Deploying SSAS cube to environments

Question

We are using BIDS 2008 locally (on our workstations) to develop our OLAP objects/cube. Come the time of promotion to Development we can deploy via BIDS. However when a hands-off deployment is required (eg. to UAT or Live) we are generating an XMLA file. This (the generated XMLA file) of course contains environment specific information (eg server name, database name, etc). If we would like to automate the generation of the XMLA file for deployment to each environment, is there a config type process to parameterise these values (like .NET : web.config : appSettings or SSIS : dtsConfig).

Note we could parse the XMLA file and replace these values depending on the environment (eg. via xmlpoke), but this is a little messy and depends on XML path structure, and hence would rather avoid this approach

Answer 1

This should point you in the right direction: http://blog.kejser.org/2006/11/28/automating-build-of-analysis-services-projects/

Here's more on the deployment utility and command line switches: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms162758(v=sql.105).aspx

Answer 2

before using Micrsoft.analysisservice.deplyement to generate the XMLA file to deply in an AS istance, we need update the files bellows to change all connection string, deployment option,

project.asdatabase
project.deploymenttargets
project.configsettings
project.deploymentoptions

regards,