Hi,

Can somebody please explain what the <catalog name>.ODB file does? (its a
small binary file that is created for each catalog in the Data directory of
AS).

If its renamed then when AS starts it simply creates a folder of the same
name.
If its deleted the existing cubes can still be accessed and its only
recreated when the database is processed.

However it appears to be critical to some part of the system as we have
archived cubes from one machine and restored them on another remote machine
but the restored database could not access one of the cubes. We assumed
that it was something to do with service pack issues but both systems are on
SP3.

An internet search suggested a) that copy and paste of the database helps
and b) copying the ODB file from the original server would also be a 'good'
thing to do.

Both solutions seem to work. Interestingly copy and paste creates an .odb
file as part of its operation.

So can somebody indicate what the *.ODB does and more importantly why does
archive and restore fail sometimes. We are totally reliant on this
technology for deploying pre-defined cubes.

Regards

David

Hi David,

The .ODB files are the catalog metadata files that are used by the server.

HTH,
Bas

"This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights."

If interested in the rest of the files, look in Appendix K of the AS
Operations Guide
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/tre...e/anservog.asp
--
Dave Wickert [MS]
dwickert (AT) online (DOT) microsoft.com
Program Manager
BI Practices Team
SQL BI Product Unit (Analysis Services)
--
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.


""Bas Kersten [MSFT]"" <bask (AT) online (DOT) microsoft.com> wrote

Thanks for the info - very useful.

So is it possible that an existing ODB file on the remote machine could be
incompatible with the catalog that is being restored and replacing the file
with that from the source machine will help?

Its difficult to be exact about the nature of the problem encountered as its
at a customer site and we can't reproduce the cause in R&D only the solution
of replacing the file.

Regards

David

"Dave Wickert [MSFT]" <dwickert (AT) online (DOT) microsoft.com> wrote

ol/sql/maintain/Operate/anservog.asp

Archive (msmdarch.exe) does that for you automatically.
If you are copying files around by-hand, then almost anything can happen.
:-(
You should be using either:
1) the msmdarch utility or
2) following the instructions layed out in the AS Operations Guide
(http://www.microsoft.com/technet/pro...erate/anservog.
asp) which lays out the procedures and tradeoffs of doing it by-hand.

In either case you should *ALWAYS* ensure that the AS repository matches
*EXACTLY* the files which are contained in the data folder. If they ever get
out-of-sync then you are playing with fire.
--
Dave Wickert [MS]
dwickert (AT) online (DOT) microsoft.com
Program Manager
BI Practices Team
SQL BI Product Unit (Analysis Services)
--
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.


"David Middleton" <David_Middleton (AT) aimtechnology_NOSPAM (DOT) com> wrote in
message news:ehjGhJA%23DHA.3068 (AT) tk2msftngp13 (DOT) phx.gbl...