client browser.

When a report is submitted by a MicroStrategy Web user, the user will receive a wait page in the client browser. This wait page will poll the MicroStrategy Web Server periodically for the status of the report. This polling is performed as new http requests. This http request will contain all state information, including encrypted login information and MicroStrategy Intelligence Server connection information.

Is MicroStrategy Web "cluster-aware"?

The MicroStrategy Web application is designed so that each MicroStrategy Web cluster node does not need to know that it is a member of a cluster. MicroStrategy Web is designed to be stateless, so that each client http request can be processed individually without having to persist information within the MicroStrategy Web application. Therefore, third-party Web-server clustering software can be used to cluster together multiple web servers running MicroStrategy Web.

Should MicroStrategy Web be specifically configured to access a MicroStrategy Intelligence Server cluster?

No. When the administrator configures MicroStrategy Web to access a particular MicroStrategy Intelligence Server, the MicroStrategy Web application will automatically detect that the MicroStrategy Intelligence Server is a member of a cluster. Once this detection is made, MicroStrategy Web will automatically add all the other members of the same cluster into the pool of available MicroStrategy Intelligence Servers.

Microstrategy Basic Questions

What is Microstrategy Desktop?

Microstrategy Desktop™ is a Windows client-server software application that provides integrated monitoring, reporting, and analysis capabilities.

2. What does Microstrategy Desktop allow users to do?

Using Microstrategy Desktop, users can easily access and share critical corporate information they need to make cost-cutting decisions and improve business processes. The information found in databases can also be used to help increase revenue and boost profits. Users can access this database and SAP data without having to learn technical database query (SQL) or multi-dimensional expression (MDX) syntax.

3. What can users do with the information they access using Microstrategy Desktop?

Users can analyze the information using standard aggregations and more sophisticated functions such as average, summation, percentage contribution, standard deviation and net present value. Investigative reporting, using pivoting, sorting, slicing, and drilling to more detail, can be performed with simple mouse clicks. Users can also format reports to their specifications and view the data as intuitive charts and graphs to identify trends and anomalies quickly.

4. What are the benefits of using Microstrategy Desktop?

Users can obtain critical information immediately without waiting for IT departments to create reports. The software is easy to use and provides context sensitive help, thus eliminating the need for extensive support and maintenance staff.

5. Are the reports created using Microstrategy Desktop available to other products such as Microstrategy Web?

Yes. Reports created using Microstrategy Desktop are immediately available to other Microstrategy products because of our centralized metadata architecture.

6. Can Microstrategy Desktop access SAP data?

Yes. With the release of Microstrategy 8, Microstrategy Desktop incorporates a new dynamic data access engine designed to access multi-dimensional databases (MDDBs or OLAP Cube Databases) such as those from SAP Business Information Warehouse (BW) databases.

7. Can Microstrategy Desktop access operational data systems?

Yes. Microstrategy Desktop users can use a new Operational SQL Engine to include data from any operational system using completely free-form SQL, including stored procedures and views.

8. How fast is the performance on Microstrategy Desktop?

Microstrategy Desktop provides instant access and analysis of information. This high performance is enabled through Intelligence Cubes™, caches, incremental fetches and advanced analytic features.

9. How long does it take to learn Microstrategy Desktop?

Microstrategy Desktop preserves the look and feel of popular desktop software such as Microsoft® Windows® Explorer and Microsoft Office. As such, users are immediately comfortable with Microstrategy Desktop. A customized interface using HTML can be created, simplifying navigation and report execution.

10. Can I make my data and graphs look professional?

Yes. Users can format their data into appealing reports using various formatting styles and graphs for maximum visual impact. Users can choose from more than 30 different charting options to present information in the best layout possible.

11. Is it possible to display multiple reports, images and information on the same page?

Yes, users can easily combine tables, images, graphs and other information onto the same page in a document. Visually impressive and compelling documents can be printed out and shared with corporate executives. Business users can now rearrange the organization of any report with simple drag and drop actions or by clicking on the new toolbar icons to get entirely new views of the data, all from the same report and without requiring assistance from IT.

12. What printing capabilities are available in Microstrategy Desktop?

Microstrategy Desktop offers advanced printing capabilities. Features include repeating row/column headers, customizable headers and footers, and a comprehensive page setup menu. Users can preview reports before sending it to the printer.

13. What subtotaling features does Microstrategy Desktop contain?

Microstrategy Desktop has more than 10 different subtotaling functions that aid analysis of the data. Subtotals can be presented at any level in the rows, columns and pages on the report.

Micro-Strategy Interview Questions Part 9

MICROSTRATEGY INTELLIGENCE SERVER CLUSTERING

What information is shared by the application across MicroStrategy Intelligence Server nodes?

Report caches are shared in a cluster and Object caches on each MicroStrategy Intelligence Server node are synchronized.

Is a copy of each report cache retained in each MicroStrategy Intelligence Server node?

No. Each MicroStrategy Intelligence Server retains a lookup table with information about the existence and location of report caches. When a cluster node creates a report cache, information about the location of the new cache is shared with the other cluster nodes. Each cluster node then updates its own lookup table with the location of the new cache.

If a MicroStrategy Intelligence Server node crashes, will report caches be lost?

Although report caches will not be lost, access to report caches may be affected, depending on the way in which the report cache is configured.

If a separate file server is used as a common report cache repository for all MicroStrategy Intelligence Server cluster nodes, then the loss of a cluster node will not affect access to the report cache by other nodes.

If the cluster is configured such that each node locally hosts the report cache created by that node, then those report caches residing in the lost node will naturally be inaccessible. If any report cached in that lost node is requested, then another node within the cluster will re-run and re-cache the report. When the cluster node is recovered and rejoined into the cluster, all report caches in that cluster node will be made available again to the rest of the cluster.

If a MicroStrategy Intelligence Server node is removed from a cluster manually, will report caches be lost?

If an administrator removes a cluster node from a cluster, then all report caches that had been created by that cluster node will be inaccessible by the rest of the cluster, whether or not a separate file server is used as a common report cache. This behavior is by design.

How does MicroStrategy Intelligence Server 7.0 clustering enable cache sharing?

Each node in a MicroStrategy Intelligence Server 7.0 cluster maintains indices of the caches available on the different nodes. When a report is submitted, these indices will be searched and once an existing cache is found (in any nodes), the cached results will be retrieved directly from cache locations in either the local or remote machine.

What methods can be used to guarantee availability of the MicroStrategy Intelligence Server report cache?

To prevent the loss of a MicroStrategy Intelligence Server cluster node from affecting report cache availability, the cluster can be configured such that a separate file server is used as a common report cache repository. In order to maintain cache availability, this separate file server can be configured for failover with third-party clustering software.

If a report cache is created by a MicroStrategy Intelligence Server cluster node, will that report cache be seen in the Cache Monitor of another cluster node?

No. Although the new report cache will be available for use by other cluster nodes, the cache will not appear in the Cache Monitor of other cluster nodes. In order to see all report caches within a cluster, the administrator will need to create a separate data source within Desktop for each cluster node. Then, the report caches within each node can be administered separately, using the same instance of the MicroStrategy Desktop application.

If objects are created, modified or deleted, will the change be reflected across all MicroStrategy Intelligence Server cluster nodes?

Yes. Object caches are synchronized across all cluster nodes. If any change affecting the Metadata is made by one cluster node, then the cluster node broadcasts the change to the other cluster nodes. The other cluster nodes will then update their local object caches.

NOTE: Client-side object caches will not be automatically be refreshed. In MicroStrategy Desktop, for example, a user may have to explicitly click on 'Refresh' to see an object change be reflected in the client application.

Should all MicroStrategy Intelligence Server cluster nodes be configured identically?

Technically, MicroStrategy Intelligence Servers in a cluster do not have to be configured identically. The only technical requirements are that all MicroStrategy Intelligence Servers point to the same metadata and that all MicroStrategy Intelligence Servers have the same projects registered and in the same state (i.e., if Node A has Project A in a 'Loaded' state, then Node B must also have Project A in a 'Loaded' state.).

However, in order to ease administration and to reduce the risk of unbalanced load across cluster nodes, it is recommended that all nodes use the same MicroStrategy Intelligence Server definition and that each machine shows identical characteristics (i.e., equal RAM, hard disk space, CPU).

Is it possible for different nodes of a MicroStrategy Intelligence Server cluster to run against different metadata repositories?

No, all the nodes in the same cluster must run against the same metadata.

Is it possible for different nodes of a MicroStrategy Intelligence Server cluster to run with different configuration settings under the same metadata repository?

Yes this is possible, using caution because users can configure different nodes at different settings. For example, differences in memory allocation for the cache, time out settings, etc can result in uneven performance across cluster nodes.

What communication protocol does MicroStrategy Intelligence Server use for intracluster communication?

MicroStrategy Intelligence Server 7.0 and MicroStrategy Intelligence Server 7.0 SP1 use TCP/IP when communicating between clusters. MicroStrategy Intelligence Server 7.1 will provide the option of using TCP/IP or UDP/IP (Universal Datagram Protocol). In 7.2, UDP support was removed as packet loss affects cluster synchronization.

If a MicroStrategy Intelligence Server cluster node is rebooted, will the node rejoin the cluster automatically?

Whenever a MicroStrategy Intelligence Server cluster node is stopped in any way besides explicitly shutting down the MicroStrategy Intelligence Server service, the node will automatically rejoin the cluster when the MicroStrategy Intelligence Server service is restarted. So, if the node crashes, then the node will rejoin the cluster automatically upon startup.

NOTE: All cluster nodes must have the same projects loaded. Therefore, MicroStrategy Intelligence Server must be configured to have the appropriate projects automatically load upon startup so that the node can successfully rejoin the cluster upon startup.

If the cluster node is stopped by explicitly shutting down the MicroStrategy Intelligence Server service (either through the MicroStrategy Desktop interface, the Windows Services window, or the MicroStrategy Service Manager), then the administrator must manually add the node back to the cluster when the node is restarted. This is by design. Since stopping the MicroStrategy Intelligence Server service requires intervention of the administrator, this behavior allows administrators to retain control over the MicroStrategy Intelligence Server application when the application is restarted.

Does MicroStrategy Intelligence Server support clustering via Microsoft Cluster Server or any other third-party clustering software?

Microsoft Cluster Server (MSCS) can be used for failover of MicroStrategy Intelligence Server. However, MSCS and other third-party clustering software will not provide the load-balancing and some of the failover capabilities of MicroStrategy Intelligence Server's native clustering solution.

Is it possible to run multiple instances of MicroStrategy Intelligence Server on the same Microsoft   Windows NT machine?

MicroStrategy 7.0 does not support running multiple instances of MicroStrategy Intelligence Server on the same Microsoft Windows NT machine. This is because MicroStrategy Intelligence Server can support running multiple projects with different prioritization and configuration settings on one server. This functionality was not available in MicroStrategy DSS Server 5.x and thus, required running multiple instances of MicroStrategy Intelligence Server to accomplish the same functionality.

What is the maximum number of nodes that can be supported in a MicroStrategy Intelligence Server 7.0 cluster?

There is no technical hard limit on the maximum number of cluster nodes that can be supported by MicroStrategy Intelligence Server 7.0. However, when the number of nodes increases, there is increasing overhead put on the system by the clustering software. So, there will be practical limits related to the hardware configuration of the users' system.

MicroStrategy Interview Questions Part 8

MicroStrategy Intelligence Server 7.x Clustering FAQ

GENERAL OVERVIEW

Does MicroStrategy 7.0 provide its own clustering strategy?

Yes. MicroStrategy 7.0 provides clustering at the MicroStrategy Intelligence Server level allowing users, connected through 4-tier mode, to access MicroStrategy Intelligence Server cluster.

What is the current clustering architecture of MicroStrategy 7.0?

The clustering architecture can be described as follows:

1. MicroStrategy Web users send requests from their web browsers.

2. A third party IP redistribution tool such as Cisco Local Router or Microsoft Windows Load Balancing Service is used to distribute requests coming from web clients among web servers.

3. Based on the load on each MicroStrategy Intelligence Server, the load balancers distribute the requests among the MicroStrategy Intelligence Servers. Each MicroStrategy Intelligence Server collects information about its own load and gives this information to the load balancer requesting this information. MicroStrategy Intelligence Server 7.0, 7.0 SP1 and 7.0 SP2 calculate load as being the number of user connections connected to the MicroStrategy Intelligence Server. When a new user connects to a MicroStrategy Web server, MicroStrategy Web opens a new user connection to the MicroStrategy Intelligence Server with the lightest load. All requests by that user will be routed to the same MicroStrategy Intelligence Server until the user is disconnected by MicroStrategy Web.

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After users are connected to a MicroStrategy Intelligencer Server node, the node may crash, causing users to be disconnected. If the users are not running any requests when the failure occurs, then MicroStrategy Web will automatically create a new connection to an available cluster node the next time the users submit a request. If the users are running a report request during the node failure, the report request will result in an error. MicroStrategy Web 7.0, 7.0 SP1 and 7.0 SP2 will trap this error and return a message to inform the users of the error in the report and asking them whether or not they would like to resubmit the report. If the users decide to resubmit the report, MicroStrategy Web will open a new connection to an available MicroStrategy Intelligence Server, with the same login credentials originally supplied by the users. Autoprompts will have to be re-answered during this report resubmission. MicroStrategy Web can be customized so that when an Intelligence Server goes down and a user is disconnected, resulting errors will be trapped and reports will be resubmitted without the end user knowing.

4. The MicroStrategy Intelligence Servers receive the requests and process them. In addition, the MicroStrategy Intelligence Servers communicate with each other to maintain metadata integrity and report cache synchronization across the system. Any report caches created by one MicroStrategy Intelligence Server node are accessible by any other MicroStrategy Intelligence Server node in the cluster.

5. The MicroStrategy Intelligence Servers send queries to the databases as usual.

When is clustering recommended?

Clustering is recommended in any mission-critical application in which permanent availability and system performance is of utmost importance. Availability is provided by failover support and performance improvements are provided by load balancing of job requests.

MicroStrategy Interview Question Part 7

What functionality is contained in MicroStrategy Administrator - Object Manager 7.x and 8.0.x?

MicroStrategy Administrator - Object Manager allows users to perform the following actions:

• Duplicate and upgrade projects

• Copy objects within and across related projects

• Move objects within a project

• Delete objects within a project

• Rename objects within a project

• Search for objects within a project

• Find an object's parents or children within a project

Are there any special requirements needed to move objects across projects?

Yes. In order to perform cross-project operations, the projects involved must originate from the same source project. In other words, the projects can only be related by the duplication of a single project. This ensures that the projects have a similar set of schema and application objects, and that the object ID's in the two projects are the same. MicroStrategy Object Manager uses the object and version ID's across the projects to perform comparisons. MicroStrategy Object

Manager prevents the user from attempting operations across unrelated projects.

How does MicroStrategy Object Manager determine if two projects are related?

MicroStrategy Object Manager compares the Schema ID's of the two projects. Duplicated projects have different Project ID's, but their Schema ID's are the same.

What happens if a user tries to move objects between two unrelated projects?

If a user tries to perform cross-project operations between two unrelated projects, MicroStrategy Object Manager will not permit the operation and will display the following error:

Objects cannot be copied across the projects because these two projects, "Project name of the source"    and "Project name of the destination", have not been created from the same source. For more information see Chapter 4: Managing Your Applications, in the System Administration Guide.

What is the Conflict Resolution Window?

The Conflict Resolution window provides the user with a means to decide how to handle object conflicts between the source project and the destination project. In addition, the Conflict Resolution window displays the object name in the original project, the object name in the destination project and the type of conflict. Users may also specify a new name for the object depending on the action chosen.

How does MicroStrategy Object Manager determine if two objects in different projects are the same?

To determine if two objects are the same, MicroStrategy Object Manager compares their Object ID's. If these ID's are the same, MicroStrategy Object Manager then compares the Version ID's. If the Version ID's are the same, the Conflict Resolution grid lists the conflict as 'Exists Identically.' If the Version ID's are different, the Conflict Resolution grid lists the conflict as 'Exists Differently.'

How can the user determine the Object ID of an object?

To view the Object ID of an object, right-mouse click on the object and select 'Properties.' The Object ID and Version ID are listed on the 'General' tab.

Why does MicroStrategy Object Manager search for object dependencies?

MicroStrategy Object Manager makes a list of all object dependencies before copying an object to prevent metadata inconsistency. The time required for dependency checking varies based on a customer's metadata size and schema complexity. For large metadata and complex schemas, gathering all the dependencies may take a long time.

Can schema objects be copied across projects with MicroStrategy Object Manager?

Yes, schema objects can be copied across projects using MicroStrategy Object Manager. MicroStrategy Object Manager moves objects seamlessly between similar projects such as from a development project version to a production project version where the warehouses are the same in terms of views, prefixes, and warehouse structure. However, subtle changes in the warehouse that relate to prefixes, views, or table structure cannot be tracked by MicroStrategy Object Manager. For situations where the projects' warehouse structures or setups are dissimilar, users may be required to make further edits of the objects to ensure full integration into the destination project. These edits may include hierarchical relationship changes or modifications to the prefixes.

How does MicroStrategy Object Manager integrate with the MicroStrategy Product Suite security model?

Security in MicroStrategy Object Manager is based on the MicroStrategy 7.x Product Suite security model. All activities that can be performed in MicroStrategy Object Manager are governed by privileges and access control lists. For example, if a user is not allowed to access a certain folder in MicroStrategy Agent, they will not be able to access the folder in MicroStrategy Object Manager.