SharePoint Server for Business Intelligence

SharePoint Business Intelligence Content Team

Summary: Step-by-step, learn how to install and configure SharePoint Server 2010 and SQL Server 2008 to create a robust infrastructure to support business intelligence.

Category: Step-by-Step
Applies to: SharePoint Server 2010, SQL Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 R2
Source: TechNet Library (link to source content)
E-book publication date: June 2012

Copyright © 2012 by Microsoft Corporation

All rights reserved. No part of the contents of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of the publisher.

Microsoft and the trademarks listed at

http://www.microsoft.com/about/legal/en/us/IntellectualProperty/Trademarks/EN-US.aspx are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. All other marks are property of their respective owners.

The example companies, organizations, products, domain names, email addresses, logos, people, places, and events depicted herein are fictitious. No association with any real company, organization, product, domain name, email address, logo, person, place, or event is intended or should be inferred.

This book expresses the author’s views and opinions. The information contained in this book is provided without any express, statutory, or implied warranties. Neither the authors, Microsoft Corporation, nor its resellers, or distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused either directly or indirectly by this book.

Contents

Configuring a BI infrastructure: Hands-on labs

Create a baseline environment for a BI test environment

Hyper-V quick start for creating a BI test environment

Enable Hyper-V

Configure a virtual network

Create virtual machines

Load an operating system

Set up a domain controller for a BI test environment

Video demonstration

Configure the domain controller

Add a virtual machine to the virtual domain in a BI test environment

Video demonstration

Configuring the virtual machine

Set up accounts for a BI test environment

Video demonstration

Configure accounts

Set up SQL Server for a BI test environment

Video demonstration

Configure a local administrator

Install SQL Server 2008 R2

Configure logins

Configure SQL Server network protocols

Install the Contoso sample database

Install and configure SharePoint Server 2010 for a BI test environment

Video demonstration

Install SharePoint Server 2010

Configure the top-level Web site

Configure Secure Store Service for a BI test environment

Video demonstration

Deploy the Secure Store Service

Configure a Business Intelligence Center for a test environment

Video demonstration

Configuring a Business Intelligence Center

Adding links to the Quick Launch

Next steps

Configure Excel Services for a BI test environment

Deploy Excel Services

Configure trusted file locations and trusted data connection libraries

Configure Excel client data access

Configure the Excel Services unattended service account for a BI test environment

Configure a data access account

Configure Secure Store Service

Configure Excel Services

Publishing a workbook with an external data source

Testing data refresh

Configure Excel Services data access by using external data connections in a BI test environment

Configure a data access account

Configure Secure Store

Create and publish an ODC file

Testing data refresh

Configure Excel Services data access by using embedded data connections

Configure a data access account

Configure the Secure Store Service application

Create and publish an Excel workbook that uses an embedded data connection

Configure PowerPivot for SharePoint for a BI test environment

Create a managed account for SQL Server Analysis Services

Deploy PowerPivot for SharePoint

Configure a PowerPivot service application

Configure data refresh for PowerPivot for SharePoint

Configure Secure Store service for PowerPivot for SharePoint

Verify that PowerPivot for SharePoint is configured correctly

Test data refresh

Configure Visio Services for a BI test environment

Video demonstration

Deploy Visio Services

Configure Visio Services Global Settings

Configure Visio client access

Configure the Visio Services unattended service account in a BI test environment

Video demonstration

Creating sample data

Configure a data access account

Configure Secure Store

Configure Visio Services

Grant database access to the diagram author

Publishing a data-connected web drawing

Configure Visio Services data access by using Secure Store in a BI test environment

Video demonstration

Creating sample data

Configure a data access account

Configure Secure Store

Grant database access to the diagram author

Create an Office Data Connection file

Create a data-connected Web drawing by using an ODC file

Configure PerformancePoint Services for a BI test environment

Configure data access for PerformancePoint Services

Configure a data access account

Configure the unattended service account

Verify that user permissions are configured correctly

Enable Reporting Services in an integrated SharePoint Server BI test environment

Changing SQL Reporting Services from Native mode to Integrated mode in a BI test environment

Install SharePoint Server 2010 components on the Reporting Server computer

Configure SSRS in SharePoint integrated mode

Configure SharePoint Server 2010 for Reporting Services integration

Configure Report Builder 3.0 for use in SharePoint BI test environment

Enable content type management

Add Report Server content types

Configuring a BI infrastructure: Hands-on labs

Published: May 26, 2011

This series of articles gives you hands-on experience configuring the various business intelligence services available in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010. This involves configuring a SharePoint Server 2010 farm in an isolated test environment and then walking through a series of labs to complete the exact procedures necessary to configure the various business intelligence service applications.

This series includes labs for configuring:

• Excel Services

• Visio Services

• PerformancePoint Services

In each case, there is a lab for configuring the service application and its associated accounts and additional labs for configuring data access.

The first part of this series of labs is a set of labs to create the baseline environment on which the other labs build. This includes creating the SharePoint Server 2010 farm and configuring the Secure Store Service and creating a Business Intelligence Center.

The baseline environment is built by using Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V technology. Although you could build the environment by using other virtualization technologies or physical hardware, those options are not discussed in these labs.

To build the baseline environment, you need a computer that is running Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V enabled.

Note:
Instructions for configuring Hyper-V are included in case you have not already configured it.

The computer that you use for the baseline environment must have at least 8 GB of RAM and 100 GB of free disk space. Additional RAM will improve performance, as will distributing the virtual machines across multiple physical disks.

Important:
The labs in this series give you hands-on experience configuring the business intelligence offerings in SharePoint Server 2010 by using an isolated Hyper-V test environment. These labs should not be used to create a production deployment of SharePoint Server 2010 on Hyper-V. For information about how to deploy your production SharePoint Server 2010 farm by using Hyper-V, see Virtual machine guidance (SharePoint Server 2010).

To get started with the labs, see Create a baseline environment for a BI test environment.

Create a baseline environment for a BI test environment

Published: May 26, 2011

This series of hands-on labs describe how to create a Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 farm in an isolated Hyper-V test environment. This is the baseline environment that you will use for completing the further labs for configuring the business intelligence service applications available in SharePoint Server 2010.

Important:
The labs in this series give you hands-on experience configuring the business intelligence offerings in SharePoint Server 2010 by using an isolated Hyper-V test environment. These labs should not be used to create a production deployment of SharePoint Server 2010 on Hyper-V. For information about how to deploy your production SharePoint Server 2010 farm by using Hyper-V, see Virtual machine guidance (SharePoint Server 2010).

Creating the baseline environment consists of the following steps:

1. Configure Hyper-V on the host computer

2. Set up a virtual machine with a domain controller for the virtual test domain

3. Add additional virtual machines to the virtual domain

4. Set up accounts that are needed to deploy the SharePoint Server 2010 farm

5. Set up Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2

6. Install and configure SharePoint Server 2010

7. Configure the Secure Store Service

8. Create a Business Intelligence Center

A hands-on lab is provided for each of these steps.

Note:
These labs assume that you are using Windows Server 2008 R2 and SQL Server 2008 R2. Windows Server 2008 and Microsoft SQL Server 2008 can also be used, although there may be some minor differences in procedures. Also, you may be unable to complete some labs, such as those using PowerPivot for SharePoint 2010, if you are using SQL Server 2008.

To get started creating the baseline environment, see Hyper-V quick start for creating a BI test environment, or, if you have already configured Hyper-V, see Set up a domain controller for a BI test environment.

Hyper-V quick start for creating a BI test environment

Published: May 26, 2011

Important:
This article is part of the Configuring a BI infrastructure: Hands-on labs series. This is the first article in the series that describes how to set up a baseline test environment for the labs. The articles in this series should be read sequentially, starting with this article, as the procedures in each build on those in the last.

Hyper-V is the Microsoft virtualization solution. It is built into most versions of Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2. It offers an ideal platform to deploy a full-scale Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 test environment for business intelligence without the need to purchase multiple servers.

This article describes the steps that you must follow to enable Hyper-V and create virtual machines. If you are already familiar with Hyper-V, you can move on the next article, Set up a domain controller for a BI test environment.

Enable Hyper-V

The first step is to enable Hyper-V. Hyper-V is a server role on Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2. To enable it, log on to the computer as an administrator and perform the following procedure.

To enable Hyper-V

1. Click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Server Manager.

2. In the left pane, click Roles.

3. In the right pane, click Add Roles.

4. If the Before You Begin page is displayed, click Next.

5. On the Select Server Roles page, select the Hyper-V check box, and then click Next.

6. On the Hyper-V page, click Next.

7. On the Create Virtual Networks page, leave the network adapter check boxes cleared, and then click Next.

8. On the Confirm Installation Selections page, click Install.

9. On the Installation Results page, click Close.

10. Restart the server.

Configure a virtual network

Once Hyper-V is enabled, you must create a virtual network within Hyper-V so that the virtual machines can communicate with one another. Two virtual networks are required:

• An internal virtual network that allows the virtual machines to communicate with one another

• An external virtual network that allows the virtual machines to communicate with your corporate network and the Internet (This is required specifically during installation of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 to download the prerequisites.)

To configure an internal network, perform the following procedure.

To configure an internal virtual network

1. Click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Hyper-V Manager.

2. In the left pane, click the node of the local computer.

3. In the right pane, click Virtual Network Manager.

4. Click Internal, and then click Add.

5. In the Name text box, type Internal Network.

6. Ensure that the Internal only option is selected, and then click OK.

Once the internal network is created, create an external network by using the following procedure.

To configure an external virtual network

1. Click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Hyper-V Manager.

2. In the left pane, click the node of the local computer.

3. In the right pane, click Virtual Network Manager.

4. Click External, and then click Add.

5. In the Name text box, type External Network.

6. Select the External option, and select a network adapter from the drop-down list.

7. Select the Allow management operating system to share this network adapter check box.

8. Click OK.

9. On the Apply Network Changes dialog box, click Yes.

Create virtual machines

When you have completed network configuration, you can start adding virtual machines to Hyper-V. To complete all the steps in this series of articles, you need the following virtual machines:

Virtual machine

Operating System

Description

RAM

Contoso-DC

Windows Server 2008 R2

Domain controller

512 MB

Contoso-SQL

Windows Server 2008 R2

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2

2048 MB

Contoso-AppSrv

Windows Server 2008 R2

SharePoint Server 2010

2048 MB

Contoso-Client

Windows 7

Windows 7

1536 MB

Click here to view table as image

Note:
To perform the steps in the Excel Services labs, you must install Microsoft Excel 2010 on the Contoso-Client virtual machine. To perform the steps in the Visio Services labs, you must install Microsoft Visio Professional 2010 or Microsoft Visio Premium 2010 on the Contoso-Client virtual machine.

Perform the following procedure for each virtual machine that you want to create.

To create a virtual machine

1. Click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Hyper-V Manager.

2. In the left pane, click the node of the local computer.

3. In the right pane, click New, and then click Virtual Machine.

4. On the Before You Begin page, click Next.

5. In the Name text box, type the name for the virtual machine from the previous table, and then click Next.

Important:
The Name text box specifies a name for the virtual machine in Hyper-V. This does not configure the computer name for the virtual machine itself. After you install the operating system on the virtual machine, you must configure the computer name to match the name in the previous table.

6. On the Assign Memory page, type the appropriate memory value from the table above.

Note:
The memory table assumes that you are using a host computer with 8 GB RAM. If you have additional RAM available, we recommend that you increase the RAM allocated to your virtual machines, particularly to the Contoso-AppSrv and Contoso-SQL virtual machines.

7. On the Configure Networking page, select External Network from the drop-down list, and then click Next.

8. On the Connect Virtual Hard Disk page, leave the default values, and then click Next.

9. On the Installation Options page, leave the Install an operating system later option selected and then click Next.

10. Click Finish.

Load an operating system

Once a virtual machine is created that has an empty hard disk, the next step is to install an operating system. Product Short Name 2010 requires Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2. We recommend that you use Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2 for each server virtual machine that you create. Perform the following procedure to install an operating system on a virtual machine.

To load an operating system on a virtual machine

1. In Hyper-V Manager, right-click the virtual machine on which you want to load an operating system, and then click Settings.

2. In the left pane, click DVD Drive.

3. In the right pane, select the Image file option.

4. Click Browse, and locate the ISO file that contains the operating system.

5. Click OK.

6. In Hyper-V Manager, double-click the virtual machine on which you want to load the operating system.

7. In the Virtual Machine Connection window, click the Start icon on the toolbar.

8. Install the operating system.

When you have created all of the virtual machines that you need and installed operating systems on each, the next step is to set up a domain controller. See the next article, Set up a domain controller for a BI test environment.

Set up a domain controller for a BI test environment

Published: May 26, 2011

Important:
This article is part of the baseline setup for the Configuring a BI infrastructure: Hands-on labs series. To complete the steps in this article, you must first have completed Hyper-V quick start for creating a BI test environment.

This article describes how to set up a domain controller on a virtual machine that is running Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2. This article and the remaining articles in this series assume that you have created the following infrastructure of virtual machines:

Virtual machine

Operating system

Contoso-DC

Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2

Contoso-SQL

Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2

Contoso-AppSrv

Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2

Contoso-Client

Windows 7

Click here to view table as image

To perform the procedures in this article, log on to the Contoso-DC virtual machine as an administrator.

Video demonstration

This video shows how to set up the Contoso-DC domain controller for use in these labs.

Running time: 4:58

Watch the video.
For an optimal viewing experience, download the video.
Right-click the link, and then click Save Target As to download a copy. Clicking the link opens a .wmv file in the default video viewer for full-resolution viewing.

Click here to view table as image

Configure the domain controller

The first step in setting up a domain controller is to set a static IP address. Domain controllers require static IP addresses to function correctly.

Important:
Before you start, ensure that the network connection on the Contoso-DC virtual machine is set to Internal Network.

In this series of articles, we are using the 10.0.0.0 – 10.255.255.255 IP address range that is reserved for private networks. This address range is used on the internal network for the virtual domain. In situations where the External Network is used (such as for downloading Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 prerequisites from the Internet), we assume that your existing corporate network will assign an appropriate IP address to the network adapter by using dhcp.

Depending on the network configuration, you may be able to use the 10.0.0.0 – 10.255.255.255 IP address range on a network adapter connected to your corporate network. This would enable you to span the virtual machines across multiple physical host computers. However, you should beware of potential IP address conflicts when you use static IP addresses of any kind on a shared network.

Perform the following procedure to configure a static IP address.

To configure a static IP address

1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.

2. Click Network and Internet.

3. Click Network and Sharing Center.

4. Click Change Adapter Settings.

5. Right-click the local area connection, and then click Properties.

6. On the Local Area Connection Properties dialog box, clear the Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6) check box.

7. Select Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and then click Properties.

8. On the Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) Properties dialog box, select the Use the following IP address option, and then type 10.0.0.1 in the IP address box.

9. In the Subnet mask box, type 255.0.0.0.

10. Select the Use the following DNS server addresses option, and then type 10.0.0.1 in the Preferred DNS server box.

11. Click OK.

12. Click Close.

13. Click Close.

Once you have set the static IP address, you are ready to promote the virtual machine to a domain controller. This is performed at a command prompt by using the dcpromo command.

Note:
The password that you chose for the local administrator account for this virtual machine becomes the domain administrator password as soon as the domain controller has been configured.

Perform the following procedure to configure the domain controller.

To configure the domain controller

1. Click Start, click Run, type dcpromo, and then click OK.

2. On the Welcome to the Active Directory Domain Services Installation Services page, click Next.

3. On the Operating System Compatibility page, click Next.

4. On the Choose a Deployment Configuration page, select the Create a new domain in a new forest option, and then click Next.

5. In the Name the Forest Root Domain page, type contoso.local in the FQDN of the forest root domain box, and then click Next.

6. On the Set Forest Functional Level page, select Windows Server 2008 from the dropdown list, and then click Next.

7. On the Set Domain Functional Level page, select Windows Server 2008 from the dropdown list, and then click Next.

8. On the Additional Domain Controller Options page, ensure that the DNS server check box is selected, and then click Next.

9. On the warning dialog box, click Yes.

10. On the Location for Database, Log Files, and SYSVOL page, keep the default values, and then click Next.

11. On the Directory Services Restore Mode Administrator Password page, type and confirm a password, and then click Next.

12. On the Summary page, click Next.

13. When the wizard has finished running, click Finish.

14. Restart the virtual machine.

Once the domain controller setup is complete, you can add the other virtual machines to the domain. See the next article, Add a virtual machine to the virtual domain in a BI test environment.

Add a virtual machine to the virtual domain in a BI test environment

Published: May 26, 2011

Important:
This article is part of the baseline setup for the Configuring a BI infrastructure: Hands-on labs series. To complete the steps in this article, you must first have completed Set up a domain controller for a BI test environment.

This article describes adding virtual machines to the contoso.local domain. For Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 to function correctly, you must add the remaining virtual machines to the domain before you install Microsoft SQL Server and SharePoint Server 2010.

For this series of articles, we assume the following IP address, operating system, and minimum memory configuration for the domain:

Virtual machine

Operating system

IP address

RAM

Contoso-DC

Windows Server 2008 R2

10.0.0.1

512 MB

Contoso-SQL

Windows Server 2008 R2

10.0.0.2

2048 MB

Contoso-AppSrv

Windows Server 2008 R2

10.0.0.3

2048 MB

Contoso-Client

Windows 7

10.0.0.4

1536 MB

Click here to view table as image

Note:
The memory configurations in this table are the minimum recommended for this configuration. They enable you to deploy this environment on a host computer that has 8 gigabyte (GB) of RAM. If you experience performance issues, add memory, especially to the Contoso-AppSrv virtual machine.

Note:
To perform the steps in the Excel Services labs, you must install Microsoft Excel 2010 on the Contoso-Client virtual machine. To perform the steps in the Visio Services labs, you must install Microsoft Visio Professional 2010 or Microsoft Visio Premium 2010 on the Contoso-Client virtual machine.

Video demonstration

This video shows how to add a virtual machine to the domain.

Running time: 3:55

Watch the video.
For an optimal viewing experience, download the video.
Right-click the link, and then click Save Target As to download a copy. Clicking the link opens a .wmv file in the default video viewer for full-resolution viewing.

Click here to view table as image

Configuring the virtual machine

Perform the following procedure for the Contoso-SQL, Contoso-AppSrv, and Contoso-Client virtual machines. Use the IP addresses listed in the table.

Important:
As with the domain controller, each virtual machine must have the virtual network adapter set to Internal Network before you configure the static IP address.

To configure a static IP address

1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.

2. Click Network and Internet.

3. Click Network and Sharing Center.

4. Click Change Adapter Settings.

5. Right-click local area connection, and then click Properties.

6. On the Local Area Connection Properties dialog box, clear the Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6) check box.

7. Select Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4), and then click Properties.

8. On the Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) Properties dialog box, select the Use the following IP address option, and then type the IP address for the virtual machine that you are configuring in the IP address box.

9. In the Subnet mask box, type 255.0.0.0.

10. Select the Use the following DNS server addresses option, and then type 10.0.0.1 in the Preferred DNS server box.

11. Click OK.

12. Click Close.

Once the static IP address has been configured for each virtual machine, you can join the virtual machine to the contoso.local domain. Perform the following procedure on the Contoso-SQL, Contoso-AppSrv, and Contoso-Client virtual machines.

Note:
The default Windows Server 2008 firewall settings can interfere with the ability to join the computer to a domain. If you have problems joining the virtual machines to the domain, contact a network administrator for help. Because this is a private network that is not connected to the corporate network or the Internet, you can also consider turning off Windows Firewall.

To connect to the domain

1. Click Start, right-click Computer, and then click Properties.

2. Under Computer, name, domain, and workgroup settings, click Change settings.

3. On the Computer Name tab, click Change.

4. Select the Domain option, and then type contoso.local.

Important:
Make sure the Computer name in this dialog box matches the virtual machine name in the previous table. If it does not, repeat this procedure after you join the domain and change the computer name to match the name in the table.

5. Click OK.

6. In the Windows Security dialog box, type Contoso\Administrator for the user name, and type the password for that account. (This is the administrator password that you configured for the Contoso-DC virtual machine.)

7. Click OK.

8. On the Welcome to the domain dialog box, click OK.

9. On the Computer Name/Domain Changes dialog box, click OK.

10. Click Close.

11. Restart the virtual machine.

Once the virtual machines have been joined to the contoso.local domain, the next step is to set up the domain accounts that you need for SharePoint Server 2010 and its associated applications. See the next article, Set up accounts for a BI test environment.

Set up accounts for a BI test environment

Published: May 26, 2011

Important:
This article is part of the baseline setup for the Configuring a BI infrastructure: Hands-on labs series. To complete the steps in this article, you must first have completed Add a virtual machine to the virtual domain in a BI test environment.

Video demonstration

This video shows how to add the required accounts for use in these labs.

Running time: 5:45

Watch the video.
For an optimal viewing experience, download the video.
Right-click the link, and then click Save Target As to download a copy. Clicking the link opens a .wmv file in the default video viewer for full-resolution viewing.

Click here to view table as image

Configure accounts

To configure Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 in a server farm environment, there are several domain accounts needed to provide the most optimal and secure configuration. This article describes how to create accounts and groups at the domain level for use in the remaining configuration steps in this series of articles.

Account

Domain account

Description

SQL Server Administrator

Contoso\SQLAdmin

Administrator account for SQL Server 2008. Local Administrator on Contoso-SQL.

Farm Administrator

Contoso\FarmAdmin

Farm Administrator for the SharePoint Server 2010 farm. Local Administrator on Contoso-AppSrv.

SQL Server service account

Contoso\SQLSvc

Domain account for running SQL Server services.

Client user account

Contoso\John.Woods

Domain user account for testing BI functionality.

Client user account

Contoso\Susan.Burk

Domain user account for testing BI functionality.

Client user account

Contoso\Cindy.White

Domain user account for testing BI functionality.

Client user account

Contoso\David.Hamilton

Domain user account for testing BI functionality.

Client user account

Contoso\Jill.Frank

Domain user account for testing BI functionality.

Click here to view table as image

To create these accounts, you must be logged on to Contoso-DC as the domain administrator (contoso\administrator).

Note:
Additional accounts will be created for SharePoint Server 2010 service applications and for data access as part of the other hands-on labs in this series.

Perform the following procedure for each account listed in the table.

To create an Active Directory account

1. Click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Active Directory Users and Computers.

2. Expand the domain node.

3. Right-click Users, click New, and then click User.

4. For a user account (for example, John Woods or Susan Burk) type the first and last name in the First name and Last name text boxes. For a service account, leave these text boxes blank.

5. In the Full name box, for service accounts, type the name of the account (for example, FarmAdmin).

Note:
This text box is automatically populated for user accounts when you specify the First name and Last name fields.

6. In the User logon name box, type the logon name for the account. For service accounts, this is the same as Full name; for user accounts this should be in the format first.last (for example, Susan.Burk).

7. Click Next.

8. Type and confirm a password for the account.

9. Clear the User must change password at next logon check box.

10. Select the Password never expires check box.

11. Click Next.

12. Click Finish.

Leave Active Directory Users and Computers open for the next procedure.

Once you have created the user accounts listed in the previous table, you must create an Active Directory group to contain these accounts. These groups are used to grant access to the Business Intelligence Center that we will create later in this series of labs.

We will create the groups listed in the following table.

Group

Description

BICenterRead

Provides Read access to the BI Center.

BICenterContribute

Provides Contribute access to the BI Center.

BICenterDesign

Provides Design access to the BI Center.

BICenterFullControl

Provides Full Control access to the BI Center.

Click here to view table as image

Use the following procedure to create each Active Directory group.

To create an Active Directory group

1. In Active Directory Users and Computers, right-click Users, click New, and then click Group.

2. In the Group name text box, type the name of the group that you are creating from the previous table.

3. Click OK.

Leave Active Directory Users and Computers open for the next procedure.

Once the groups have been created, you must add a user to each group, as specified in the following table.

Add this user

To this group

Contoso\John.Woods

BICenterRead

Contoso\Susan.Burk

BICenterContribute

Contoso\Cindy.White

BICenterDesign

Contoso\David.Hamilton

BICenterFullControl

Click here to view table as image

Use the following procedure to add the specified user to each group.

To add users to an Active Directory group

1. In Active Directory Users and Computers, click Users.

2. In the pane on the right side, double-click the group to which you want to add a user.

3. On the Members tab, click Add.

4. In the Enter the object names to select box, type the name of the user whom you want to add to the group (for example, contoso\john.woods for the BICenterRead group).

5. Click OK.

6. Confirm that the appropriate user is now listed on the Members tab, and then click OK.

After you have created the required user accounts and groups and populated the groups in the Active Directory directory service, you can start to install software. The first step is to install SQL Server 2008. See the next article, Set up SQL Server for a BI test environment.

Set up SQL Server for a BI test environment

Published: May 26, 2011

Important:
This article is part of the baseline setup for the Configuring a BI infrastructure: Hands-on labs series. To complete the steps in this article, you must first have completed Set up accounts for a BI test environment.

This article describes how to install and configure Microsoft SQL Server 2008 for use with Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010. SharePoint Server 2010 requires one of the following versions of Microsoft SQL Server:

• Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2

• Microsoft SQL Server 2008 with Service Pack 1 (SP1) and Cumulative Update 2

• Microsoft SQL Server 2005 SP3 with Cumulative Update package 3 for SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 3

This article describes installing and configuring SQL Server 2008 R2.

Video demonstration

This video shows how to set up SQL Server 2008 R2 on the Contoso-SQL virtual machine.

Running time: 11:13

Watch the video.
For an optimal viewing experience, download the video.
Right-click the link, and then click Save Target As to download a copy. Clicking the link opens a .wmv file in the default video viewer for full-resolution viewing.

Click here to view table as image

Configure a local administrator

We recommend that you install SQL Server 2008 R2 while logged on with the SQL Server administrator domain account (Contoso\SQLAdmin). Prior to doing this, you must add this account to the Administrators group on the Contoso-SQL virtual machine.

Log on to the Contoso-SQL virtual machine with the domain administrator account (Contoso\administrator) and perform the following procedure to add the Contoso\SQLAdmin account to the local Administrators group.

To add a local administrator

1. Log on to the virtual machine where you want to install SQL Server as a domain administrator (Contoso\Administrator).

2. Click Start, click Administrative tools, and then click Computer Management.

3. Expand Local Users and Groups, and then click Groups.

4. In the pane on the right side, right-click Administrators, and then click Properties.

5. Click Add.

6. Type the name of the SQL Server administrator account (Contoso\SQLAdmin), and then click OK.

7. Click OK.

8. Log off the virtual machine.

To perform the remaining procedures in this article, log on to the Contoso-SQL virtual machine with the Contoso\SQLAdmin account.

Install SQL Server 2008 R2

The first step is to install SQL Server 2008. SQL Server 2008 requires .NET Framework version 3.5. If .NET Framework 3.5 is currently not installed, you must install it or enable it as a feature in Windows Server 2008 before you continue.

Perform the following procedure to install SQL Server 2008 on Contoso-SQL.

To install SQL Server 2008 R2

1. Attach the SQL Server 2008 R2 DVD to the virtual machine DVD drive.

2. Log on to the Contoso-SQL virtual machine as the SQL Server administrator (Contoso\SQLAdmin).

3. On the SQL Server DVD, double-click setup.exe.

4. If a SQL Server 2008 R2 setup requires Microsoft .NET Framework dialog box is displayed, click OK.

5. In the SQL Server Installation Center, in the pane on the left side, click Installation.

6. In the pane on the right side, click New installation or add features to an existing installation.

7. On the Setup Support Rules page, click OK.

8. On the product key page, type your product key, and then click Next.

9. On the License Terms page, review the license agreement and, if you agree, select the I accept the license terms check box, and then click Next.

10. On the Setup Support Files page, click Install.

11. On the Setup Support Rules page, click Next.

12. On the Setup Role page, select the SQL Server Feature Installation option, and then click Next.

13. On the Feature Selection page, select the following check boxes:

• Database Engine Services

• Analysis Services

• Reporting Services

• Management Tools - Complete

Note:
We also recommend that you install SQL Server Books Online.

14. Click Next.

15. On the Installation Rules page, click Next.

16. On the Instance Configuration page, leave the Default instance option selected, and then click Next.

17. On the Disk Space Requirements page, click Next.

18. On the Server Configuration page, change the Startup Type for SQL Server Agent from Manual to Automatic.

19. Click Use the same account for all SQL Server services, type Contoso\SQLSvc for the Account Name, type the password for that account, and then click OK.

20. Click Next.

21. On the Database Engine Configuration page, select the Mixed Mode option, and type and confirm a password for the built-in SQL Server administrator account.

22. Click Add Current User to add the current user account as a SQL Server administrator.

23. Click Next.

24. On the Analysis Services Configuration page, click Add Current User to add the current user account as an Analysis Services administrator.

25. Click Next.

26. On the Reporting Services Configuration page, select the Install the native mode default configuration option, and then click Next.

27. On the Error and Usage Reporting page, leave the default values and then click Next.

28. On the Installation Rules page, click Next.

29. On the Ready to Install page, click Install.

30. When the setup process is complete, click Close.

Configure logins

When SQL Server 2008 R2 has been installed, the next step is to create a logon for the Farm Administrator account (Contoso\FarmAdmin) to provide the necessary permissions for SharePoint Server 2010 installation and configuration.

Perform the following procedure to create a logon for the Farm Administrator account.

To create a logon for the Farm Admin

1. Click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2, and then click SQL Server Management Studio.

2. On the Connect to Server dialog box, type Contoso-SQL in the Server name text box, and connect to the Database Engine.

3. In SQL Server Management Studio, expand Security, right-click Logins, and then click New Login.

4. In the Login name box, type Contoso\FarmAdmin.

5. In the pane on the left side, click Server Roles.

6. Select the sysadmin and dbcreator server roles.

7. Click OK.

Configure SQL Server network protocols

SharePoint Server 2010 requires that SQL Server 2008 allow connections over TCP/IP. Depending on your SQL Server configuration, this may be enabled by default. Use the following procedure to confirm that TCP/IP access is enabled.

To enable connections over TCP/IP

1. Click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2, click Configuration Tools, and then click SQL Server Configuration Manager.

2. Expand the SQL Server Network Configuration node.

3. Click Protocols for MSSQLSERVER.

4. In the Protocol Name list, confirm that TCP/IP is Enabled. If it is not, right-click TCP/IP, and then click Enable.

5. If TCP/IP was disabled, restart the SQL Server service for the new setting to take effect.

Note:
To restart the service, in Management Studio, right click the Contoso-SQL node at the top of Object Explorer, and then click Restart.

After SQL Server configuration is complete, the next step is to install SharePoint Server 2010 on the Contoso-AppSrv virtual machine. See the next article, Install and configure SharePoint Server 2010 for a BI test environment.

Install the Contoso sample database

Several of the labs in this series use sample data from the Microsoft Contoso BI Demo Dataset for Retail Industry. To install this dataset, you first have to download the files from the Microsoft Download Center (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=219170). Download ContosoBIdemoBAK.exe.

You must install this file on the Contoso-SQL virtual machine. You can put the file on the virtual machine by using one of the following methods:

• Create an ISO file that contains the downloaded file and attach it to the Virtual DVD drive on Contoso-SQL.

• Burn the file onto a physical DVD and place the DVD in the DVD drive of the host computer that is running Hyper-V. Then, connect the Contoso-SQL virtual machine to the physical DVD drive.

• Create a network file share that contains the file, and then connect to that file share from Contoso-SQL.

Note:
You may have to add an additional virtual network adapter to Contoso-SQL to gain access to a file share that is outside the Contoso domain.

Which method that you choose depends largely on your environment.

Once you have downloaded the file and copied it to the Contoso-SQL virtual machine, use the following procedures to install the sample data.

First, create a folder for the backup files.

To create a backup folder

1. Click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, and then click Windows Explorer.

2. In the pane on the left side, click Computer.

3. In the pane on the right side, double-click Local Disk (C:).

4. Right-click the pane on the right side, click New, and then click Folder.

5. Name the folder BackupFiles.

Once the folder has been created, you can unzip the contents of the ContosoBIdemoBAK.exe file to that folder. Use the following procedure to unzip the ContosoBIdemoBAK.exe file and restore the database backups to SQL Server.

To install the ContosoRetailDW database

1. On the Contoso-SQL virtual machine, locate the ContosoBIdemoBAK.exe file.

2. Double-click ContosoBIdemoBAK.exe.

3. On the WinZip Self-Extractor dialog box, click Browse.

4. On the Browse for folder dialog box, browse to the C:\BackupFiles folder, and then click OK.

5. On the WinZip Self-Extractor dialog box, click Unzip.

6. On the success dialog box, click OK.

7. Click Close.

8. Open SQL Server Management Studio and connect to the Database Engine.

9. Right-click Databases, and then click Restore database.

10. In the To database text box, type ContosoRetailDW.

11. Select the From device option, and then click the browse button.

12. On the Specify Backup dialog box, click Add.

13. Browse to the C:\BackupFiles folder, click ContosoRetailDW.bak, and then click OK.

14. On the Specify Backup dialog box, click OK.

15. Select the check box for ContosoRetailDW-Full Database Backup, and then click OK.

16. On the success dialog box, click OK.

Install and configure SharePoint Server 2010 for a BI test environment

Published: May 26, 2011

Important:
This article is part of the baseline setup for the Configuring a BI infrastructure: Hands-on labs series. To complete the steps in this article, you must first have completed Set up SQL Server for a BI test environment.

This article describes how to install SharePoint Server 2010 on the Contoso-AppSrv virtual machine.

Video demonstration

This video shows how to set up the Contoso-DC domain controller for use in these labs.

Running time: 8:40

Watch the video.
For an optimal viewing experience, download the video.
Right-click the link, and then click Save Target As to download a copy. Clicking the link opens a .wmv file in the default video viewer for full-resolution viewing.

Click here to view table as image

Install SharePoint Server 2010

The first step in installing Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 is to install the SharePoint Server 2010 prerequisites. These can be automatically downloaded from the Internet and installed by the SharePoint Server 2010 prerequisite installer tool that is built into SharePoint Server 2010 setup.

Important:
The Enterprise edition of SharePoint Server 2010 is required for the scenarios in this hands-on labs series.

For the Contoso-AppSrv virtual machine to be able to download the necessary updates, you must add a second virtual network connection to the Contoso-AppSrv virtual machine and connect it to the External Network connection.

Note:
To add a network connection, the virtual machine must be turned off. When the virtual machine is off, right-click the virtual machine in Virtual Machine Manager, and then click Settings. On the Settings page, select Network Adapter in the Add Hardware section, and connect it to External Network.

Note:
If you cannot create an internet connection from the virtual machine, you can download the prerequisites from the Internet and create an ISO file that you can attach to the virtual machine DVD drive. For more information about what prerequisites are required, see Determine hardware and software requirements (SharePoint Server 2010). For information about how to install the prerequisites from a network share, see Install prerequisites from a network share (SharePoint Server 2010).

For installation of SharePoint Server 2010 and its prerequisites, use the Contoso\FarmAdmin account. This account must be a local administrator on the Contoso-AppSrv virtual machine.

Log on to the Contoso-AppSrv virtual machine with the domain administrator account (Contoso\administrator) and perform the following procedure to add the Contoso\FarmAdmin account to the Administrators group.

To add a local administrator

1. Log on to the virtual machine where you want to install SharePoint Server 2010 by using the Contoso\Administrator domain administrator account.

2. Click Start, click Administrative tools, and then click Computer Management.

3. Expand Local Users and Groups, and then click Groups.

4. In the pane on the right side, right-click Administrators, and then click Properties.

5. Click Add.

6. Type the name of the SQL Server administrator account (Contoso\FarmAdmin), and then click OK.

7. Click OK.

8. Log off the virtual machine.

To perform the remaining procedures in this article, log on to the Contoso-AppSrv virtual machine with the Contoso\FarmAdmin account.

To install the SharePoint Server 2010 prerequisites, perform the following procedure.

To install SharePoint Server 2010 prerequisites

1. On the SharePoint Server 2010 DVD, run default.hta.

2. On the SharePoint Server 2010 opening page, click Install software prerequisites.

3. Follow the wizard to complete installation of all prerequisites.

Note:
Depending on your configuration, you may have to restart your computer during this process.

4. When the wizard has finished, click Finish.

Once the prerequisites have been installed, you can install SharePoint Server 2010 itself. Perform the following procedure to install SharePoint Server 2010 on Contoso-AppSrv.

To install SharePoint Server 2010

1. On the SharePoint Server 2010 DVD, run default.hta.

2. On the SharePoint Server 2010 opening page, click Install SharePoint Server.

3. On the Enter your Product Key page, type your product key, and then click Continue.

4. On the Read the Microsoft Software License Terms page, read the license agreement and accept the terms by selecting the I accept the terms of this agreement check box.

5. Click Continue.

6. On the Choose the installation you want page, click Server Farm.

7. On the Server Type page, select the Complete – Install all components option.

8. Click Install Now.

9. On the Run Configuration Wizard page, leave the Run the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard now check box selected, and then click Close.

10. On the Welcome to SharePoint Products page, click Next.

11. On the warning dialog box, click Yes.

12. On the Connect to a server farm page, select the Create a new server farm option, and then click Next.

13. On the Specify Configuration Database Settings page:

a) In the Database server box, type the name of the database server (Contoso-SQL) where you want to host the SharePoint Server 2010 databases.

b) In the Database name text box, keep the default database name of SharePoint_Config.

c) Type the user name and password of the database access account (Contoso\FarmAdmin).

d) Click Next.

Note:
If the wizard is unable to connect to Contoso-SQL, check the firewall settings in Windows Server.

14. On the Specify Farm Security Settings page, type and confirm a pass phrase for the farm, and then click Next.

15. On the Configure SharePoint Central Administration web Application page, select the Specify port number check box, and type 8080 in the text box.

Note:
In a production environment, you can choose any unused port or leave the default. We recommend that you choose a number that is easy to remember.

16. Click Next.

17. On the Completing the SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard page, click Next.

18. On the Configuration Successful page, click Finish.

Once SharePoint Server 2010 configuration has been completed, the SharePoint Central Administration Web site opens.

19. On the Help Make SharePoint Better page, select the No, I don’t wish to participate option, and then click OK.

Note:
Because this is an isolated test environment, this system will be unable to upload error reports.

20. On the Configure your SharePoint farm page, click Cancel to cancel the farm configuration wizard.

When SharePoint Server 2010 configuration has been completed, the next step is to create a top-level Web site.

Configure the top-level Web site

A Web application is required to host the top-level web site. Perform the following procedure to create a Web application.

To create a Web application

1. In Central Administration, in the Application Management section, click Manage Web applications.

2. On the toolbar, click New.

3. On the Create New Web Application page, keep the default values, and then click OK.

4. When the Web application has been created, click OK.

The next step is to create a top-level Web site and give users Read permission to that site.

Note:
In a production environment you should carefully consider which users should be given permissions to a SharePoint site and at what level. In this case, we are granting Read permission to all users on the top-level site, and we will grant additional permissions to specific users on the Business Intelligence Center that we will be creating in a later lab.

Use the following procedure to create the top-level site.

To create a top-level Web site

1. On the Central Administration home page, in the Application Management section, click Create site collections.

2. Confirm that Web Application is set to http://contoso-appsrv/.

3. Type Contoso in the Title box.

4. In the Primary Site Collection Administrator section, type FarmAdmin.

5. Click OK.

Now that the top-level site has been created, we will grant users access to it. Use the following procedure to grant users Read access to the site.

To set Read permission on the top-level Web site

1. Navigate to the root site (http://contoso-appsrv).

2. Click Site Actions.

3. Click Site Permissions.

4. Click Grant Permissions.

5. In the Users/Groups box, type NT AUTHORITY\Authenticated Users.

6. Under Give Permission, select Contoso Visitors [Read].

7. Click OK.

The next step is to configure the Secure Store Service. See the next article, Configure Secure Store Service for a BI test environment.

Configure Secure Store Service for a BI test environment

Published: May 26, 2011

Important:
This article is part of the baseline setup for the Configuring a BI infrastructure: Hands-on labs series. To complete the steps in this article, you must first have completed Install and configure SharePoint Server 2010 for a BI test environment.

In this article we deploy Secure Store Service. Secure Store provides a means of storing encrypted credentials for use in accessing data sources. It is used by Excel Services, Visio Services, and PerformancePoint Services to provide data refresh for data-connected reports, dashboards, and web drawings.

In a production environment, correct deployment of Secure Store requires careful planning. For information about how to plan and deploy Secure Store in your production environment, see Plan the Secure Store service (SharePoint Server 2010) and Configure the Secure Store Service (SharePoint Server 2010).

Video demonstration

This video shows how to deploy the Secure Store Service for use in these labs.

Running time: 5:05

Watch the video.
For an optimal viewing experience, download the video.
Right-click the link, and then click Save Target As to download a copy. Clicking the link opens a .wmv file in the default video viewer for full-resolution viewing.

Click here to view table as image

Deploy the Secure Store Service

In this lab, we will deploy the Secure Store Service for use in the later labs in this series. This includes the following tasks:

• Creating an Active Directory account to run the Secure Store Service application pool

• Registering that account as a managed account in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010

• Starting Secure Store Service on an application server in the farm

• Creating a Secure Store Service service application

• Generating an encryption key

The first step is to create an Active Directory account for the Secure Store Service application pool. Use the following procedure to create the account.

To create an account for the application pool

1. Log in to Contoso-DC by using the Contoso\administrator account.

2. On the Contoso-DC virtual machine, click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Active Directory Users and Computers.

3. Expand the contoso.local node.

4. Right-click Users, click New, and then click User.

5. In the Full name text box and the User logon name text box, type SecStrAcct.

6. Click Next.

7. In the Password and Confirm password text boxes, type a password for the account.

8. Clear the User must change password at next logon check box.

9. Select the Password never expires check box.

10. Click Next.

11. Click Finish.

12. Log off Contoso-DC.

Before the account can be used to run a SharePoint Server 2010 application pool, it must be registered as a managed account. Use the following procedure to register the managed account.

To register a managed account

1. Log in to Contoso-AppSrv by using the Contoso\FarmAdmin account.

2. Click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products, and then click SharePoint 2010 Central Administration.

3. On the Central Administration home page, in the left navigation, click Security.

4. On the Security page, under General Security, click Configure managed accounts.

5. On the Managed Accounts page, click Register Managed Account.

6. In the User name text box, type Contoso\SecStrAcct.

7. In the Password text box, type the password for the Contoso\SecStrAcct account.

8. Click OK.

In order for Secure Store to work, you must start Secure Store Service on at least one application server in the farm.

Note:
In a production environment we recommend that you run Secure Store Service in a separate application pool that is not used for any other service.

In the case of this lab, Contoso-AppSrv is the only application server in the farm, so we start the service on that server. Use the following procedure to start Secure Store Service.

To start Secure Store Service

1. On the Central Administration home page, in the System Settings section, click Manage services on server.

2. Above the Service list, click the Server drop-down list, and then click Change Server.

Note that the application server, Contoso-AppSrv, is listed together with Contoso-SQL. In a farm with multiple application servers, you would use this dialog box to select the server where you want to run Secure Store Service, and then start the service as shown later in this procedure.

3. Click CONTOSO-APPSRV.

4. In the Service list, click Start next to Secure Store Service.

Once the service is running, the next step is to create a Secure Store Service service application. Use the following procedure to create the service application.

To create a Secure Store Service service application

1. On the Central Administration home page, in the Application Management section, click Manage service applications.

2. On the Manage Service Applications page, click New, and then click Secure Store Service.

3. In the Service Application Name text box, type Secure Store Service.

4. Leave the default database settings.

Note:
In a production environment we recommend that you use a separate instance of SQL Server for the Secure Store database.

5. Select the Create new application pool option and in the Application pool name text box, type SecureStoreAppPool.

6. Under Select a security account for this application pool, select the Configurable option, and from the drop-down list, select Contoso\SecStrAcct.

7. Click OK.

8. When the Secure Store Service service application has been successfully created, click OK.

Before you can use Secure Store, you must first generate an encryption key. Use the following procedure to generate the key.

To generate a key

1. On the Central Administration home page, in the Application Management section, click Manage service applications.

2. Click the Secure Store Service service application link.

3. On the Secure Store Service Application page, in the ribbon, click Generate New Key.

4. Type and confirm a pass phrase for the key, and then click OK.

Now that Secure Store configuration is complete, the next step is to create a Business Intelligence Center. See the next lab, Configure a Business Intelligence Center for a test environment.

Configure a Business Intelligence Center for a test environment

Published: May 26, 2011

Important:
This article is part of the baseline setup for the Configuring a BI infrastructure: Hands-on labs series. To complete the steps in this article, you must first have completed Configure Secure Store Service for a BI test environment.

At this point, you have installed and configured Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 but have not enabled certain services, such as Excel Services in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 or PerformancePoint Services in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010. Those services enable robust business intelligence capabilities in SharePoint Server. However by using the baseline SharePoint Server environment that you previously configured, you do have certain capabilities that are available to you. For example, you can set up a Business Intelligence Center.

The Business Intelligence Center gives you a central location to store items, such as status indicators, reports, and dashboards. When you enable Excel Services and PerformancePoint Services, you will already have a location to store reports and dashboard content.

Video demonstration

This video shows how to set up a Business Intelligence Center.

Running time: 6:27

Watch the video.
For an optimal viewing experience, download the video.
Right-click the link, and then click Save Target As to download a copy. Clicking the link opens a .wmv file in the default video viewer for full-resolution viewing.

Click here to view table as image

Configuring a Business Intelligence Center

When you create and configure a Business Intelligence Center, you create a new site collection and select the Business Intelligence Center site template. The Business Intelligence Center is a top-level site on Contoso-AppSrv.

To create a Business Intelligence Center

1. Log in to Contoso-AppSrv using the Contoso\FarmAdmin account.

2. Click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products, and then click SharePoint 2010 Central Administration.

3. In Central Administration, in the Application Management section, click Create site collections.

4. In the Title and Description section, in the Title box, type BI Center.

5. In the Web Site Address section, type BICenter in the box.

Thus, the complete URL for this site collection is http://contoso-appsrv/sites/bicenter.

6. In the Template Selection section, click the Enterprise tab, and then click Business Intelligence Center.

7. In the Primary Site Collection Administrator section, type FarmAdmin.

8. Click OK.

9. When the top-level site (Business Intelligence Center) is successfully created, click OK.

The next step is to assign user permissions by using the accounts we set up in Set up accounts for a BI test environment. We will assign permissions for the Business Intelligence Center as listed in the following table:

Account

Permissions

Contoso\BICenterRead

Read
Read permissions enable users to view information in the Business Intelligence Center.

Contoso\BICenterContribute

Contribute
Contribute permissions enable users to view and create items, such as reports, and save them to this site.

Contoso\BICenterDesign

Design
Design permissions enable users to view, create, and publish items that include dashboards.

Contoso\BICenter FullControl

Full Control
Full Control permissions enable users to view, create, and publish dashboard content, and to view or edit user permissions

Click here to view table as image

First, we will assign Read permissions to the Contoso\BICenterRead group.

To set Read permissions on the Business Intelligence Center

1. Navigate to the Business Intelligence Center (http://contoso-appsrv/sites/bicenter).

2. Click Site Actions.

3. Click Site Permissions.

4. Click Grant Permissions.

5. In the Users/Groups box, type Contoso\BICenterRead.

6. Under Grant Permission, select BICenter Visitors [Read].

7. Click OK. Keep the Permissions: BICenter page open.

Next, we will assign Contribute permissions to the Contoso\BICenterContribute group.

To set Contribute permissions on the Business Intelligence Center

1. In the Permissions: BICenter page, click Grant Permissions.

2. In the Users/Groups box, type Contoso\BICenterContribute.

3. Under Grant Permission, select BICenter Members [Contribute].

4. Click OK. Keep the Permissions: BICenter page open.

The next step is to assign Design permissions to the Contoso\BICenterDesign group.

To set Design permissions on the Business Intelligence Center

1. In the Permissions: BICenter page, click Grant Permissions.

2. In the Users/Groups box, type Contoso\BICenterDesign.

3. Under Grant Permission, select Designers [Design, Limited Access].

4. Click OK. Keep the Permissions: BICenter page open.

Finally, we will assign Full Control permissions to the Contoso\BICenterFullControl group.

To set Full Control permissions on the Business Intelligence Center

1. In the Permissions: BICenter page, click Grant Permissions.

2. In the Users/Groups box, type Contoso\BICenterFullControl.

3. Under Grant Permission, select BICenter Owners [Full Control].

4. Click OK.

Note:
You will be unable to create and use some kinds of Web Parts in the Business Intelligence Center until Excel Services and PerformancePoint Services are enabled. For example, you cannot view or use Excel Services samples or PerformancePoint functionality.

Although we do not cover this in the labs, you can now use the Business Intelligence Center to create Web Part Pages, status indicators, and status lists. For more information, see Getting started with SharePoint status indicators.

Adding links to the Quick Launch

After you have created and configured the Business Intelligence Center, your next step is to add links to the Quick Launch. In the Business Intelligence Center, we will add a Documents library link and a link to the main team site. Then, in the main team site, we will add a link to the Business Intelligence Center.

In the Business Intelligence Center, the Documents library will contain reports and files, such as Excel Services workbooks, Visio Services files, and more. The Documents library for the Business Intelligence Center already exists. It was created automatically when we created the Business Intelligence Center. We only have to add the Documents library on the Business Intelligence Center Quick Launch, and then add a link to the main team site.

To add the Documents library and a link to the Quick Launch in the Business Intelligence Center

1. In the Business Intelligence Center, click Site Actions, and then click View All Site Content.

2. Right-click Documents, and then click Copy shortcut.

3. In the Business Intelligence Center, click Site Actions, and then click Site Settings.

4. Under Look and Feel, click Navigation.

5. In the Navigation Editing and Sorting section, click Current Navigation, and then click Add Link.

6. In the dialog box that opens, type Documents in the Title box, paste the link that you copied in Step 2, and then click OK to close the dialog box. (Do not close the navigation settings yet.)

7. In the Navigation Editing and Sorting section, select Documents, and then click Move Up until Documents is the first item listed under Current Navigation.

8. In the Navigation Editing and Sorting section, click Global Navigation, and then click Add Link.

9. In the Title box, type Contoso.

10. In the URL box, type http://contoso-appsrv, and then click OK.

11. Click OK to close navigation settings. Verify that Documents appears at the top of the list in the Quick Launch.

To make it easier for site users to locate the Business Intelligence Center, you can add a link on the main team site Quick Launch.

To add a link on the main team site Quick Launch

1. Browse to the main team site (http://contoso-appsrv/).

2. Click Site Actions, and then click Site Settings.

3. Under Look and Feel, click Quick Launch.

4. Click New Navigation Link.

5. In the URL section, in the Type the Web address box, type http://contoso-appsrv/sites/bicenter.

6. In the Type the description box, type Business Intelligence Center.

7. Click OK.

Next steps

Now that you have finished setting up your baseline test environment, you can choose to configure additional services. For more information, see any of the following resources:

• Configure Excel Services for a BI test environment

• Configure Visio Services for a BI test environment

• Configure PerformancePoint Services for a BI test environment

• Enable Reporting Services in an integrated SharePoint Server BI test environment

• Configure Access Services for a BI test environment

Concepts

Create a baseline environment for a BI test environment

Configure Excel Services for a BI test environment

Published: May 26, 2011

Important:
This article is part of the Configuring a BI infrastructure: Hands-on labs series. To complete the steps in this article, you must first have completed:

• All steps in the Create a baseline environment for a BI test environment series of articles.

Excel Services in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 is a service application that lets users share and view Microsoft Excel workbooks. The service also enables administrators to specify permission settings in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 to control what users can see or do with each workbook.

Configuring Excel Services consists of three steps:

• Deploying Excel Services on the SharePoint Server 2010 farm

• Configuring trusted file locations and trusted data connection libraries

• Configuring data access for authors of Excel workbooks

Deploy Excel Services

Deploying Excel Services consists of the following steps:

• Creating an Active Directory account for the application pool under which the Excel Services service application will run

• Registering that account as a managed account in SharePoint Server 2010

• Starting the Excel Calculation Services service

• Creating an Excel Services service application

The first step in deploying Excel Services is to create an account in the Active Directory directory service to run the application pool for the Excel Services service application. Use the following procedure to create the account.

To create an account for the application pool

1. Log on to Contoso-DC using the Contoso\administrator account.

2. On the Contoso-DC virtual machine, click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Active Directory Users and Computers.

3. Expand the contoso.local node.

4. Right-click Users, click New, and then click User.

5. In the Full name box and the User logon name box, type ExcelAppPool.

6. Click Next.

7. In the Password and Confirm password boxes, type a password for the account.

8. Clear the User must change password at next logon check box.

9. Select the Password never expires check box.

10. Click Next.

11. Click Finish.

12. Log off Contoso-DC.

Once you have created the account, it must be registered as a managed account in SharePoint Server 2010. Doing so makes the account available to service applications when you create them. Use the following procedure to register the managed account.

To register a managed account

1. Log in to Contoso-AppSrv using the Contoso\FarmAdmin account.

2. Click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products, and then click SharePoint 2010 Central Administration.

3. On the SharePoint Central Administration Web site home page, in the left navigation, click Security.

4. On the Security page, under General Security, click Configure managed accounts.

5. On the Managed Accounts page, click Register Managed Account.

6. In the User name box, type Contoso\ExcelAppPool.

7. In the Password box, type the password for the Contoso\ExcelAppPool account.

8. Click OK.

By default, the application pool account does not have the required access to the SharePoint content database. Access to this database is required for Excel Services. Use the following procedure to grant the required database access to the application pool account.

To grant content database access to the managed account

1. On Contoso-AppSrv, click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products, right-click SharePoint 2010 Management Shell, and then click Run as Administrator.

2. At the Windows PowerShell Command Prompt, type the following (press Enter after each line):

$w = Get-SPWebApplication -identity http://contoso-appsrv
$w.GrantAccessToProcessIdentity("Contoso\ExcelAppPool")

Click here to view code as image

Once you have granted database access to the application pool account, you must start the Excel Calculation Services. This is the SharePoint Server 2010 service that performs all processing and activities associated with Excel Services.

You must start this service on at least one application server. In a production environment, you would choose a server or servers on which to run the service, depending on your capacity requirements.

Use the following procedure to start the Excel Calculation Services service.

To start the Excel Calculation Services service

1. On the Central Administration home page, in the System Settings section, click Manage services on server.

2. Above the Service list, click the Server drop-down, and then click Change Server.

Note that the application server, Contoso-AppSrv, is listed together with Contoso-SQL. In a farm with multiple application servers, you would use this dialog box to select the server where you want to run Secure Store Service, and then start the service as shown later in this article.

3. Click CONTOSO-APPSRV.

4. In the Service list, click Start next to Excel Calculation Services.

Once the service is started, you must create an Excel Services service application. Use the following procedure to create the service application.

To create an Excel Services service application

1. On the Central Administration home page, under Application Management, click Manage service applications.

2. On the Manage Service Applications page, click New, and then click Excel Services Application.

3. In the Name section, type Excel Services in the text box.

4. Select the Create new application pool option and type ExcelServicesAppPool in the text box.

5. Select the Configurable option, and from the drop-down list, select CONTOSO\excelapppool.

6. Click OK.

Configure trusted file locations and trusted data connection libraries

In Configure a Business Intelligence Center for a test environment, we created a Business Intelligence Center which includes a document library and a data connection library. In order for data access to function, Excel Services must be configured to trust these libraries.

Use the following procedure to create a trusted file location for the document library in the Business Intelligence Center.

To create a trusted file location

1. On the Central Administration home page, under Application Management, click Manage services applications.

2. In the list of service applications, click Excel Services.

3. Click Trusted File Locations.

4. On the Trusted File Locations page, click Add Trusted File Location.

5. In the Location section:

a) Type http://Contoso-AppSrv/sites/BICenter/Documents in the Address text box.

b) Select the Children trusted check box.

6. In the External Data section:

a) Under Allow External Data, select the Trusted data connection libraries and embedded option.

b) In the Automatic refresh and Manual refresh text boxes, type 0.

Note:
In a production environment, you would not typically set these values to 0. (Setting the cache values to 0 can cause additional resource utilization on the server.) However, in this series of labs, we are testing data refresh for data-connected workbooks, and setting the cache settings to 0 enables us to see data refresh results immediately.

7. Click OK.

By creating a trusted file location, we can now publish data-connected workbooks with embedded data connections. However, for Excel Services to correctly render data-connected workbooks with external data connections, we must create a trusted data connection library.

To create a trusted data connection library

1. On the Central Administration home page, in the Application Management section, click Manage service applications.

2. In the list of service applications, click Excel Services.

3. Click Trusted Data Connection Libraries.

4. On the Trusted Data Connection Libraries page, click Add Trusted Data Connection Library.

5. In the Address box, typehttp://Contoso-AppSrv/sites/BICenter/Data%20Connections%20for%20PerformancePoint.

6. Click OK.

When you have completed all of the previous procedures, Excel Services configuration is complete. The next step is to configure data access for the users who will create data-connected Excel workbooks.

Configure Excel client data access

In the following Excel Services labs, we will be configuring data refresh for Excel workbooks by using Secure Store Service. However, you should know that there are differences in the way that Excel Services and the Excel client application authenticate with data sources.

Although Excel Services can use Secure Store Service to authenticate with a data source when rendering a data-connected workbook, Microsoft Excel does not use Secure Store for data authentication. Excel requires that workbook authors have direct database access in order to access external data from the workbook.

In this case, we will create an Active Directory group to contain our workbook authors, and then create a SQL Server logon for that Active Directory group. We will then grant db_datareader access for this group to the ContosoRetailDW database which we will use in successive Excel Services labs.

To create an Active Directory group

1. Log on to Contoso-DC by using the Contoso\administrator account.

2. On the Contoso-DC virtual machine, click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Active Directory Users and Computers.

3. Expand the contoso.local node.

4. Right-click Users, click New, and then click Group.

5. In the Group Name box, type ExcelWorkbookAuthors, and then click OK.

Next, we need to add users to the group. In this case, we will add the user Susan Burk to the group because Susan Burk has Contribute access to the Business Intelligence Center where we will publish our data-connected workbooks in successive Excel Services labs.

Note:
Although we are only adding a single user to the group in this lab, in a production scenario you would add all the workbook authors to the group. (Using a group provides easier administration than adding individual logons for each user.) Depending on how your data is organized in your production environment, you may want to use multiple groups if different sets of users need access to different databases.

To populate the ExcelWorkbookAuthors Active Directory group

1. In Active Directory Users and Computers, double-click the ExcelWorkbookAuthors group.

2. On the Members tab, click Add.

3. In the Enter object names to select box, type Contoso\Susan.Burk, and then click OK.

4. Verify that Susan Burk appears in the Members list, and then click OK.

Now that the Susan Burk account has been added to the ExcelWorkbookAuthors group, the next step is to create a SQL Server logon for that group and grant that logon Read access to the ContosoRetailDW database.

To create a SQL Server logon

1. Log on to Contoso-SQL by using the Contoso\SQLAdmin account.

2. Click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2, and then click SQL Server Management Studio.

3. Connect to the Database Engine.

4. Expand the Security node.

5. Right-click Logins, and then click New Login.

6. On the Login – New page, click Search.

7. On the Select User or Group dialog box, click Object Types.

8. On the Object Types dialog box, select the Groups check box, and then click OK.

9. On the Select User or Group dialog box, in the Enter the object name to select box, type Contoso\ExcelWorkbookAuthors, and then click OK.

10. In the pane on the left side, click User Mapping.

11. Under Users mapped to this login, select the Map check box for the ContosoRetailDW database.

12. Under Database role membership for: ContosoRetailDW, select the db_datareader check box.

13. Click OK.

When you have completed all of the previous procedures, Excel Services will be operational and ready to use. The next step is to configure security access to your data sources. The following labs cover how to configure security access by using Secure Store Service:

• Configure the Excel Services unattended service account for a BI test environment

• Configure Excel Services data access by using embedded data connections

• Configure Excel Services data access by using external data connections in a BI test environment

Configure the Excel Services unattended service account for a BI test environment

Published: May 26, 2011

Important:
This article is part of the Configuring a BI infrastructure: Hands-on labs series. To complete the steps in this article, you must first have completed:

• All steps in the Create a baseline environment for a BI test environment series of articles.

• All steps in Configure Excel Services for a BI test environment

Excel Services in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 provides three methods of using Secure Store to refresh the external data source in a workbook:

• The unattended service account

• A data connection embedded in the workbook

• A data connection through an Office Data Connection (ODC) file

This lab covers the unattended service account option. For more information about how to use an embedded connection, see Configure Excel Services data access by using embedded data connections. For more information about how to use an ODC file, see Configure Excel Services data access by using external data connections in a BI test environment.

Using the unattended service account involves configuring an Active Directory account access to your data, storing the credentials for this account in Secure Store, and configuring Excel Services to use this account when it needs to refresh the data in workbook.

The following steps are required to configure the unattended service account in Excel Services.

• Configure a data access account

• Configure the Secure Store Service

• Configure the Excel Services Global Settings

In this lab, we will also create a sample PivotTable report in Microsoft Excel that uses the ContosoRetailDW database and publish it to the Business Intelligence Center to confirm that data refresh is working.

Configure a data access account

When you configure the unattended service account, you have to grant the account access to the data source to which your Excel Services account will be connected. The unattended service account requires an Active Directory account for data access. Use the following procedure to create an Active Directory account for data access.

To create an Active Directory account for data access

1. Log on to Contoso-DC as Contoso\Administrator.

2. Click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Active Directory Users and Computers.

3. Expand the contoso.local node.

4. Right-click Users, click New, and then click User.

5. In the Full name and User logon name boxes, type ExcelUnattended.

6. Click Next.

7. Type and confirm a password for the account.

8. Clear the User must change password at next logon check box.

9. Select the Password never expires check box.

10. Click Next, and then click Finish.

Once the account has been created, the next step is to grant that account Read access to the required data. In a production scenario, you would grant access to whatever data source that you need to access from your Excel 2010 workbook. Use the following procedure to create a SQL Server logon and grant that logon Data Reader access to the ContosoRetailDW table.

To create a SQL Server logon

1. Log on to Contoso-SQL as Contoso\SQLAdmin.

2. Click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2, and then click SQL Server Management Studio.

3. On the Connect to Server dialog box, select Database Engine as the Server type, type Contoso-SQL in the Server name box, and then click Connect.

4. In Object Explorer, expand Security.

5. Right-click Logins, and then click New Login.

6. In the Login name box, type Contoso\ExcelUnattended.

7. Under Select a page, click User Mapping.

8. Select the Map check box for the ContosoRetailDW database, and then, under Database role membership for: ContosoRetailDW, select the db_datareader check box.

9. Click OK.

With the account created and granted the appropriate data access, we can now configure Secure Store Service.

Configure Secure Store Service

Secure Store Service uses a target application to define connection parameters and authorized users. The unattended service account is generally considered a catch-all account that is used for general data access, so usually all users are granted access to the unattended service account through the target application.

In order to grant all users data access through the unattended service account, the account that is running the Excel Services application pool is added as a Member of the Secure Store target application. In Configure Excel Services for a BI test environment, we created the Contoso\ExcelAppPool account to run the Excel Services application pool. However, in a production environment you may not know what this account is, so we will describe the steps to determine the application pool account.

To find the Windows identity assigned to the Excel Services application pool

1. Log in to Contoso-AppSrv using the Contoso\FarmAdmin account.

2. Click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products, and then click SharePoint 2010 Central Administration.

3. On the SharePoint Central Administration Web site home page, click Security.

4. On the Security page, under General Security, click Configure service accounts.

5. On the Service Account page, in the Credential Management section, from the drop-down list, select the application pool that runs Excel Services Application (in this case, Service Application Pool - ExcelServicesAppPool).

When this option is selected, the name of the Excel Services Application appears in the box underneath the drop-down list (in this case, Excel Services).

6. Note that Contoso\ExcelAppPool is displayed in the Select an account for this component drop-down list. This is the Windows identity that you will need for the Members list when you configure the unattended service account in Secure Store.

7. Click Cancel

Once you have determined which account is being used to run the application pool for the Excel Services service application, the next step is to create a target application in Secure Store for the unattended service account. Use the following procedure to create the target application.

To create a target application for the unattended service account

1. On the Central Administration home page, under Application Management, click Manage service applications.

2. Click the Secure Store Service service application.

3. On the ribbon, click New.

4. In the Target Application ID box, type ExcelServicesUnattended.

5. In the Display Name box, type ExcelServicesUnattended.

6. In the Contact E-mail box, type farmadmin@contoso.local.

Note:
Although e-mail notifications are not configured in this environment, Contact E-mail is a required field.

7. In the Target Application Type drop-down list, select Group.

8. Click Next.

9. Leave the default credential fields, and then click Next.

10. On the Specify the membership settings page:

• In the Target Application Administrators box, type Contoso\FarmAdmin.

• In the Members box, because we will use the target application to store credentials for the unattended service account, type the Excel Services application pool account that we located in the previous procedure (Contoso\ExcelAppPool).

11. Click OK.

Once the target application has been created, you must specify which credentials should be used by it. The target application credentials are those to which data access has been granted — in our case, the Contoso\ExcelUnattended account to which we granted db_datareader access to the ContosoRetailDW database.

Use the following procedure to set the credentials for the target application.

To set the credentials for the target application

1. On the Secure Store Service Application page, in the Target Application ID column, point to ExcelServicesUnattended, click the arrow that appears, and then click Set Credentials.

2. In the Windows User Name box, type Contoso\ExcelUnattended.

3. Type and confirm the password for the Contoso\ExcelUnattended account.

4. Click OK.

With the credentials set for the target application, the Secure Store Service configuration for the unattended service account is complete. The next step is to configure Excel Services to use this target application for the unattended service account.

Configure Excel Services

The unattended service account configuration is part of the Excel Services Global Settings. Use the following procedure to configure the unattended service account in Excel Services.

To configure Excel Services Global Settings

1. On the Central Administration home page, in the Application Management section, click Manage service applications.

2. On the Manage Service Applications page, click Excel Services.

3. On the Manage the Excel Services page, click Global Settings.

4. On the Excel Services Settings page, in the External Data section, in the Application ID box, type ExcelServicesUnattended.

5. Click OK.

With the Excel Services Global Settings configured, setup of the unattended service account is complete. In the next section, we create an Excel workbook with external data and publish it to the SharePoint document library in the Business Intelligence Center. We then test data refresh by using the unattended service account.

Publishing a workbook with an external data source

To test the configuration of the unattended service account, we must first create a workbook with an external data connection. Use the following procedure to create the workbook.

To create a workbook with an external data connection

1. Log on to Contoso-Client by using the Contoso\Susan.Burk account.

2. Click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft Office, and then click Microsoft Excel 2010.

3. On the Data tab, in the Get External Data group, click From Other Sources, and then click From SQL Server. This starts the Data Connection Wizard, which has three pages.

4. In the Server name box, type Contoso-SQL.

5. Under Log on credentials, click the Use Windows Authentication option, and then click Next to go to page 2 of the Data Connection Wizard.

6. In the Select the database that contains the data you want section, select ContosoRetailDW. In the Connect to a specific table section, select DimStore, and then click Next.

7. On the Save Data Connection File and Finish page, click Finish.

Note:
If you are prompted to overwrite the connection file, click Yes.

8. On the Import Data dialog box, select the PivotTable Report option, and then click OK.

9. In the pane on the right side, in the Pivot Table Field List:

a) Select the SellingAreaSize check box.

b) Select the StoreType check box.

Leave the Excel workbook open for the next procedure.

We now have a data-connected workbook that contains a report. However, we must modify the Excel 2010 settings before we publish the workbook to the document library. By default, the Excel 2010 settings are configured to use Windows authentication, which is not the correct setting for using the unattended service account. Use the following procedure to modify the Excel 2010 authentication settings in the workbook that we just created.

To configure Excel Services authentication settings

1. In the Excel workbook, on the Data tab, click Connections.

2. On the Workbook Connections dialog box, click Properties.

3. On the Connection Properties dialog box, on the Definition tab, click Authentication Settings.

4. On the Excel Services Authentication Settings dialog box, select the None option, and then click OK.

5. On the Connection Properties dialog box, click OK.

Note:
If you see a warning that the link to the external connection file will be removed, click Yes. (Although Excel requires you to save a connection file, that file is not required by Excel Services for authentication.)

6. On the Workbook Connections dialog box, click Close.

Leave the Excel workbook open for the next procedure.

Now that we have set the Excel Services authentication settings, the next step is to publish the workbook to the document library in the Business Intelligence Center and confirm that data refresh is working correctly.

To publish a workbook to a SharePoint document library

1. In the Excel workbook, click File, click Save & Send, and then click Save to SharePoint.

2. In the Locations section, click Browse for a location, and then click Save As.

3. On the Save As dialog box, in the URL box, type http://Contoso-AppSrv/sites/BICenter, and then press Enter.

Note:
It may take several moments for the file list to refresh.

4. In the Document Libraries list, double-click Documents.

5. In the File name box, type SellingAreas.xlsx.

6. Ensure that the Open with Excel in the browser check box is selected, and then click Save.

Once the workbook has been saved to the document library, it will automatically load in a browser. The next step is to confirm that data refresh is working correctly.

Leave the browser that displays the SellingAreas.xlsx workbook open for the procedures in the next section.

Testing data refresh

To confirm that data refresh works with the unattended service account, we will follow these steps:

• Refresh the data currently displayed in the browser on Contoso-Client

• Change a value in the ContosoRetailDW database

• Refresh the data displayed in the browser on Contoso-Client again and confirm that the new information is displayed

First, we will refresh the existing data. Use the following procedure to refresh the data in the browser.

To refresh a data-connected workbook by using Excel Services

1. In the browser, on the Data drop-down list, click Refresh All Connections.

Note:
If a warning message appears, click OK.

If the unattended service account is configured correctly, the data will refresh without error, although we will not see any changes in data values at this point. The next step is to change a value in the ContosoRetailDW database and confirm that the changes appear in the workbook.

To update data in the ContosoRetailDW database

1. Log on to Contoso-SQL by using the Contoso\SQLAdmin account.

2. Click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2, and then click SQL Server Management Studio.

3. On the Connect to Server dialog box, select Database Engine for the Server type, and then click Connect.

4. In the toolbar, click New Query.

5. Copy the following query to the query window:

USE [ContosoRetailDW]
GO
UPDATE dbo.DimStore set dbo.DimStore.SellingAreaSize = 500 where dbo.DimStore.StoreType =
'Catalog'
GO

Click here to view code as image

6. In the toolbar, click Execute.

7. Return to Contoso-Client where the SellingArea.xlsx workbook is displayed.

Return to the Contoso-Client virtual machine, where SellingAreas.xlsx is displayed in the browser.

Note the currently displayed number for the Catalog row in the spreadsheet. We updated this row to a value of 500 in the DimStore table, so the new value should appear when we refresh the workbook. Use the following procedure to refresh the workbook.

Note:
If you see a warning that the page has expired, click OK and restart the procedure.

To refresh a data-connected workbook by using Excel Services

1. In the browser, on the Data drop-down list, click Refresh All Connections.

Note:
If a warning message appears, click OK.

The new value of 500 should now appear in the Catalog row of the report, confirming that data refresh through the unattended service account is working.

Note:
The Excel Services cache settings affect how quickly the new results appear when you refresh the workbook. In the Configure Excel Services for a BI test environment lab, we set the cache settings to zero (0), allowing immediate refresh. In a production environment, refresh will likely take longer depending on how you configure the cache.

Configure Excel Services data access by using external data connections in a BI test environment

Published: May 26, 2011

Important:
This article is part of the Configuring a BI infrastructure: Hands-on labs series. To complete the steps in this article, you must first have completed:

• All steps in the Create a baseline environment for a BI test environment series of articles.

• All steps in the Configure Excel Services for a BI test environment article.

Excel Services in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 provides three methods of using Secure Store to refresh the external data source in a workbook:

• The unattended service account

• A data connection embedded in the workbook

• A data connection through an Office Data Connection (ODC) file

This lab covers the Office Data Connection file option. For more information about how to use an embedded connection, see Configure Excel Services data access by using embedded data connections. For more information about how to use the unattended service account, see Configure the Excel Services unattended service account for a BI test environment.

In this lab we create a PivotTable report on Microsoft Excel 2010 that uses an external data connection to Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2. Next, we explain how to save this PivotTable report on Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010, and then how to confirm that data refresh is working correctly.

Configure a data access account

When you configure data access through Secure Store, you must grant the account access to the data source to which your Excel Services workbook will be connected. For the purposes of this lab, we will continue to use the Contoso database sample data which we can use in a data-connected workbook that we will publish to a SharePoint document library.

To create an Active Directory account for data access

1. Log on to Contoso-DC as Contoso\Administrator.

2. Click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Active Directory Users and Computers.

3. Expand the contoso.local node.

4. Right-click Users, click New, and then click User.

5. In the Full name and User logon name boxes, type ExcelODCAccess.

6. Click Next.

7. Type and confirm a password for the account.

8. Clear the User must change password at next logon check box.

9. Select the Password never expires check box.

10. Click Next, and then click Finish.

Once the account is created, the next step is to grant that account Read access to the required data. In a production scenario, you would grant access to whatever data source that you have to access from your Excel Services workbook. In this lab we will grant access to the ContosoRetailDW database. Use the following procedure to create a SQL Server logon and grant that logon Data Reader access to the database.

To create a SQL Server logon

1. Log on to Contoso-SQL as Contoso\SQLAdmin.

2. Click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2, and then click SQL Server Management Studio.

3. On the Connect to Server dialog box, select Database Engine as the Server type, type Contoso-SQL in the Server name box, and then click Connect.

4. In Object Explorer, expand Security.

5. Right-click Logins, and then click New Login.

6. In the Login name box, type Contoso\ExcelODCAccess.

7. Under Select a page, click User Mapping.

8. Select the Map check box for the ContosoRetailDW database, and then under Database role membership for: ContosoRetailDW, select the db_datareader check box.

9. Click OK.

Configure Secure Store

Earlier in this lab series, we configured Secure Store Service in the Configure Secure Store Service for a BI test environment article. Now we must create a target application for Excel Services with a series of procedures. These procedures explain how to create an Active Directory group in the virtual network, how to create the target application in Secure Store, and finally how to assign credentials to this target application.

In the Secure Store target application, we will map a specific group of users to the Contoso\ExcelODCAccess account that we created in the previous section. Although these users will never have direct access to this account, Excel Services will use this account on their behalf to refresh data-connected workbooks.

To avoid the complexity of administering individual users, we will create an Active Directory group to contain them.

To create an Active Directory group for user data access

1. Log on to Contoso-DC as Contoso\Administrator.

2. Click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Active Directory Users and Computers.

3. Expand the contoso.local node.

4. Right-click Users, click New, and then click Group.

5. In the Group name box, type ExcelODCAccessGroup.

6. Click OK.

After the group account is created in Active Directory, we must now populate the group with user accounts to which we want to give data access through Secure Store. The following procedure explains how to do this.

To populate the data access group

1. In Active Directory Users and Computers, in the users list, double-click the ExcelODCAccessGroup group.

2. On the Members tab, click Add.

3. On the Select Users dialog box, type Contoso\susan.burk; Contoso\john.woods, and the click OK.

4. The Members tab should now show Susan Burk and John Woods as members of the group.

5. Click OK.

Now that you have created Active Directory accounts for data access, you can create a target application for Excel Services to use with an Office Data Connection (ODC). Use the following procedure to create and configure the target application.

To create a target application

1. Log in to Contoso-AppSrv using the Contoso\FarmAdmin account.

2. Click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products, and then click SharePoint 2010 Central Administration.

3. On the SharePoint Central Administration Web site home page, in the Application Management section, click Manage service applications.

4. Click the Secure Store Service service application.

5. On the ribbon, click New.

6. In the Target Application ID box, type ExcelServicesODC.

7. In the Display Name box, type ExcelServicesODC.

8. In the Contact E-mail box, type farmadmin@contoso.local.

Note:
Although e-mail notifications are not configured in this environment, Contact E-mail is a required field.

9. In the Target Application Type drop-down list, select Group.

10. Click Next.

11. Leave the default credential fields, and then click Next.

12. On the Specify the membership settings page:

• In the Target Application Administrators box, type Contoso\FarmAdmin.

• In the Members box, type Contoso\ExcelODCAccessGroup.

• Click OK.

Once the target application has been created, the next step is to associate the data access account that we created (Contoso\ExcelODCAccess) with the target application. Use the following procedure to set the credentials for the target application.

To set the credentials for the target application

1. On the Secure Store Service Application page, in the Target Application ID column, point to ExcelServicesODC, click the arrow that appears, and then click Set Credentials.

2. In the Windows User Name box, type Contoso\ExcelODCAccess.

3. Type and confirm the password for the Contoso\ExcelODCAccess account.

4. Click OK.

Create and publish an ODC file

Now that Secure Store has been configured, the next step is to create the ODC file and publish it to a trusted data connection library. Use the following procedure to create an ODC file that has a connection to the ContosoRetailDW database.

To create and publish an ODC file

1. Log on to the Contoso-Client virtual machine by using the Contoso\Susan.Burk account.

2. Click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft Office, and then click Microsoft Excel 2010.

3. On the Data tab, click From Other Sources, and then click From SQL Server.

4. On the Connect to Database Server page of the Data Connection Wizard, type Contoso-SQL in the Server name box, and then click Next.

5. On the Select Database and Table page, select ContosoRetailDW from the drop-down list.

6. In the list of tables, select DimProduct, and then click Next.

7. Click Finish.

Note:
If you are prompted to overwrite the ODC file on the local disk, click Yes.

8. On the Import Data dialog box, select the PivotTable Report option, and then click OK.

9. On the Data tab, click Connections.

10. On the Workbook Connections dialog box, click Properties.

11. On the Connection Properties dialog box, on the Definition tab, click Authentication Settings.

12. On the Excel Services Authentication Settings dialog box, select the SSS option, type ExcelServicesODC in the SSS ID box, and then click OK.

13. On the Connection Properties dialog box, click Export Connection File.

14. On the File Save dialog box, in the URL box, type http://Contoso-AppSrv/sites/BICenter, and then press Enter.

Note:
It may take several moments for the list to refresh with content from the BI Center.

15. In the list of All Site Content, double-click Data Connections.

16. In the File name box, type DimProductTable, and then click Save.

17. On the Data Connections dialog box, select Office Data Connection File from the Content Type drop-down list, and then click OK.

18. On the Connection Properties dialog box, click OK, and then, on the Workbook Connections dialog box, click Close.

19. Exit Microsoft Excel.

Note:
You do not have to save the workbook.

Remain logged on to Contoso-Client as Susan Burk for the next procedure.

We have now successfully published an ODC file that contains a data connection to the DimProduct table of the ContosoRetailDW database and uses the ExcelServicesODC target application in Secure Store for authentication.

Testing data refresh

In this section we will test what we previously configured by publishing a data-connected Excel workbook that uses the DimProductTable.odc file that we published earlier for data connectivity. Use the following procedure to create and publish a pivot table.

To create and publish a pivot table

1. On Contoso-Client, click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft Office, and then click Microsoft Excel 2010.

2. On the Data tab, click Existing Connections.

3. On the Existing Connections dialog box, click Browse for More.

4. On the Select Data Source dialog box, in the URL box, type http://Contoso-AppSrv/sites/BICenter, and then press Enter.

Note:
It may take several moments for the list to refresh with content from the BI Center.

5. In the list of All Site Content, double-click Data Connections.

6. On the list of Data Connections, select DimProductTable, and then click Open.

7. On the Import Data dialog box, select the PivotTable Report option, and then click OK.

8. In the Pivot Table Field List:

a) Drag Manufacturer to the Row Labels box.

b) Drag ProductName to the Values box.

9. Click File, click Save & Send, click Save to SharePoint, click Browse for a location, and then click Save As.

10. On the Save As dialog box, in the URL box, type http://Contoso-AppSrv/sites/BICenter, and then press Enter.

Note:
It may take several moments for the list to refresh with content from the BI Center.

11. In the All Site Content list, double-click Documents.

12. In the File name box, type ProductsPerVendor.xlsx.

13. Confirm that the Open with Excel in the browser check box is selected, and then click Save.

The workbook will render in the browser. Leave the browser open for the following procedures.

To confirm that data refresh is works by using the ODC file and Secure Store, we will follow these steps:

• Refresh the data currently displayed in the browser on Contoso-Client

• Change a value in the ContosoRetailDW database

• Refresh the data displayed in the browser on Contoso-Client again and confirm that the new information is displayed

First, we will refresh the existing data. Use the following procedure to refresh the data in the browser.

To refresh a data-connected workbook by using Excel Services

1. In the browser, on the Data drop-down list, click Refresh All Connections.

Note:
If a warning message appears, click OK.

If everything is configured correctly, the data will refresh without error, although we will not see any changes in values at this point. The next step is to change a value in the ContosoRetailDW database and confirm that the changes appear in the workbook.

To update data in the ContosoRetailDW database

1. Log on to Contoso-SQL by using the Contoso\SQLAdmin account.

2. Click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2, and then click SQL Server Management Studio.

3. On the Connect to Server dialog box, select Database Engine for the Server type, and then click Connect.

4. In the toolbar, click New Query.

5. Copy the following query to the query window:

USE [ContosoRetailDW]
GO
UPDATE dbo.DimProduct set dbo.DimProduct.Manufacturer = 'Contoso, Ltd' where
dbo.DimProduct.Manufacturer = 'Northwind Traders'
GO

Click here to view code as image

6. In the toolbar, click Execute.

Note:
After the query runs, you should see (47 row(s) affected) in the Messages window.

Return to the Contoso-Client virtual machine, where ProductPerVendor.xlsx is displayed in the browser.

Note the currently displayed number of products provided by Northwind Traders is 47, and the number provided by Contoso, Ltd is 710 in the spreadsheet. We changed all the products from Northwind Traders to Contoso, Ltd in the DimManufacturer table, so the new value should appear when we refresh the workbook. Use the following procedure to refresh the workbook.

Note:
If you see a warning that the page has expired, click OK and restart the procedure.

To refresh a data-connected workbook by using Excel Services

1. In the browser, on the Data drop-down list, click Refresh All Connections.

Note:
If a warning message appears, click OK.

Notice that Northwind Traders has now disappeared from the report and the number of products provided by Contoso, Ltd has changed from 710 to 757, confirming that data refresh through the ODC file and Secure Store is working.

Note:
The Excel Services cache settings affect how quickly the new results appear when you refresh the workbook. In the Configure Excel Services for a BI test environment lab, we set the cache settings to zero (0), allowing immediate refresh. In a production environment, refresh will likely take longer depending on how you configure the cache.

Configure Excel Services data access by using embedded data connections

Published: May 26, 2011

Important:
This article is part of the Configuring a BI infrastructure: Hands-on labs series. To complete the steps in this article, you must first have completed:

• All steps in the Create a baseline environment for a BI test environment series of articles.

• All steps in the Configure Excel Services for a BI test environment article.

Excel Services in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 uses three methods of connecting to external data:

• You can use an unattended service account. For more information, see Configure the Excel Services unattended service account for a BI test environment.

• You can use an Office Data Connection (ODC) file. For more information, see Configure Excel Services data access by using external data connections in a BI test environment.

• You can embed an ODC file in a workbook. This article describes how to this.

To configure Excel Services data access to use embedded data connections, we will use the following process:

1. Configure a data access account

2. Configure the Secure Store Service application

3. Create and publish an Excel workbook that uses an embedded data connection

4. Verify that data updates in an Excel Services file

Configure a data access account

To configure Excel Services to use embedded data connections, we begin by configuring a data access account. We then grant this account Read access to data that is stored in SQL Server.

Note:
We will be using the ContosoRetailDW dataset that we installed when we set up SQL Server. For more information, see Set up SQL Server for a BI test environment.

To create an Active Directory account for data access

1. Log into Contoso-DC using the Contoso\administrator account.

2. Click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Active Directory Users and Computers.

3. Expand the contoso.local node.

4. Right-click Users, click New, and then click User.

5. In the Full name and User logon name text boxes, type ExcelDataEmbed, and then click Next.

6. Type and confirm a password for the account.

7. Clear the User must change password at next logon check box.

8. Select the Password never expires check box.

9. Click Next, and then click Finish.

Now that the ExcelDataEmbed account is created, the next step is to grant that account read access to the required data. Use the following procedure to create a SQL Server logon and grant Read access to the database.

To create a SQL Server logon

1. Log in to Contoso-SQL using the Contoso\SQLAdmin account.

2. Click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2, and then click SQL Server Management Studio.

3. On the Connect to Server dialog box, select Database Engine as the Server type, type Contoso-SQL in the Server name text box, and then click Connect.

4. In Object Explorer, expand Security.

5. Right-click Logins, and then click New Login.

The Login – New dialog box opens.

6. Next to the Login name text box, type Contoso\ExcelDataEmbed.

7. In the Login – New dialog box, in the Select a page pane, click User Mapping.

A list of databases appears.

8. Select the Map check box for the ContosoRetailDW database, and then in the Database role membership for: ContosoRetailDW section, select the db_datareader check box.

9. Click OK to close the Login – New dialog box. Notice that the Contoso\ExcelDataEmbed data access account is now displayed in the Logins list.

Now that we have created a data access account, the next step is to configure the Secure Store Service application.

Configure the Secure Store Service application

To configure the Secure Store Service application, we begin by creating an Active Directory group. This group will be used to provide data access to Excel users who are using embedded data connections.

To create an Active Directory group for user data access

1. Log into Contoso-DC using the Contoso\Administrator account.

2. Click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Active Directory Users and Computers.

3. Expand the contoso.local node.

4. Right-click Users, click New, and then click Group.

The New Object – Group dialog box opens.

5. In the Group name box, type ExcelDataEmbedGroup, and then click OK.

Notice that ExcelDataEmbedGroup now appears in the list of groups and users.

6. Double-click ExcelDataEmbedGroup to open it for editing.

7. Click the Members tab, and then click Add.

The Select Users, Contacts, Computers, Services Accounts, or Groups dialog box opens.

8. In the Enter the object names to select box, type Contoso\susan.burk; Contoso\john.woods, and then click Check Names.

The user accounts are verified and then appear as hyperlinks.

9. Click OK to close the Select Users, Contacts, Computers, Services Accounts, or Groups dialog box.

10. Click OK to close the ExcelDataEmbedGroup Properties dialog box.

Now that we have created our Active Directory accounts, the next step is to configure the Secure Store Service application. We begin by creating a target application.

To create a target application

1. Log into Contoso-AppSrv using the Contoso\FarmAdmin account.

2. Click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products, and then click SharePoint 2010 Central Administration.

3. On the Central Administration home page, under Application Management, click Manage service applications.

4. Click the Secure Store Service application.

5. On the ribbon, click New.

6. In the Target Application ID text box, type ExcelServicesEmbeddedData.

7. In the Display Name text box, type Excel Services Embedded Data.

8. In the Contact E-mail text box, type farmadmin@contoso.local.

Note:
Although e-mail notifications are not configured in this environment, you must specify an email address in the Contact E-mail box.

9. In the Target Application Type drop-down list, select Group, and then click Next.

10. Keep the default credential fields, and then click Next.

11. On the Specify the membership settings page, in the Target Application Administrators box, type Contoso\FarmAdmin.

12. In the Members box, type Contoso\ExcelDataEmbedGroup, and then click OK. Do not leave the page yet.

13. Position the pointer on ExcelServicesEmbeddedData, click the down arrow that appears, and then click Set Credentials.

The Set Credentials for Secure Store Target Application (Group) page opens.

14. In the Windows User Name box, type Contoso\ExcelDataEmbed.

15. Type and confirm the password for the Contoso\ExcelDataEmbed account, and then click OK.

16. Click OK.

Now that we have configured Excel Services data access to use embedded data connections, the next step is to create and publish an Excel workbook that uses an embedded connection. We will then use this workbook to verify that data updates correctly in Excel Services.

Create and publish an Excel workbook that uses an embedded data connection

In this section, we describe how to create a PivotTable report that uses data that is stored in SQL Server and publish the workbook to SharePoint Server. We will then refresh the data in the workbook that uses the embedded connection.

Creating a PivotTable report by using a SQL Server table

For this report, we use a table that is stored in SQL Server.

To create a PivotTable report by using external SQL Server data

1. Log into Contoso-Client using the Contoso\Susan.Burk account.

2. In Microsoft Excel 2010, on the Data tab, in the Get External Data group, click From Other Sources, and then click From SQL Server. The Data Connection Wizard opens.

3. In the Server name box, type Contoso-SQL, and then click Next.

4. Use the Select the database that contains the data that you want to select ContosoRetailDW.

5. Select the Connect to a specific table check box, and then select DimStore. Then, click Next.

6. In the Description box, type Contoso Stores, and then click Finish. The Import Data dialog box opens.

Note:
If you are prompted to replace the ODC file that is located on your local computer, click Yes.

7. In the Select how you want to view this data in your workbook section, click PivotTable Report, and then click OK.

An empty PivotTable report opens.

8. In the PivotTable Field List pane, drag StoreType to the Row Labels section.

9. Drag EmployeeCount to the Values section.

The PivotTable report updates to display a count of stores that have employees.

10. In the Values section, click the down arrow for EmployeeCount, and then click Value Field Settings.

11. In the Summarize value field by section, click Sum, and then click OK.

Notice that the PivotTable report updates to display the total number of employees for each kind of store.

Do not close the workbook. Keep it open for the next procedure.

At this point, we have created and saved a PivotTable report in Excel. However, we have not yet embedded the external data connection information in the workbook. The next step is to configure and embed that connection.

To embed external data connection information in an Excel workbook

1. In Excel 2010, on the Data tab, in the Connections group, click Connections. The Workbook Connections dialog box opens.

2. Select the Contoso-sql ContosoRetailDW DimStore connection, and then click Properties.

The Connection Properties dialog box opens.

3. Select the Definition tab.

4. In the Excel Services section, click Authentication Settings.

The Excel Services Authentication Settings dialog box opens.

5. Select SSS, and in the SSS ID box, type ExcelServicesEmbeddedData.

6. Click OK to close the Excel Services Authentication Settings dialog box, and then click OK to close the Connection Properties dialog box.

7. If a warning appears that states that the link to the external odc file will be removed, click Yes.

8. In the Workbook Connections dialog box, click Close. Do not close the workbook yet.

At this point, we have created a workbook that contains an embedded data connection. The next step is to publish the workbook to SharePoint Server.

To publish the ContosoStores workbook

1. In Excel, click the File tab, and then click Save & Send.

2. Click Save to SharePoint.

3. Under Locations, click Browse for a location, and then click Save As.

The Save As dialog box opens.

4. In the location box at the top of the window, type http://contoso-appsrv/sites/BICenter/Documents.

Note:
It might take some time for the Save As dialog box to refresh and show the site content.

5. In the File name box, type ContosoStores.xlsx.

6. Select the Open with Excel in the browser check box, and then click Save.

A browser window opens and displays the ContosoStores workbook.

At this point, we have created and published a workbook that uses an embedded data connection. The next and final step is to verify that the data updates correctly.

Verify that data updates in an Excel Services file

In this section, we verify that data in the Excel workbook updates by using the embedded connection correctly. We begin by viewing the ContosoStores workbook in a browser window. We modify a row in the SQL Server database that is used by the workbook, and then confirm that the workbook displays the updated data as expected.

On the Contoso-Client computer, the ContosoStores workbook is open in a browser window. Notice that the PivotTable report shows the number of employees for each kind of store.

• Catalog: 120 employees

• Online: 340 employees

• Reseller: 44 employees

• Store: 10535 employees

The next step is to modify a row of data in the table that is used by the ContosoStores workbook. We will change one of the Reseller stores to Store. This will change the number of employees for both the Reseller and Store groups.

To update data in the ContosoRetailDW database

1. Log into Contoso-SQL using the Contoso\SQLAdmin account.

2. Click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2, and then click SQL Server Management Studio.

3. On the Connect to Server dialog box, select Database Engine for the Server type, and then click Connect.

4. In the toolbar, click New Query.

5. Type the following query to the query window:

USE [ContosoRetailDW]
GO
UPDATE dbo.DimStore set dbo.DimStore.StoreType = 'Store' where
dbo.DimStore.StoreDescription = 'Contoso Europe Reseller'
GO

Click here to view code as image

6. In the toolbar, click Execute.

In the Messages pane, (1 row(s) affected) appears.

Now that we have changed one of the stores from Reseller to Store, the number of employees for those kinds of stores should have changed, too.

On the Contoso-Client computer, view the workbook. The PivotTable report should now show the following information:

• Catalog: 120 employees

• Online: 340 employees

• Reseller: 32 employees

• Store: 10547 employees

We see that after we changed that single row of data, Reseller went from 44 employees to 32, and Store went from 10535 employees to 10547 employees. The store that we changed has 12 employees. Therefore, this is correct. We have confirmed that data is refreshing as expected in the workbook.

Concepts

Configure Excel Services for a BI test environment

Configure PerformancePoint Services for a BI test environment

Configure Visio Services for a BI test environment

Configure PowerPivot for SharePoint for a BI test environment

Published: September 27, 2011

This article is part of the Configuring a BI infrastructure: Hands-on labs series. To complete the steps in this article, you must first have completed:

• Create a baseline environment for a BI test environment

• Configure Excel Services for a BI test environment

Microsoft SQL Server PowerPivot for Microsoft SharePoint supports query processing and data refresh for published Excel workbooks that contain PowerPivot data. This article describes how to configure PowerPivot for SharePoint 2010 in a virtual environment that already has SharePoint Server 2010 and SQL Server 2008 R2 installed and configured.

Configuring PowerPivot for SharePoint consists of the following steps:

• Create a managed account for SQL Server Analysis Services

• Deploy PowerPivot for SharePoint

• Configure a PowerPivot service application

• Configure data refresh for PowerPivot for SharePoint

• Configure Secure Store service for PowerPivot for SharePoint

• Verify that PowerPivot for SharePoint is configured correctly

• Test data refresh

Create a managed account for SQL Server Analysis Services

To configure PowerPivot for SharePoint, you must have a service account for the SQL Server Analysis Services instance that is installed with PowerPivot for SharePoint. Use the following procedure to create an Active Directory account for Analysis Services.

To create an Active Directory account for Analysis Services

1. Log on to Contoso-DC as Contoso\Administrator.

2. Click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Active Directory Users and Computers.

3. Expand the contoso.local node.

4. Right-click Users, click New, and then click User.

5. In the Full name and User logon name boxes, type PowerPivotSSAS.

6. Click Next.

7. Type and confirm a password for the account.

8. Clear the User must change password at next logon check box.

9. Select the Password never expires check box.

10. Click Next, and then click Finish.

Once the account is created, the next step is to deploy PowerPivot for SharePoint.

Deploy PowerPivot for SharePoint

Deploying PowerPivot for SharePoint consists of the following steps:

• Installing PowerPivot for SharePoint on a SharePoint Server farm

• Deploying the PowerPivot solution package to a SharePoint Web Application

• Activating PowerPivot feature integration for the Business Intelligence Center

The first step is to install PowerPivot for SharePoint on the Contoso-AppSrv computer.

Tip:
In our test environment, we are using a single computer for SharePoint Server. In a production environment where you might have more than one computer that is running SharePoint Server, install PowerPivot for SharePoint on the computer that has the SharePoint Central Administration Web site installed.

To install PowerPivot for SharePoint 2010 on an existing SharePoint Server 2010 farm

1. Attach the SQL Server 2008 R2 DVD to the DVD drive for the Contoso-AppSrv virtual machine.

2. Log on to Contoso-AppSrv by using the Contoso\FarmAdmin account.

3. On the SQL Server DVD, double-click setup.exe.

The SQL Server Installation Center opens.

4. Click Installation, and then click New installation or add features to an existing installation.

The SQL Server setup window opens.

5. On the Setup Support Rules page, click OK.

6. On the Product Key page, type the product key for your version of SQL Server, and then click Next.

7. On the License Terms page, select I accept the license terms, and then click Next.

8. On the Setup Support Files page, click Install.

9. On the Setup Support Files page, click Next.

10. On the Setup Role page, select SQL Server PowerPivot for SharePoint, and in the Add PowerPivot for SharePoint to list, select Existing Farm. Then click Next.

11. On the Feature Selection page, click Next.

12. On the Installation Rules page, click Next.

13. On the Instance Configuration page, in the Instance ID box, select the default PowerPivot text, and type ContosoAppSrv, and then click Next.

14. On the Disk Space Requirements page, click Next.

15. On the Server Configuration page, in the SQL Server Analysis Services row, specify the Contoso\PowerPivotSSAS account and password. Then click Next.

16. On the Analysis Services Configuration, click Add Current User, and then click OK.

17. On the Analysis Services Configuration page, click Next.

18. On the Error Reporting page, click Next.

19. On the Installation Configuration Rules page, click Next.

20. On the Ready to Install page, click Install.

The installation process runs.

Tip:
It might take several minutes for the installation process to finish.

21. After the installation process is complete, you must restart the computer. On the Complete page, click Close. Then restart the Contoso-AppSrv computer.

The next step is to deploy a PowerPivot solution to the SharePoint Web application that you created when you set up the baseline environment.

To deploy the PowerPivot solution package

1. Log into the Contoso-AppSrv computer by using the Contoso\FarmAdmin account.

2. Click the Start button, select All Programs, select Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products, and then select SharePoint 2010 Central Administration.

3. In SharePoint 2010 Central Administration, click System Settings, and then click Manage farm solutions.

Note:
There are two separate solution packages visible: powerpivotfarm.wsp and powerpivotwebapp.wsp. The first solution, powerpivotfarm.wsp, is deployed automatically when you install the first PowerPivot for SharePoint instance. You do not have to deploy this again. The second solution, powerpivotwebapp.wsp, is deployed automatically for Central Administration. However, you must deploy this solution manually for each SharePoint Web application that supports PowerPivot for SharePoint data access.
In this case, we have one Web application. In a production environment, there are likely more than one Web application.

4. Click powerpivotwebapp.wsp, and then click Deploy Solution.

5. In the Deploy To? section, use the Choose a Web application to deploy this solution list to select http://contoso-appsrv/.

6. Click OK.

The next step is to configure the Business Intelligence Center to work with PowerPivot data. To do this, follow these steps.

To enable PowerPivot feature integration with the Business Intelligence Center

1. Browse to the Business Intelligence Center (http://contoso-appsrv/sites/bicenter).

2. Click Site Actions, and then click Site Settings.

3. In the Site Collection Administration section, click Site Collection Features.

4. Next to PowerPivot Feature Integration for Site Collections, click Activate.

5. Close the browser window.

Now that PowerPivot for SharePoint is installed, the next step is to configure a PowerPivot service application.

Configure a PowerPivot service application

Tip:
The procedures in this section describe how to configure a PowerPivot service application for a test environment that uses a particular configuration. For more detailed information about how to configure a PowerPivot service application for production environments, see Create and Configure a PowerPivot Service Application (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=226553).

Configuring PowerPivot for SharePoint consists of the following steps:

• Starting the Claims to Windows Token Service

• Creating an Active Directory account for the application pool under which the PowerPivot service application will run

• Registering that account as a managed account in SharePoint Server 2010

• Creating a PowerPivot service application

• Configuring Excel Services to support PowerPivot workbooks

Begin by starting the Claims to Windows Token Service, which is used to enable access to data that is stored on another computer. In this case, we will be accessing data that is stored on the Contoso-SQL computer.

To start the Claims to Windows Token Service

1. Click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products, and then click SharePoint 2010 Central Administration.

2. In Central Administration, click System Settings, and then click Manage services on server.

3. Start the Claims to Windows Token Service.

4. Verify that both SQL Server Analysis Services and SQL ServerPowerPivot System Service are started.

The next step is to create an Active Directory account. This account will be used for the PowerPivot for SharePoint Service application.

To create an Active Directory account for PowerPivot for SharePoint

1. Log on to Contoso-DC as Contoso\Administrator.

2. Click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Active Directory Users and Computers.

3. Expand the contoso.local node.

4. Right-click Users, click New, and then click User.

5. In the Full name and User logon name boxes, type PowerPivotAppPool.

6. Click Next.

7. Type and confirm a password for the account.

8. Clear the User must change password at next logon check box.

9. Select the Password never expires check box.

10. Click Next, and then click Finish.

The next step is to register the managed account in SharePoint Server.

To register the PowerPivotAppPool account in SharePoint Server

1. Log on to Contoso-AppSrv by using the Contoso\FarmAdmin account.

2. Click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products, and then click SharePoint 2010 Central Administration.

3. On the SharePoint Central Administration Web site home page, in the left navigation, click Security.

4. On the Security page, under General Security, click Configure managed accounts.

5. On the Managed Accounts page, click Register Managed Account.

6. In the User name box, type Contoso\PowerPivotAppPool.

7. In the Password box, type the password for the Contoso\PowerPivotAppPool account.

8. Click OK.

The next step is to create a PowerPivot service application.

To create a PowerPivot service application

1. In Central Administration, click Application Management, and then click Manage service applications.

2. In the Service Applications ribbon, click New, and then click SQL Server PowerPivot Service Application.

The Create New PowerPivot Service Application dialog box appears.

3. In the Name box, type PowerPivotServiceApplication1.

4. In the Application Pool section, select Create a new application pool, and in the Application pool name box, type PowerPivotServAppPool.

5. Use the Configurable list to select Contoso\PowerPivotAppPool.

6. In the Database Server list, specify Contoso-SQL, and keep the default database name.

7. In the Database authentication section, keep the default setting, Windows Authentication.

8. In the Default section, select the check box for Add the proxy for this PowerPivot service application to the default proxy group, and then click OK.

9. After your service application is successfully created, click OK in the confirmation page.

The service application appears in the Contoso farm service application list together with the other service applications. You might have to refresh the page to see it.

The next step is to configure Excel Services to support PowerPivot workbooks. To do this, you increase the maximum file size for Excel Services and edit external data settings.

To configure Excel Services to support PowerPivot workbooks

1. In Central Administration, click Application Management, and then click Manage service applications.

2. Click Excel Services.

3. Click Trusted File Locations.

4. Click http://contoso-appsrv/sites/bicenter/documents.

5. In the Workbook Properties section, in the Maximum Workbook Size box, type 50.

Increasing the workbook size makes it possible to work with more data in PowerPivot for Excel.

6. In the External Data section, under Allow External Data, select Trusted data connection libraries and embedded.

7. In the External Data section, clear the Refresh warning enabled check box.

8. Click OK.

Now that you have installed and configured PowerPivot for SharePoint, your next step is to configure data refresh for PowerPivot for SharePoint.

Configure data refresh for PowerPivot for SharePoint

Configuring data refresh for PowerPivot data in Excel workbooks consists of the following steps:

• Creating an Active Directory account for the PowerPivot unattended data refresh account

• Granting Read permissions to access the data during data refresh

The first step is to create an Active Directory account.

To create an Active Directory account for PowerPivot data refresh

1. Log on to Contoso-DC by using the Contoso\Administrator account.

2. Click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Active Directory Users and Computers.

3. Expand the contoso.local node.

4. Right-click Users, click New, and then click New User.

5. In the Full name and User logon name boxes, type PowerPivotUnattended, and then click Next.

6. Type and confirm a password for the account.

7. Clear the User must change password at next logon check box.

8. Select the Password never expires check box.

9. Click Next, and then click Finish.

Once the Active Directory account is created, the next step is to grant Read permissions to that account in SQL Server.

To grant Read permissions to the PowerPivot unattended data refresh account in SQL Server

1. Log on to the Contoso-SQL computer by using the Contoso\SQLAdmin account.

2. Click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2, and then click SQL Server Management Studio.

3. In the Connect to Server dialog box, specify the following settings:

• In the Server type list, select Database Engine.

• In the Server name box, type Contoso-SQL.
Then click Connect.

4. In the Object Explorer pane, expand Security.

5. Right-click Logins, and then click New Login.

6. In the Login name box, type Contoso\PowerPivotUnattended.

7. In the Select a Page section, click User Mapping.

8. Select the Map check box for the ContosoRetailDW database, and then, under Database role membership for: ContosoRetailDW, select the db_datareader check box.

9. Click OK.

10. Close SQL Server Management Studio, and then log off the Contoso-SQL computer.

The next step is to create a Secure Store target application.

Configure Secure Store service for PowerPivot for SharePoint

Configuring Secure Store Service for PowerPivot for SharePoint consists of the following steps:

• Creating a PowerPivot target application for the Secure Store Service

• Specifying the target application identity for the PowerPivot unattended data refresh account

• Granting Contribute permissions to the PowerPivot unattended data refresh account in SharePoint Server

The first step is to create a PowerPivot target application for Secure Store Service.

To create a PowerPivot target application for Secure Store Service

1. Log on to Contoso-AppSrv by using the Contoso\FarmAdmin account.

2. Click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products, and then click SharePoint 2010 Central Administration.

3. On the Central Administration home page, in the Application Management section, click Manage service applications.

4. In the list of service applications, click Secure Store Service.

5. In the ribbon, on the Edit tab, click New.

6. On the Target Application Settings page, specify the following settings:

• In the Target Application ID box, type PowerPivotDataRefresh.

• In the Display Name box, type PowerPivotDataRefresh.

• In the Contact E-mail box, type an e-mail address. For our example, we use farmadmin@contoso.local.

• In the Target Application Type list, select Group.

• In the Target Application Page URL section, select None.
Then click Next.

7. On the Specify the credential fields for your Secure Store Target Application page, keep the default values, and then click Next.

8. On the Create New Secure Store Service Application page, specify the following settings

• In the Target Application Administrators box, type Contoso\FarmAdmin.

• In the Members box, type the name of the application pool identity for the PowerPivot service application. For our example, we use PowerPivotAppPool.
Then click OK.
The list of Secure Store Service target applications is displayed. Do not close this window.

The next step is to set credentials for the target application.

To set credentials for the PowerPivot target application

1. Begin with the list of Secure Store Service target applications open. Select the check box next to PowerPivotDataRefresh.

2. In the ribbon, on the Edit tab, in the Credentials section, click Set.

3. On the Set Credentials for Secure Store Target Application (Group) page, specify the following settings:

• In the Windows User Name box, type Contoso\PowerPivotUnattended.

• In the Windows Password and the Confirm Windows Password boxes, type the password for the Contoso\PowerPivotUnattended account.
Then click OK.
The list of Secure Store Service target applications is displayed. Do not close this window.

The next step is to specify a PowerPivot unattended data refresh account.

To specify a target application identity for the PowerPivot unattended data refresh account

1. In Central Administration, in the Application Management section, click Manage service applications.

2. In the list of service applications, click the name of the PowerPivot service application. For our example, we click PowerPivotServiceApplication1.

The PowerPivot Management Dashboard opens.

3. In the Actions section, click Configure service application settings.

The PowerPivot Settings page opens.

4. In the Data Refresh section, in the PowerPivot Unattended Data Refresh Account box, type the name of the target application identity. For our example, we use PowerPivotDataRefresh.

Then click OK.

5. Close Central Administration, but remain logged in to the Contoso\FarmAdmin account.

The next step is to grant Contribute permissions to the PowerPivotUnattended account in SharePoint Server. This enables users to open PowerPivot workbooks from a SharePoint library and save it after refreshing data.

To grant Contribute permissions to the PowerPivot unattended data refresh account in SharePoint Server

1. Open a Web browser and navigate to the Contoso team site. For our example, the Web site address (URL) is http://contoso-appsrv.

2. Click BI Center to open the Business Intelligence Center.

3. Click Site Actions, and then click Site Permissions.

4. In the ribbon, on the Edit tab, click Grant Permissions.

5. In the Grant Permissions dialog box, specify the following settings:

• In the Users/Groups box, type the name of the PowerPivot unattended data refresh account.
For our example we use Contoso\PowerPivotUnattended.

• In the Grant Permissions section, select Add users to a SharePoint group (recommended), and then select Business Intelligence Center Members [Contribute].
Then click OK.

6. Close the Web browser, and then log off the Contoso-AppSrv computer.

Now that PowerPivot for SharePoint is deployed, the next step is to verify that PowerPivot for SharePoint is configured correctly.

Verify that PowerPivot for SharePoint is configured correctly

Verifying that PowerPivot for SharePoint is configured correctly consists of the following steps:

• Installing the PowerPivot add-in for Excel on a client computer

• Creating and publishing a PowerPivot workbook to SharePoint Server

Before you can install the PowerPivot add-in for Excel, you must verify that Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5.1 is installed on the client computer.

Important:
Before you begin to perform the tasks that are described in this section, make sure that you have Internet access on the Contoso-Client virtual machine.

To install the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5.1

1. Log on to Contoso-Client by using the Contoso\Administrator account.

2. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.

3. Click Programs.

4. In the Programs and Features section, click Turn Windows features on or off.

The Windows Features dialog box appears.

5. Select the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5.1 check box, and then click OK.

6. After Microsoft .NET Framework is installed, close the Control Panel. Do not log off the computer.

The next step is to download and install PowerPivot for Excel.

To install PowerPivot for Excel

1. Open a web browser.

2. In the address line, type http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=224183.

The Microsoft Download Center page for Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 - PowerPivot for Microsoft Excel 2010 – RTM opens.

3. Click the Download button for PowerPivot for Excel.

4. If a dialog box appears that prompts you to run or save the application, click Run.

The PowerPivot for Excel Setup dialog box appears.

5. On the welcome page, click Next.

6. On the License Agreement page, select I accept the terms in the license agreement, and then click Next.

7. On the Registration Information page, in the Name box, type your name, and then click Next.

8. On the Ready to Install the Program page, click Install.

9. On the Completing the PowerPivot for Excel installation page, click Finish.

10. Close the web browser. Log off the computer.

The next step is to open Microsoft Excel and create a PowerPivot workbook.

To create a PowerPivot workbook

1. Log on to the Contoso-Client computer by using the Contoso\Susan.Burk account.

2. Click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft Office, and then click Microsoft Excel 2010.

3. If Excel opens and displays a Microsoft Office Customization Installer dialog box, click Install.

PowerPivot for Excel adds a PowerPivot tab to the Excel workbook.

4. In Excel, on the PowerPivot tab, in the Launch group, click PowerPivot Window.

The PowerPivot window opens.

5. On the Home tab, click From Database, and then click From SQL Server.

The Table Import Wizard dialog box appears.

6. On the Connect to a Microsoft SQL Server Database page, in the Server name box, type Contoso-SQL.

7. Use the Database name list to select ContosoRetailDW, and then click Test Connection.

8. If your connection is successful, click Next.

9. On the Choose How to Import the Data page, select the Select from a list of tables and views to choose the data to import option, and then click Next.

10. In the Select Tables and Views page, select the check box next to the DimPromotion table, and then click Finish.

The Importing page indicates that 28 rows of data were transferred.

11. Click Close to close the Table Importing Wizard.

The data is displayed in the PowerPivot window.

12. On the Home tab, in the Reports group, click PivotTable down arrow, and then click PivotChart.

The Create PivotChart dialog box appears.

13. Select Existing Worksheet, and then click OK.

An empty chart opens in Excel.

14. In the PowerPivot Field List pane, select the check boxes for PromotionDescription and DiscountPercent.

The chart updates to display data.

15. From the PowerPivot Field List pane, drag StartDate to the Slicers Horizontal box.

A box that contains slicers is added to the page, over the PivotChart report.

Do not close the workbook.

The next step is to publish the workbook to SharePoint Server.

To publish the workbook

1. In Excel, click the File tab, and then click Save & Send.

2. Click Save to SharePoint.

3. Under Locations, click Browse for a location, and then click Save As.

The Save As dialog box appears.

4. In the location box at the top of the window, type http://contosoappsrv/sites/BICenter/Documents.

Note:
It might take some time for the Save As dialog box to refresh and show the site content.

5. In the File name box, type ContosoPromotions.xlsx.

6. Select the Open with Excel in the browser check box, and then click Save.

A browser window opens and displays a cached version of the ContosoPromotions workbook.

7. In the browser window, click a slicer, such as one that has an August date. Notice that the word “school” is misspelled as “scholl.” This is an error in the underlying database that we will correct, and then you can see how data refresh works.

Close the browser window.

The next step is to configure data refresh settings for the PowerPivot workbook.

To configure data refresh settings for the PowerPivot workbook

1. Open a web browser and navigate to the Business Intelligence Center Documents library. For example, we use http://contoso-appsrv/sites/bicenter/documents.

2. Point to the ContosoPromotions file, click the down arrow that appears, and then click Manage PowerPivot Data Refresh.

3. On the Manage Data Refresh page, select the Enable check box, and then click OK.

You have successfully installed and configured PowerPivot for SharePoint.

To see how the slicers work, click different slicers. The PivotChart report is updated to display information for that particular Start Date. To apply more than one slicer, hold down the Ctrl key, click the slicers that you want to use, and then release the Ctrl key and the mouse.

The next step is to verify that data refresh is working correctly.

Test data refresh

To confirm that data refresh works for PowerPivot workbooks, we follow these steps:

• Refresh the data currently displayed in the browser on the Contoso-Client computer

• Change a value in the ContosoRetailDW database

• Refresh the data displayed in the browser on Contoso-Client again and confirm that the new information is displayed

First, we refresh the existing data. Use the following procedure to refresh the data in the browser.

To refresh the ContosoPromotions workbook in a browser window

1. Begin with the ContosoPromotions workbook open in a browser window.

In the browser, on the Data drop-down list, click Refresh All Connections.

Note:
If a warning message appears, click OK.

If PowerPivot for SharePoint is configured correctly, the data will refresh without error, although we will not see any changes in data values at this point. The next step is to change a value in the ContosoRetailDW database and confirm that the changes appear in the workbook.

To update data in the ContosoRetailDW database

1. Log on to Contoso-SQL by using the Contoso\SQLAdmin account.

2. Click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2, and then click SQL Server Management Studio.

3. On the Connect to Server dialog box, select Database Engine for the Server type, and then click Connect.

4. In the toolbar, click New Query.

5. Copy the following query to the query window:

USE [ContosoRetailDW]
GO
UPDATE dbo.DimPromotion set dbo.DimPromotion.PromotionName = '[European Back-to-School
Promotion' where dbo.DimPromotion.PromotionName = 'European Back-to-Scholl Promotion'
GO
UPDATE dbo.DimPromotion set dbo.DimPromotion.PromotionDescription = 'European Back-to-
School Promotion' where dbo.DimPromotion.PromotionDescription = 'European Back-to-Scholl
Promotion'
GO

Click here to view code as image

6. In the toolbar, click Execute.

The next step is to return to the Contoso-Client virtual machine and refresh ContosoPromotions.xlsx in the browser window.

Note:
If you see a warning that the page has expired, click OK and restart the procedure.

To refresh the ContosoPromotions workbook

1. Log on to Contoso-Client computer by using the Contoso\Susan.Burk account.

2. Open a Web browser, navigate to the Business Intelligence Center Documents library, and open the ContosoPromotions.xlsx file.

For example, we use the Web site address http://contoso-appsrv/sites/bicenter/documents/contosopromotions.xlsx.

The workbook opens in a browser window.

3. In the browser, on the Data drop-down list, click Refresh All Connections.

Note:
If a warning message appears, click OK.

4. In the slicer section, click an August date.

Notice that the report now displays the correct spelling of “school.”

Concepts

Configuring a BI infrastructure: Hands-on labs

Other Resources

PowerPivot for SharePoint (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=226555)

Configure Visio Services for a BI test environment

Published: May 26, 2011

Summary: This lab covers how to deploy a Visio Services service application and how to configure data access for users connecting data to shapes in Visio.

Important:
This article is part of the Configuring a BI infrastructure: Hands-on labs series. To complete the steps in this article, you must first have completed:

• All steps in the Create a baseline environment for a BI test environment series of articles.

Visio Services in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 is a service application that lets users share and view Microsoft Visio Web drawings. The service also enables data-connected Microsoft Visio 2010 Web drawings to be refreshed and updated from various data sources.

This lab consists of three sections:

• Deploy Visio Services: In this section, we deploy the Visio Services service application on the Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 farm.

• Configure Visio Services Global Settings: In this section, we configure the cache settings for Visio Services so that we can easily demonstrate data refresh in later labs.

• Configure Visio client access: In this section, we configure user data access from Microsoft Visio Premium 2010.

Video demonstration

This video shows how to configure Visio Services for use in these labs.

Running time: 10:30

Watch the video.
For an optimal viewing experience, download the video.
Right-click the link, and then click Save Target As to download a copy. Clicking the link opens a .wmv file in the default video viewer for full-resolution viewing.

Click here to view table as image

Deploy Visio Services

Deploying Visio Services consists of the following steps:

• Creating an Active Directory account for the application pool under which the Visio Services service application will run.

• Registering that account as a managed account in SharePoint Server 2010.

• Starting the Visio Graphics Service.

• Creating a Visio Services service application.

The first step in deploying Visio Services is to create an account in the Active Directory directory service to run the application pool for the Visio Services service application. Use the following procedure to create the account.

To create an account for the application pool

1. Log on to Contoso-DC by using the Contoso\administrator account.

2. On the Contoso-DC virtual machine, click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Active Directory Users and Computers.

3. Expand the contoso.local node.

4. Right-click Users, click New, and then click User.

5. In the Full name text box and the User logon name text box, type VisioAppPool.

6. Click Next.

7. In the Password and Confirm password text boxes, type a password for the account.

8. Clear the User must change password at next logon check box.

9. Select the Password never expires check box.

10. Click Next.

11. Click Finish.

12. Log off Contoso-DC.

Once you have created the account, it must be registered as a managed account in SharePoint Server 2010. Doing so makes the account available to service applications when you create them. Use the following procedure to register the managed account.

To register a managed account

1. Log in to Contoso-AppSrv using the Contoso\FarmAdmin account.

2. Click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products, and then click SharePoint 2010 Central Administration.

3. On the Central Administration home page, in the left navigation, click Security.

4. On the Security page, under General Security, click Configure managed accounts.

5. On the Managed Accounts page, click Register Managed Account.

6. In the User name text box, type Contoso\VisioAppPool.

7. In the Password text box, type the password for the Contoso\VisioAppPool account.

8. Click OK.

By default, the application pool account does not have the required access to the SharePoint content database. Access to this database is required for rendering data-connected Web drawings. Use the following procedure to grant the required database access to the application pool account.

To grant content database access to the managed account

1. On Contoso-AppSrv, click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products, right-click SharePoint 2010 Management Shell, and then click Run as Administrator.

2. At the Windows PowerShell Command Prompt, type the following (press Enter after each line):

$w = Get-SPWebApplication -identity http://contoso-appsrv
$w.GrantAccessToProcessIdentity("Contoso\ExcelAppPool")

Click here to view code as image

Once you have granted database access to the application pool account, you must start the Visio Graphics Service. This is the SharePoint Server 2010 service that performs all processing and activities associated with Visio Services.

You must start this service on at least one application server. In a production environment, you would choose a server or servers on which to run the service, depending on your capacity requirements.

Use the following procedure to start the Visio Graphics Service.

To start the Visio Graphics Service

1. On the Central Administration home page, under System Settings, click Manage services on server.

2. Above the Service list, click the Server drop-down list, and then click Change Server.

Note that the application server, Contoso-AppSrv, is listed together with Contoso-SQL. In a farm with multiple application servers, you would use this dialog box to select the server where you want to run Secure Store Service, and then start the service as shown here.

3. Click CONTOSO-APPSRV.

4. In the Service list, click Start next to Visio Graphics Service.

Once the Visio Graphics Service has been started, you must create a Visio Services service application. Use the following procedure to create the service application.

To create a Visio Graphics Service service application

1. On the Central Administration home page, in the Application Management section, click Manage service applications.

2. On the Manage Service Applications page, click New, and then click Visio Graphics Service.

3. In the Visio Graphics Service Application Name section, type Visio Services in the text box.

4. Select the Create new application pool option and type VisioServicesAppPool in the Application pool name text box.

5. Select the Configurable option, and from the drop-down list, select CONTOSO\VisioAppPool.

6. Click OK.

Once the service application has been created, the next step is to configure the data refresh settings in Visio Services Global Settings.

Configure Visio Services Global Settings

To efficiently demonstrate data refresh in the following Visio Services labs, we must change the default cache settings to allow for immediate data refresh.

To configure the Visio Services minimum cache age

1. On the Central Administration home page, under Application Management, click Manage service applications.

2. In the list of service applications, click Visio Services.

3. Click Global Settings.

4. In the Minimum Cache Age text box, type 0.

5. Click OK.

In a production environment, setting the minimum cache age to zero (0) could put unnecessary strain on the server. We recommend that you leave the cache settings at their default values for best performance in a production environment. However, for this series of labs we want to be able to show immediate data refresh to validate that we have correctly configured data connectivity.

Once you have finished configuring the cache settings in Visio Services Global Settings, the next step is to configure data access for diagram authors working in Microsoft Visio Professional 2010 and Visio Premium 2010.

Configure Visio client access

In the following Visio Services labs, we will be configuring data refresh for Visio Web drawings by using Secure Store Service. However, be aware that there are differences in the way that Visio Services and the Visio client application authenticate with data sources.

Although Visio Services can use Secure Store Service to authenticate with a data source when rendering a data-connected Web drawing, Visio Professional 2010 and Visio Premium 2010 do not use Secure Store Service for data authentication. Visio Professional 2010 and Visio Premium 2010 require that diagram authors have direct database access in order to link data to shapes in Visio.

In this case, we will create an Active Directory group to contain our diagram authors, and then create a SQL Server logon for that Active Directory group. In the following labs, we will grant the needed database access to this Active Directory group before creating a Visio diagram.

To create an Active Directory group

1. Log on to Contoso-DC by using the Contoso\administrator account.

2. On the Contoso-DC virtual machine, click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Active Directory Users and Computers.

3. Expand the contoso.local node.

4. Right-click Users, click New, and then click Group.

5. In the Group Name text box, type VisioDiagramAuthors, and then click OK.

Next, we need to add users to the group. In this case, we will add the user Susan Burk to the group because Susan Burk has Contribute access to the Business Intelligence Center where we will be publishing our data-connected Web drawings in the following Visio Services labs.

To populate the VisioDiagramAuthors Active Directory group

1. In Active Directory Users and Computers, double-click the VisioDiagramAuthors group.

2. On the Members tab, click Add.

3. In the Enter object names to select box, type Contoso\Susan.Burk, and then click OK.

4. Verify that Susan Burk appears in the Members list, and then click OK.

Now that the Susan Burk account is added to the VisioDiagramAuthors group, the next step is to create a SQL Server logon for that group.

To create a SQL Server logon

1. Log on to Contoso-SQL by using the Contoso\SQLAdmin account.

2. Click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2, and then click SQL Server Management Studio.

3. Connect to the Database Engine.

4. Expand the Security node.

5. Right-click Logins, and then click New Login.

6. On the Login – New page, click Search.

7. On the Select User or Group dialog box, click Object Types.

8. On the Object Types dialog box, select the Groups check box, and then click OK.

9. On the Select User or Group dialog box, in the Enter the object name to select box, type Contoso\VisioDiagramAuthors, and then click OK.

10. On the Login – New page, click OK.

When you have completed all of the previous procedures, Visio Services will be operational and ready to use. The next step is to configure security access to your data sources. The following labs cover how to configure security access by using Secure Store Service:

• Configure the Visio Services unattended service account in a BI test environment

• Configure Visio Services data access by using Secure Store in a BI test environment

Other Resources

Configure Kerberos authentication for SharePoint 2010 Products (white paper)

Data authentication for Visio Services (SharePoint Server 2010)

Configure the Visio Services unattended service account in a BI test environment

Published: May 26, 2011

Summary: Read this example for a demonstration of how to connect data in a remote database to a Visio diagram by using an ODC file.

Important:
This article is part of the Configuring a BI infrastructure: Hands-on labs series. To complete the steps in this article, you must first have completed:

• All steps in the Create a baseline environment for a BI test environment series of articles.

• All steps in Configure Visio Services for a BI test environment

Visio Services in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 provides two methods of using Secure Store to refresh data in a data-connected Web drawing. One is by using the unattended service account and the other is by using an Office Data Connection (ODC) file. This lab covers the unattended service account option. For more information about how to use an ODC file, see Configure Visio Services data access by using Secure Store in a BI test environment.

Using the unattended service account involves configuring access to your data for an Active Directory account, storing the credentials for this account in Secure Store, and configuring Visio Services to use this account when it needs to refresh the data in a data-connected Web drawing.

The following steps are required to configure the unattended service account in Visio Services.

• Configure a data access account

• Configure Secure Store

• Configure the Visio Services Global Settings

In this lab, we will also create a small sample table in SQL Server and publish a Web drawing with data connected to the SQL Server table.

Video demonstration

This video shows how to set up the unattended service account for Visio Services.

Running time: 15:49

Watch the video.
For an optimal viewing experience, download the video.
Right-click the link, and then click Save Target As to download a copy. Clicking the link opens a .wmv file in the default video viewer for full-resolution viewing.

Click here to view table as image

Creating sample data

When you configure the unattended service account, you have to grant the account access to the data source to which your Visio Web drawing will be connected. For the purposes of this lab, we will create a SQL Server table. The table contains some simple data that we can use in a data-connected Web drawing which we will publish to the SharePoint document library in the Business Intelligence Center. Use the following procedure to create the SQL Server table.

To create a table with sample data

1. Log on to Contoso-SQL by using the Contoso\SQLAdmin account.

2. Click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2, and then click SQL Server Management Studio.

3. On the Connect to Server dialog box, select Database Engine for the Server type, and then click Connect.

4. On the toolbar, click New Query.

5. Copy the following query to the query window:

USE [master]
GO
CREATE DATABASE CorporateDirectory;
GO
USE [CorporateDirectory]
GO
CREATE TABLE [dbo].[Office](
[Name] [varchar] (50) NULL,
[Office] [varchar] (50) NULL
) ON [PRIMARY]
GO
INSERT INTO Office ([Name], [Office])
VALUES ('John Woods', '1501');
GO
INSERT INTO Office ([Name], [Office])
VALUES ('Susan Burk', '1502');
GO
INSERT INTO Office ([Name], [Office])
VALUES ('Cindy White', '1503');
GO
INSERT INTO Office ([Name], [Office])
VALUES ('David Hamilton', '1504');
GO

Click here to view code as image

6. On the toolbar, click Execute.

With the sample table created, the next step is to create an Active Directory account for use as the unattended service account.

Configure a data access account

The unattended service account requires an Active Directory account for data access. Use the following procedure to create the account.

To create an Active Directory account for data access

1. Log on to Contoso-DC as Contoso\Administrator.

2. Click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Active Directory Users and Computers.

3. Expand the contoso.local node.

4. Right-click Users, click New, and then click User.

5. In the Full name and User logon name text boxes, type VisioUnattended.

6. Click Next.

7. Type and confirm a password for the account.

8. Clear the User must change password at next logon check box.

9. Select the Password never expires check box.

10. Click Next, and then click Finish.

Once the account has been created, the next step is to grant that account read access to the required data. In a production scenario, you would grant access to whatever data source you need to access from your Visio Web drawing. In this lab we will grant access to the sample SQL Server database that we created earlier. Use the following procedure to create a SQL Server logon and grant that logon data reader access to the CorporateDirectory database.

To create a SQL Server logon

1. Log on to Contoso-SQL as Contoso\SQLAdmin.

2. Click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2, and then click SQL Server Management Studio.

3. On the Connect to Server dialog box, select Database Engine as the Server type, type Contoso-SQL in the Server name box, and then click Connect.

4. In Object Explorer, expand Security.

5. Right-click Logins, and then click New Login.

6. In the Login name box, type Contoso\VisioUnattended.

7. Under Select a page, click User Mapping.

8. Select the Map check box for the CorporateDirectory database, and then under Database role membership for:CorporateDirectory, select the db_datareader check box.

9. Click OK.

With the account created and granted the appropriate data access, we can now configure Secure Store.

Configure Secure Store

Secure Store uses a target application to define connection parameters and authorized users. The unattended service account is generally considered a catch-all account that is used for general data access, so usually all users are granted access to the unattended service account through the target application.

Use the following procedure to create a target application for the unattended service account.

To create a target application for the unattended service account

1. Log in to Contoso-AppSrv using the Contoso\FarmAdmin account.

2. Click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products, and then click SharePoint 2010 Central Administration.

3. On the SharePoint Central Administration Web site home page, in the Application Management section, click Manage service applications.

4. Click the Secure Store Service service application.

5. On the ribbon, click New.

6. In the Target Application ID box, type VisioServicesUnattended.

7. In the Display Name box, type VisioServicesUnattended.

8. In the Contact E-mail box, type farmadmin@contoso.local.

Note:
Although e-mail notifications are not configured in this environment, Contact E-mail is a required field.

9. In the Target Application Type drop-down list, select Group.

10. Click Next.

11. Leave the default credential fields, and then click Next.

12. On the Specify the membership settings page:

a) In the Target Application Administrators box, type Contoso\FarmAdmin.

b) In the Members box, type All Authenticated Users.

Note:
In a production scenario, you would typically include all users here. You can restrict the users who have access to the unattended service account to a specific Active Directory group if you want, but be aware that only one unattended service account can be created per Visio Services service application.

c) Click OK.

Once the target application has been created, you must specify which credentials should be used by it. The target application credentials are those to which data access has been granted — in our case, the Contoso\VisioUnattended account to which we granted db_datareader access to the CorporateDirectory database.

Use the following procedure to set the credentials for the target application.

To set the credentials for the target application

1. On the Secure Store Service Application page, in the Target Application ID column, point to VisioServicesUnattended, click the arrow that appears, and then click Set Credentials.

2. In the Windows User Name box, type Contoso\VisioUnattended.

3. Type and confirm the password for the Contoso\VisioUnattended account.

4. Click OK.

With the credentials set for the target application, the Secure Store configuration for the unattended service account is complete. The next step is to configure Visio Services to use this target application for the unattended service account.

Configure Visio Services

The unattended service account configuration is part of the Visio Services Global Settings. Use the following procedure to configure the unattended service account in Visio Services.

To configure Visio Services Global Settings

1. On the Central Administration home page, under Application Management, click Manage service applications.

2. On the Manage Service Applications page, click Visio Services.

3. On the Manage the Visio Graphics Service page, click Global Settings.

4. On the Visio Graphics Service Settings page, in the External Data section, in the Application ID box, type VisioServicesUnattended.

5. Click OK.

With the Visio Services Global Settings configured, setup of the unattended service account is complete. In the next section, we will create a data-connected Web drawing, publish it to a SharePoint document library, and render it by using Visio Services. This enables us to test data refresh by using the unattended service account.

Grant database access to the diagram author

When Visio Services renders a data-connected Web drawing, it can use Secure Store and the unattended service account to refresh the data. However, Microsoft Visio does not use Secure Store or the unattended service account, but instead requires the user to have direct database access to work with a data-connected diagram. Because of this, in order to create a data-connected diagram in Visio, we must first grant Read access to the CorporateDirectory database to the user who will create the diagram.

In Configure Visio Services for a BI test environment, we created an Active Directory group named VisioDiagramAuthors for granting database access to diagram authors. We must now grant db_datareader access to that group for the CorporateDirectory database.

Use the following procedure to grant database access to the Contoso\VisioDiagramAuthors group.

To grant database access to a user

1. Log on to Contoso-SQL as Contoso\SQLAdmin.

2. Click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2, and then click SQL Server Management Studio.

3. Connect to the Database Engine.

4. In SQL Server Management Studio, expand Security, and then expand Logins.

5. Right-click the Contoso\VisioDiagramAuthors logon, and then click Properties.

6. In the pane on the left side, click User Mapping.

7. Select the Map check box for the CorporateDirectory database.

8. In the Database role membership for: CorporateDirectory list, select the db_datareader check box, and then click OK.

Publishing a data-connected web drawing

To confirm that we have successfully configured Visio Services and the unattended service account, we will create a data-connected Web drawing that uses the CorporateDirectory table that we created in SQL Server.

To create a diagram

1. Log on to Contoso-Client by using the Contoso\Susan.Burk account.

2. Click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft Office, and then click Microsoft Visio 2010.

3. On the Choose a Template page, in the Template Categories section, click Maps and Floor Plans.

4. Click Floor Plan, and then click Create.

5. From the Shapes list, drag four Room shapes onto the page and organize them in two rows of two with a small space between the rows.

6. Drag a Door shape onto the bottom wall of each of the top two Room shapes.

7. Drag a Door shape onto the top wall of each of the bottom two Room shapes.

You should now have a diagram that resembles the following:

The next step is to connect the data in the CorporateDirectory database to the floor plan that we just created.

To connect the Visio diagram to data

1. On the ribbon, click the Data tab, and then click Link Data to Shapes.

2. On the Data Selector page of the wizard, click Microsoft SQL Server database, and then click Next.

3. On the Connect to Database Server page, type Contoso-SQL in the Server name box, and then click Next.

4. On the Select Database and Table page select CorporateDirectory from the drop-down list, and then click Next.

5. On the Save Data Connection File and Finish page, click Finish.

Note:
If you are prompted to overwrite the existing data connection file, click Yes.

6. On the Select Data Connection page, click Next.

7. On the Connect to data page, click Next.

8. On the Configure Refresh Unique Identifier page, clear the Name check box and select the Office check box.

9. Click Finish.

10. On the drawing page:

a) From the External Data section, drag John Woods to the upper-left office in the drawing.

b) Select the upper-left office in the drawing, and then on the Data tab, click Data Graphics, and then click Edit Data Graphic.

c) Select the Name row in the Data Field list, and then in the Default position section, select Left from the Horizontal drop-down list.

d) With the Name row still selected, click Edit Item.

e) From the Style list, select Heading 3, and then click OK.

f) Select the Office row in the Data Field list, and then in the Default position section, ensure that Horizontal is set to Left.

g) With the Office row still selected, click Edit Item.

h) From the Style list, select Heading 3, and then click OK.

i) Click OK.

j) From the External Data section, drag Susan Burk to the lower-left office in the diagram (under John Woods).

k) From the External Data section, drag Cindy White to the upper-right office in the diagram (to the right side of John Woods).

l) From the External Data section, drag David Hamilton to the lower-right office in the diagram (under Cindy White).

11. Leave the diagram open for the next procedure.

You should now see a diagram similar to the following.

The next step is to publish this diagram to the Business Intelligence Center as a data-connected Web drawing.

To publish a data-connected Web drawing

1. Click File, and then click Save & Send.

2. Click Save to SharePoint.

3. Under Locations, click Browse for a location.

4. Under File Types, click Web Drawing.

5. Click Save As.

6. On the Save As dialog box, type http://contoso-appsrv/sites/BICenter in the location box at the top, and then press Enter.

Note:
It may take some time for the dialog box to refresh and show the site content.

7. In the All Site Content list, double-click Documents.

8. Ensure that the Automatically view files in browser check box is selected.

9. In the File name box, type Floor plan, and then click Save. The Web drawing renders in a browser window.

10. When the drawing is displayed, if a Refresh Disabled warning is displayed, click Enable (always).
Leave this browser window open for the data refresh test procedure that follows.

The rendered Web drawing shows the data currently in the CorporateDirectory database. To test the data refresh mechanism, we can modify the data in the Office table in SQL Server and then refresh the Web drawing to see the change.

Use the following procedure to modify the data in SQL Server and then refresh the Web drawing.

Note:
Remain logged in to Contoso-Client as Susan Burk while you do this procedure.

To test Visio Services data refresh

1. Log on to Contoso-SQL by using the Contoso\SQLAdmin account.

2. Click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2, and then click SQL Server Management Studio.

3. On the Connect to Server dialog box, select Database Engine for the Server type, and then click Connect.

4. In the toolbar, click New Query.

5. Copy the following query to the query window:

USE [CorporateDirectory]
GO
UPDATE dbo.Office set dbo.Office.Name = 'David Hamilton' where dbo.Office.Office = '1501'
GO
UPDATE dbo.Office set dbo.Office.Name = 'John Woods' where dbo.Office.Office = '1504'
GO

Click here to view code as image

6. In the toolbar, click Execute.

7. Return to Contoso-Client where the Server Status Web drawing is displayed.
Note that in the original drawing, John Woods is in office 1501 and David Hamilton is in office 1504.

8. On the Visio Web Access toolbar, click Refresh.
Note that John Woods and David Hamilton have now swapped offices, reflecting the manual changes we made in SQL Server.

Note:
The Visio Services cache settings affect how quickly the new results appear when you refresh the drawing. In the Configure Visio Services for a BI test environment lab, we set the cache settings to zero (0), allowing immediate refresh. In a production environment, refresh will likely take longer depending on how you configure the cache.

Other Resources

Plan Visio Services security (SharePoint Server 2010)

Configure Visio Services data access by using Secure Store in a BI test environment

Published: May 26, 2011

Summary: Read this example for a demonstration of how to connect data in a remote database to a Visio diagram by using an ODC file.

Important:
This article is part of the Configuring a BI infrastructure: Hands-on labs series. To complete the steps in this article, you must first have completed:

• All steps in the Create a baseline environment for a BI test environment series of articles.

• All steps in Configure Visio Services for a BI test environment

Visio Services in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 provides two methods of using Secure Store to refresh data in a data-connected Web drawing. One is by using the unattended service account and the other is by using an Office Data Connection (ODC) file. This lab covers the ODC file option. For more information about how to use the unattended service account, see Configure the Visio Services unattended service account in a BI test environment.

Note:
ODC files must be created in Microsoft Excel 2007 or Microsoft Excel 2010. You must have Excel together with Microsoft Visio Professional 2010 or Microsoft Visio Premium 2010 installed on the Contoso-Client virtual machine to complete this lab.

Using the unattended service account involves configuring access to your data for an Active Directory account, storing the credentials for this account in Secure Store, and configuring Visio Services to use this account when it needs to refresh the data in a data-connected Web drawing.

The following steps are required to configure the unattended service account in Visio Services.

• Configure a data access account

• Configure Secure Store

• Configure the Visio Services Global Settings

In this lab, we will also create a small sample table in SQL Server and publish a Web drawing with data connected to the SQL Server table.

Video demonstration

This video shows how to set up data access for Visio Services using Secure Store.

Running time: 14:41

Watch the video.
For an optimal viewing experience, download the video.
Right-click the link, and then click Save Target As to download a copy. Clicking the link opens a .wmv file in the default video viewer for full-resolution viewing.

Click here to view table as image

Creating sample data

When configuring data access through Secure Store, you have to grant the account access to the data source to which your Visio Web drawing will be connected. For the purposes of this lab, we will create a SQL Server table. The table contains some simple data which we can use in a data-connected Web drawing which we will publish to a document library in the Business Intelligence Center.

Use the following procedure to create the SQL Server table.

To create a table with sample data

1. Log on to Contoso-SQL by using the Contoso\SQLAdmin account.

2. Click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2, and then click SQL Server Management Studio.

3. On the Connect to Server dialog box, select Database Engine for the Server type, and then click Connect.

4. On the toolbar, click New Query.

5. Copy the following query to the query window:

USE [master]
GO
CREATE DATABASE ServerStatus;
GO
USE [ServerStatus]
GO
CREATE TABLE [dbo].[Status](
[Server] [varchar](50) NULL,
[Status] [bit] NULL
) ON [PRIMARY]
GO
INSERT INTO Status ([SERVER], [Status])
VALUES ('Seattle', 'TRUE');
GO
INSERT INTO Status ([SERVER], [Status])
VALUES ('New York', 'TRUE');
GO
INSERT INTO Status ([SERVER], [Status])
VALUES ('London', 'FALSE');
GO

Click here to view table as image

6. On the toolbar, click Execute.

With the sample table created, the next step is to create an Active Directory account for use as the data access account.

Configure a data access account

Secure Store maps users designated to have data access to an account that has data access. For this lab, we will create an Active Directory account and give it access to the ServerStatus database that we created in the previous section. Use the following procedure to create the account.

To create an Active Directory account for data access

1. Log into Contoso-DC as Contoso\Administrator.

2. Click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Active Directory Users and Computers.

3. Expand the contoso.local node.

4. Right-click Users, click New, and then click User.

5. In the Full name and User logon name boxes, type VisioDataAccess.

6. Click Next.

7. Type and confirm a password for the account.

8. Clear the User must change password at next logon check box.

9. Select the Password never expires check box.

10. Click Next, and then click Finish.

Once the account has been created, the next step is to grant that account read access to the required data. In a production scenario, you would grant access to whatever data source that you need to access from your Visio Web drawing. In this lab we will grant access to the sample SQL Server that we created earlier. Use the following procedure to create a SQL Server logon and grant that logon data reader access to the ServerStatus table.

To create a SQL Server logon

1. Log on to Contoso-SQL as Contoso\SQLAdmin.

2. Click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2, and then click SQL Server Management Studio.

3. On the Connect to Server dialog box, select Database Engine as the Server type, type Contoso-SQL in the Server name box, and then click Connect.

4. In Object Explorer, expand Security.

5. Right-click Logins, and then click New Login.

6. In the Login name box, type Contoso\VisioDataAccess.

7. Under Select a page, click User Mapping.

8. Select the Map check box for the ServerStatus database, and then under Database role membership for: ServerStatus, select the db_datareader check box.

9. Click OK.

Now that the Contoso\VisioDataAccess account has access to the ServerStatus database that we created, the next step is to configure Secure Store.

Configure Secure Store

Configuring Secure Store involves three steps:

• Determine which users should have data access through Secure Store

• Create a Secure Store target application that contains those users

• Map the target application to the credentials that have data access

Generally, you will want to provide data access to multiple users. The easiest way to manage that is by creating an Active Directory group and then populating that group with the users to whom you want to grant data access.

Use the following procedure to create the Active Directory group.

To create an Active Directory group for user data access

1. Log on to Contoso-DC using the Contoso\Administrator account.

2. Click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Active Directory Users and Computers.

3. Expand the contoso.local node.

4. Right-click Users, click New, and then click Group.

5. In the Group name box type VisioDataAccessGroup.

6. Click OK.

Next, we will populate the group with the users to whom we want to grant data access. In this case, we will use the Susan Burk and John Woods accounts. Use the following procedure to populate the VisioDataAccessGroup.

To populate the data access group

1. In Active Directory Users and Computers, in the users list, double-click the VisioDataAccessGroup group.

2. On the Members tab, click Add.

3. On the Select Users dialog box, type Contoso\susan.burk; Contoso\john.woods, and then click OK.
The Members tab should now show Susan Burk and John Woods as members of the group.

4. Click OK.

The next step is to create a Secure Store target application that contains the VisioDataAccessGroup group. Use the following procedure to create the target application.

To create a target application

1. Log on to the Contoso-AppSrv virtual machine using the Contoso\FarmAdmin account.

2. Click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products, and then click SharePoint 2010 Central Administration.

3. On the Central Administration home page, under Application Management, click Manage service applications.

4. Click the Secure Store Service service application.

5. On the ribbon, click New.

6. In the Target Application ID box, type VisioServicesData.

7. In the Display Name box, type VisioServicesData.

8. In the Contact E-mail box, type farmadmin@contoso.local.

Note:
Although e-mail notifications are not configured in this environment, Contact E-mail is a required field.

9. In the Target Application Type drop-down list, select Group.

10. Click Next.

11. Leave the default credential fields, and then click Next.

12. On the Specify the membership settings page:

a) In the Target Application Administrators box, type Contoso\FarmAdmin.

b) In the Members box, type Contoso\VisioDataAccessGroup.

c) Click OK.

Now that the target application has been created, we must associate it with the credentials that have data access (the Contoso\VisioDataAccess account). Use the following procedure to set the credentials for the target application.

To set the credentials for the target application

1. On the Secure Store Service Application page, in the Target Application ID column, point to VisioServicesData, click the arrow that appears, and then click Set Credentials.

2. In the Windows User Name box, type Contoso\VisioDataAccess.

3. Type and confirm the password for the Contoso\VisioDataAccess account.

4. Click OK.

The Secure Store configuration is now complete. In the next section, we will configure data access for the Microsoft Visio user who will be creating data-connected Web drawings.

Grant database access to the diagram author

When Visio Services renders a data-connected Web drawing, it can use Secure Store to refresh the data. However, Excel and Visio do not use Secure Store, but instead require the user to have direct database access to work with an ODC file or a data-connected diagram. Because of this, we must first grant Read access to the ServerStatus database to the user who will create the diagram.

In Configure Visio Services for a BI test environment, we created an Active Directory group named VisioDiagramAuthors for granting database access to diagram authors. We must now grant db_datareader access to that group for the ServerStatus database.

Use the following procedure to grant database access to the Contoso\VisioDiagramAuthors group.

To grant database access to a user

1. Log on to Contoso-SQL by using the Contoso\SQLAdmin account.

2. Click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2, and then click SQL Server Management Studio.

3. Connect to the Database Engine.

4. In SQL Server Management Studio, expand Security, and then expand Logins.

5. Right-click the Contoso\VisioDiagramAuthors logon, and then click Properties.

6. In the pane on the left side, click User Mapping.

7. Select the Map check box for the ServerStatus database.

8. In the Database role membership for: ServerStatus list, select the db_datareader check box, and then click OK.

With configuration of database access for the Contoso\VisioDiagramAuthors group complete, the next step is to create an Office Data Connection file.

Create an Office Data Connection file

Visio cannot create an Office Data Connection (ODC) file, so we must create one in Excel, publish it to a data connection library, and then connect to it from Visio.

Use the following procedure to create and publish the ODC file in Excel.

To create and publish an ODC file

1. Log on to Contoso-Client as Contoso\Susan.Burk.

2. Click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft Office, and then click Microsoft Excel 2010.

3. In Excel, on the Data tab, click From Other Sources, and then click From SQL Server.

4. In the Server name box, type Contoso-SQL, and then click Next.

5. From the Select the database that contains the data you want list, select ServerStatus, and then click Next.

6. On the Save Data Connection File and Finish page, click Finish.

Note:
If you are prompted to overwrite the ODC file, click Yes.

7. On the Import Data dialog box, select the Table option, and then click OK.

8. On the Data tab, click Connections.

9. Select the ServerStatus data connection, and then click Properties.

10. On the Connection Properties dialog box, on the Definition tab, click Authentication Settings.

11. Select the SSS option, and in the SSS ID box, type the name of the Secure Store target application, VisioServicesData.

12. Click OK.

13. On the Connection Properties dialog box, click Export Connection File.

14. In the File Save dialog box, type http://Contoso-AppSrv/sites/BICenter in the URL box, and then press Enter.

Note:
It may take some time for the dialog box to refresh and show the site content.

15. Double-click Data Connections.

16. In the File name box, type ServerStatus.odc, and then click Save.

17. On the Web File Properties dialog box, select Office Data Connection File from the Content Type drop-down list, and then click OK.

18. On the Connection Properties dialog box, click Cancel.

19. On the Workbook Connections dialog box, click Close.

20. Exit Excel.

Note:
There is no need to save the Excel workbook. We have exported the ODC file and that is all we need to create a data connection from Visio.

Remain logged on to the Contoso-Client virtual machine as Susan Burk.

Now that the ODC file has been created and published, we can create a data-connected Web drawing.

Create a data-connected Web drawing by using an ODC file

In this section, we create a data-connected Web drawing, and then publish it to the document library in the Business Intelligence center. This helps us confirm that data refresh through Secure Store is working correctly.

Use the following procedure to create the Web drawing.

To create a data-connected Web drawing by using an ODC file

1. Click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft Office, and then click Microsoft Visio 2010.

2. On the Choose a Template page, in the Template Categories section, click Network.

3. Click Detailed Network Diagram, and then click Create.

4. On the ribbon, click the Data tab, and then click Link Data to Shapes.

5. On the Data Selector page of the wizard, click Previously created connection, and then click Next.

6. On the Select Data Connection page, click Browse.

7. On the Existing Connections dialog box, click Browse for More.

8. In the Data Selector dialog box, type http://Contoso-AppSrv/sites/BICenter in the URL box, and then press Enter.

Note:
It may take some time for the dialog box to refresh and show the site content.

9. Double-click Data Connections.

10. Click the ServerStatus data connection, and then click Open.

11. On the Select Data Connection page, click Finish.

12. On the blank drawing page:

• Drag three Server icons from the Shapes area onto the page.

• Drag each row from the data table in the External Data section to one of the shapes.
Each shape should now have a data graphic connected to it indicating the server name and status (1 or 0).

You should now have a diagram similar to the following.

The next step is to publish the diagram as a data-connected Web drawing and then confirm that data refresh is working correctly.

Use the following procedure to publish the drawing.

To publish a data-connected Web drawing

1. Click File, and then click Save & Send.

2. Click Save to SharePoint.

3. Under Locations, click Browse for a location.

4. Under File Types, click Web Drawing.

5. Click Save As.

6. On the Save As dialog box, type http://Contoso-AppSrv/sites/BICenter in the location box at the top, and then press Enter.

Note:
It may take some time for the dialog box to refresh and show the site content.

7. In the All Site Content list, double-click Documents.

8. In the File name box, type Server Status, and then click Save. The Web drawing will render in a browser window.

9. When the drawing is displayed, if a Refresh Disabled warning is displayed, click Enable (always). Note the server statuses displayed:

• Seattle – Online (1)

• New York – Online (1)

• London – Offline (0)
Leave this browser window open for the data refresh test procedure that follows.

The rendered Web drawing shows the data currently in the ServerStatus database. To test the data refresh mechanism, we can modify the data in the Status table in SQL Server and then refresh the Web drawing to see the change.

Use the following procedure to modify the data in SQL Server and then refresh the Web drawing.

Note:
Remain logged on to Contoso-Client as Susan Burk while you do this procedure.

To test Visio Services data refresh

1. Log into Contoso-SQL using the Contoso\SQLAdmin account.

2. Click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2, and then click SQL Server Management Studio.

3. On the Connect to Server dialog box, select Database Engine for the Server type, and then click Connect.

4. In the toolbar, click New Query.

5. Copy the following query to the query window:

USE [ServerStatus]
GO
UPDATE dbo.Status set dbo.Status.status = 1 where dbo.Status.server = 'London'
GO

Click here to view table as image

6. In the toolbar, click Execute.

7. Return to Contoso-Client where the Server Status Web drawing is displayed. Note that the London server still shows Offline (0).

8. On the Visio Web Access toolbar, click Refresh.
Note that the London server now shows Online (1), reflecting the manual changes we made in SQL Server.

Note:
The Visio Services cache settings affect how quickly the new results appear when you refresh the drawing. In this lab, we set the cache settings to zero (0), allowing immediate refresh. In a production environment, refresh will likely take longer depending on how you configure the cache.

Other Resources

Plan Visio Services security (SharePoint Server 2010)

Configure PerformancePoint Services for a BI test environment

Published: May 26, 2011

Important:
This article is part of the Configuring a BI infrastructure: Hands-on labs series. To complete the steps in this article, you must first have completed:

• All steps in the Create a baseline environment for a BI test environment series of articles.

PerformancePoint Services in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 is a performance-management service that you can use to monitor and analyze your business by using dashboards, scorecards, reports, and key performance indicators (KPIs).

Deploying PerformancePoint Services consists of the following steps:

• Creating an Active Directory account for the application pool under which the PerformancePoint
Services service application will run

• Registering that account as a managed account in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010

• Starting the PerformancePoint Service

• Creating a PerformancePoint Services service application

The first step in deploying PerformancePoint Services is to create an account in the Active Directory directory service to run the application pool for the PerformancePoint Services service application. Use the following procedure to create the account.

To create an account for the application pool

1. Log in to Contoso-DC by using the Contoso\administrator account.

2. On the Contoso-DC virtual machine, click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Active Directory Users and Computers.

3. Expand the contoso.local node.

4. Right-click Users, click New, and then click User.

5. In the Full name box and the User logon name box, type PPSAppPool.

6. Click Next.

7. In the Password and Confirm password boxes, type a password for the account.

8. Clear the User must change password at next logon check box.

9. Select the Password never expires check box.

10. Click Next.

11. Click Finish.

12. Log off Contoso-DC.

Once the Active Directory account has been created, it must be registered in SharePoint Server 2010 before it can be used to run an application pool. Use the following procedure to register the account.

To register a managed account

1. Log on to Contoso-AppSrv by using the Contoso\FarmAdmin account.

2. Click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products, and then click SharePoint 2010 Central Administration.

3. On the SharePoint Central Administration Web site home page, in the left navigation, click Security.

4. On the Security page, under General Security, click Configure managed accounts.

5. On the Managed Accounts page, click Register Managed Account.

6. In the User name box, type Contoso\PPSAppPool.

7. In the Password box, type the password for the Contoso\PPSAppPool account.

8. Click OK.

By default, the application pool account does not have the required access to the SharePoint content database. Access to this database is required by PerformancePoint Services. Use the following procedure to grant the required database access to the application pool account.

To grant content database access to the managed account

1. On Contoso-AppSrv, click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products, right-click SharePoint 2010 Management Shell, and then click Run as Administrator.

2. At the Windows PowerShell Command Prompt, type the following and press Enter after each line:

$w = Get-SPWebApplication -identity http://contoso-appsrv
$w.GrantAccessToProcessIdentity("Contoso\PPSAppPool")

Click here to view code as image

Once you have granted database access to the application pool account, you must start the PerformancePoint Service. This is the SharePoint Server 2010 service that performs all processing and activities associated with PerformancePoint Services.

You must start this service on at least one application server. In a production environment, you would choose a server or servers on which to run the service, depending on your capacity requirements.

Use the following procedure to start the PerformancePoint Service.

To start the PerformancePoint Service

1. On the Central Administration home page, under System Settings, click Manage services on server.

2. Above the Service list, click the Server drop-down, and then click Change Server.
Note that the application server, Contoso-AppSrv, is listed together with Contoso-SQL. In a farm that has multiple application servers, you would use this dialog box to select the server where you want to run Secure Store Service, and then start the service as shown later in this article.

3. Click CONTOSO-APPSRV.

4. In the Service list, click Start next to PerformancePoint Service.

Once the PerformancePoint Service has been started, you must create a PerformancePoint Services service application. Use the following procedure to create the service application.

To create a PerformancePoint Services service application

1. On the Central Administration home page, under Application Management, click Manage service applications.

2. On the Manage Service Applications page, click New, and then click PerformancePoint Service Application.

3. In the Name section, type PerformancePoint Services in the box.

4. Select the Add this service application’s proxy to the farm’s default proxy list check box.

5. Select the Create new application pool option and type PPSAppPool in the Application pool name box.

6. Select the Configurable option and, from the drop-down list, select CONTOSO\ppsapppool.

7. Click Create.

8. When the service application has been successfully created, click OK.

When you have completed all of the previous procedures, PerformancePoint Services is operational and ready to use. The next step is to configure security access to your data sources. The following lab covers configuring security access by using Secure Store Service:

• Configure data access for PerformancePoint Services

Configure data access for PerformancePoint Services

Published: May 26, 2011

Important:
This article is part of the Configuring a BI infrastructure: Hands-on labs series. To complete the steps in this article, you must first have completed:

• All steps in the Create a baseline environment for a BI test environment series of articles.

• All steps in Configure PerformancePoint Services for a BI test environment

PerformancePoint Services uses an unattended service account to connect to database servers. By using the unattended service account involves configuring an Active Directory account access to your data, storing the credentials for this account in Secure Store, and configuring PerformancePoint Services to use this account to access data.

The following steps are required to configure data access in PerformancePoint Services.

• Configure a data access account

• Configure the unattended service account

• Verify that user permissions are configured correctly

The first step is to create an Active Directory account for use as the unattended service account.

Configure a data access account

To configure a data access account for PerformancePoint Services, we begin by creating an Active Directory account.

To create an Active Directory account for data access

1. Log into Contoso-DC as Contoso\Administrator.

2. Click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Active Directory Users and Computers.

3. Expand the contoso.local node.

4. Right-click Users, click New, and then click User.

5. In the Full name and User logon name text boxes, type PPSUnattended.

6. Click Next.

7. Type and confirm a password for the account.

8. Clear the User must change password at next logon check box.

9. Select the Password never expires check box.

10. Click Next, and then click Finish.

Next, we create a SQL Server logon. This account will be used to view data that is stored in SQL Server.

To create a SQL Server logon

1. Log in to Contoso-SQL as Contoso\SQLAdmin.

2. Click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2, and then click SQL Server Management Studio.

3. On the Connect to Server dialog box, select Database Engine as the Server type, type Contoso-SQL in the Server name text box, and then click Connect.

4. In Object Explorer, expand Security.

5. Right click Logins, and then click New Login.

6. In the Login name text box, type Contoso\PPSUnattended.

7. Under Select a page, click User Mapping.

8. Select the Map check box for the ContosoRetailDW database, and then under Database role membership for: ContosoRetailDW, select the db_datareader check box.

9. Click OK.

Now that the data access account is configured, the next step is to configure the unattended service account for PerformancePoint Services.

Configure the unattended service account

To configure the unattended service account, we begin by specifying an unattended service account for PerformancePoint. We do this by editing PerformancePoint Services Global Settings.

To configure PerformancePoint Services Global Settings

1. Log into Contoso-AppSrv as Contoso\FarmAdmin.

2. Click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products, and then click SharePoint 2010 Central Administration.

3. On the Central Administration home page, under Application Management, click Manage service applications.

4. On the Manage Service Applications page, click PerformancePoint Services.

5. On the Manage the PerformancePoint Services page, click PerformancePoint Service Application Settings.

6. On the PerformancePoint Service Application Settings page, in the SecureStore and Unattended Service Account section:

a) In the User Name text box, type Contoso\PPSUnattended.

b) In the Password text box, type the password for the Contoso\PPSUnattended account.

7. Click OK.

Now that we have configured PerformancePoint Services, the next step is to test connectivity. We do this by creating a PerformancePoint data connection.

To test PerformancePoint Services connectivity

1. In the Business Intelligence Center (http://contoso-appsrv/sites/BICenter), click Monitor Key Performance, and then click Start using PerformancePoint Services.
The PerformancePoint site template opens.

2. Click Run Dashboard Designer.

3. In the Application Run – Security Warning dialog box, click Run. Dashboard Designer opens.

4. In the Workspace Browser, click Data Connections. Then, on the Create tab in the ribbon, click Data Source.
The Select a Data Source Template dialog box opens.

5. In the Category pane, click All, and in the Template pane, click SQL Server Table. Then click OK. The data connection opens for editing.

6. In the center pane, on the Editor tab, specify the following settings:

a) In the Connection Settings section, select Use Standard Connection.

b) In the Server box, type Contoso-SQL.

c) Use the Database list to select ContosoRetailDW.

d) Use the Table list to select dbo.DimProductCategory.

7. In the Data Source Settings section, click Test Data Source. If the connection is successful, then the unattended service account is configured correctly.

8. In the center pane, click the Properties tab. In the Name box, type Product Categories.

9. In the Workspace Browser, right-click the data connection, and then click Save.
This saves the data connection that you previously created to the Data Connections list in the Business Intelligence Center.

10. In the Business Intelligence Center (http://contoso-appsrv/sites/bicenter), click Data Connections. Notice the data source that you created is listed in the Data Connections document library.

11. Close Dashboard Designer. If a Dashboard Designer dialog box opens that prompts you to save changes to dashboard items, click Don’t Save.

Note:
By default, PerformancePoint dashboard items are saved to the following SharePoint list and libraries in the Business Intelligence Center:

• Data connections are saved to the Data Connections list

• Key performance indicators (KPIs), scorecards, reports, dashboard pages, and dashboard filters are saved to the PerformancePoint Content list

• Published dashboards are saved to the Dashboards document library

By saving items as we create them one at a time, any changes to those items are automatically saved to SharePoint Server. For example, we saved our data connection to SharePoint Server in Step 8.

When you see the Dashboard Designer dialog box that prompts you to save changes to items, you are actually being asked whether you want to create a workspace file that you would then save to your local computer. The workspace file does not contain the actual dashboard items, but does contain definitions of those dashboard items, which is useful for dashboard content migration scenarios that are not covered in these labs.

12. Log off the Contoso-AppSrv computer.

Now that PerformancePoint Services is enabled and configured, the next step is to verify that user permissions are assigned correctly.

Verify that user permissions are configured correctly

During the process of setting up the BI test environment, we created certain accounts and groups, and we assigned permissions for those accounts. These accounts and permissions are summarized in the following table:

User Name

Group

Permissions

Contoso\Jill.Frank

None.

None.

Contoso\John.Woods

BICenterRead

Read
Read permissions enable users to view information in the Business Intelligence Center.

Contoso\Susan.Burk

BICenterContribute

Contribute
Contribute permissions enable users to view and create items, such as reports, and save them to this site.

Contoso\Cindy.White

BICenterDesign

Design
Design permissions enable users to view, create, and publish items that include dashboards.

Contoso\David.Hamilton

BICenterFullControl

Full Control
Full Control permissions enable users to view, create, and publish dashboard content, and to view or edit user permissions

Click here to view table as image

To verify that user permissions are configured correctly, we will log on to the Contoso-Client computer by using each user’s credentials and attempt to perform one or more tasks that are subject to user permissions restrictions. These procedures help show how permissions work with PerformancePoint Services and the Business Intelligence Center.

We begin by verifying that unauthorized users cannot access the Business Intelligence Center.

Verifying that unauthorized users cannot access the Business Intelligence Center

Contoso\Jill.Frank was not assigned permissions to access the Business Intelligence Center. To verify that unauthorized users cannot view information in the Business Intelligence Center, we attempt to open the Business Intelligence Center by using Jill’s user credentials.

To attempt to open the Business Intelligence Center by using an unauthorized account

1. Log into the Contoso-Client computer by using the Contoso\Jill.Frank user account.

2. Open a web browser.

3. In the address line, type http://contoso-appsrv.
The main team site opens.

4. In the Quick Launch, click Business Intelligence Center.
You receive an Error: Access Denied message.

5. Log off the Contoso-Client computer.

The error message indicates that Jill Frank does not have permissions to access the Business Intelligence Center. This confirms that user permissions are configured correctly for this user account. Next, we will verify that Read permissions are working correctly.

Verifying that Read permissions are configured correctly

John Woods was assigned Read permission, which means he should be able to view, but not edit, content in the Business Intelligence Center. Users who have Read permissions can also open Dashboard Designer. However, they cannot create PerformancePoint dashboard content.

To verify that Read permissions are configured correctly, we will attempt to create a KPI using the Contoso\John.Woods account.

To attempt to create a KPI by using Dashboard Designer

1. Log into the Contoso-Client computer by using the Contoso\John.Woods user account.

2. Open a web browser.

3. In the address line, type http://contoso-appsrv.
The main team site opens.

4. In the Quick Launch, click Business Intelligence Center. The Business Intelligence Center opens.

5. In the Business Intelligence Center, click Monitor Key Performance, and then click Start using PerformancePoint Services.
The PerformancePoint site template opens.

6. Click Run Dashboard Designer.

7. In the Application Run – Security Warning dialog box, click Run.
Dashboard Designer opens.

Important:
Dashboard Designer will open for all users who have at least Read access assigned on the Business Intelligence Center. However, users who have only Read permissions assigned will be unable to create any items by using Dashboard Designer.

8. In the Workspace Browser, click PerformancePoint Content.

9. Click the Create tab, and then click KPI.
The Select a KPI Template dialog box opens.

10. Select Blank KPI, and then click OK.
You receive an error message that indicates that you do not have permissions to create a KPI.

11. Close Dashboard Designer. If a Dashboard Designer dialog box opens that prompts you to save changes to dashboard items, click Don’t Save.

12. Log off the Contoso-Client computer.

The error message appeared when you tried to create a KPI indicates that John Woods does not have permissions to create items by using Dashboard Designer. This confirms that user permissions are configured correctly for this user account.

Next, we will verify that Contribute permissions are working correctly.

Verifying that Contribute permissions are configured correctly

Susan Burk was assigned Contribute permissions, which means she should be able to create dashboard items, such as reports, scorecards, filters, and dashboard pages. However, Susan should be unable to publish dashboards. To verify that users who have Contribute cannot publish dashboards, we will attempt to create and publish a dashboard that contains a scorecard by using the Contoso\Susan.Burk account.

We begin by creating a basic scorecard that uses fixed values that we will specify.

To create a basic scorecard

1. Log into the Contoso-Client computer by using the Contoso\Susan.Burk user account.

2. Open a web browser.

3. In the address line, type http://contoso-appsrv.
The main team site opens.

4. In the Quick Launch, click Business Intelligence Center.
The Business Intelligence Center opens.

5. In the Business Intelligence Center, click Monitor Key Performance, and then click Start using PerformancePoint Services.
The PerformancePoint site template opens.

6. Click Run Dashboard Designer.

7. In the Application Run – Security Warning dialog box, click Run.
Dashboard Designer opens.

8. In the Workspace Browser, click PerformancePoint Content.

9. Click the Create tab, and then click Scorecard.
The Select a Scorecard Template dialog box opens.

10. In the Category pane, select Standard, and in the Template pane, select Fixed Values Scorecard. Then click OK.
The Create a Fixed Values Scorecard wizard opens.

11. On the Select KPIs to Import page, specify the following:

• In the KPI Name column, select the default text that says “New KPI”, and then type Unit Sales.

• In the Actual column, type a number, such as 500.

• In the Target column, type a number, such as 525.
Then, click Next.

12. On the Locations page, verify that the Create KPIs in list has PerformancePoint Content, and then click Finish.
The scorecard opens for editing.

13. In the center pane, click the Properties tab.

14. In the Name box, type Sales Scorecard.

15. In the Workspace Browser, right-click the scorecard, and then click Save.
This saves the scorecard to the PerformancePoint Content list in the Business Intelligence Center.

The basic scorecard is completed. The next step is to create a dashboard page. (Contribute permissions enable users to create but not publish dashboard pages.)

To create a dashboard page

1. On the Create tab, in the Dashboard Items group, click Dashboard.
The Select a Dashboard Page Template dialog box opens.

2. Select 1 Zone, and then click OK.
The dashboard opens for editing.

3. Notice that in the Workspace Browser, the text “New Dashboard” is highlighted. Type Sales Dashboard, and then press the Enter key to rename the dashboard.

4. In the Details pane, expand Scorecards, and then expand PerformancePoint Content.

5. Drag the Sales Scorecard to the zone in the Dashboard Content section.

6. In the Workspace Browser, right-click the Sales Dashboard, and then click Save.
This saves the dashboard page to the PerformancePoint Content list in the Business Intelligence Center.

As expected, Susan was able to create a scorecard and a dashboard page. The next step is to attempt to publish the dashboard.

To attempt to publish a dashboard

1. In the Workspace Browser, right-click the Sales Dashboard, and then click Deploy to SharePoint.
The Deploy To dialog box opens.

2. Keep the default settings, and then click OK.
You receive an error message that indicates that you cannot deploy the dashboard. The message indicates that the document library “sites/BICenter/Dashboards” is unavailable.

3. Close Dashboard Designer. If a Dashboard Designer dialog box opens that prompts you to save changes to dashboard items, click Don’t Save.

The error message that opened when Susan tried to publish a dashboard indicates that she does not have sufficient permissions to perform that task. This confirms that user permissions are configured correctly for this user account.

Next, we will verify that Design permissions are working correctly.

Verifying that Design permissions are configured correctly

Cindy White was assigned Design permissions, which means she should be able to view, create, and edit dashboard items, such as reports, scorecards, filters, and dashboard pages. In addition, Cindy should be able to publish dashboards. However, users who have Design permissions should be unable to view or edit user permissions for the Business Intelligence Center. To verify that Design permissions are configured correctly, we will first publish the dashboard that we created earlier in this article. Then, we will attempt to view and edit user permissions for the dashboard by using the Contoso\Cindy.White account.

We begin by publishing the Sales Dashboard.

To publish the Sales Dashboard

1. Log into the Contoso-Client computer by using the Contoso\Cindy.White user account.

2. In the address line, type http://contoso-appsrv.
The main team site opens.

3. In the Quick Launch, click Business Intelligence Center.
The Business Intelligence Center opens.

4. In the Business Intelligence Center, click Monitor Key Performance, and then click Start using PerformancePoint Services.
The PerformancePoint site template opens.

5. Click Run Dashboard Designer.

6. In the Application Run – Security Warning dialog box, click Run.
Dashboard Designer opens.

7. In the Workspace Browser, click PerformancePoint Content.

8. In the center pane, on the SharePoint tab, double-click Sales Dashboard to open it for editing.

9. In the Workspace Browser, right-click the Sales Dashboard, and then click Deploy to SharePoint.
The Deploy To dialog box opens.

10. Keep the default settings, and then click OK.
The dashboard is published to SharePoint Server and opens in a web browser.
Keep this window open.

The dashboard has published successfully. The next step is to attempt to view and edit user permissions.

There are two ways to view or edit user permissions:

• You can use the Item Permissions toolbar command in a SharePoint list or library

• You can use the Permissions toolbar command in Dashboard Designer

We will attempt to view and edit user permissions by using both methods.

We begin by trying to view and edit permissions by using the Item Permissions toolbar command in the PerformancePoint Content list.

To attempt to view and edit item permissions in a SharePoint list

1. In the browser window where the dashboard is displayed, in the Quick Launch, click PerformancePoint Content.
The PerformancePoint Content SharePoint list opens and displays the dashboard items that we created earlier by using the Contoso\Susan.Burk account.

2. Locate an item, such as the Sales Scorecard, and select the check box to the left of the item’s name.

3. In the ribbon, click the Items tab. Notice that in the Manage group, the Item Permissions toolbar command is not enabled.
This indicates that Cindy White cannot view or edit user permissions for dashboard items.

Now we attempt to view and edit user permissions by using the Permissions toolbar command in Dashboard Designer.

To attempt to view and edit user permissions in Dashboard Designer

1. In Dashboard Designer, in the Workspace Browser, click PerformancePoint Content.

2. On the Home tab, in the Item group, click Permissions.
You receive an Error: Access Denied message.
The error message indicates that you do not have permissions to view and edit user permissions for PerformancePoint dashboard content.

3. Close the page that displays the error message, and then close Dashboard Designer. If a Dashboard Designer dialog box opens that prompts you to save changes to dashboard items, click Don’t Save.

4. Log off the Contoso-Client computer.

Cindy White can create and edit dashboard items and publish dashboards, but she cannot view or edit user permissions. This confirms that user permissions are configured correctly for this user account.
Next, we will verify that Full Control permissions are working correctly.

Verifying that Full Control permissions are configured correctly

David Hamilton was assigned Full Control permissions, which means that he can view, create, and edit dashboard items. In addition, David Hamilton can publish dashboards and view or edit user permissions for dashboard content.

We can verify this by viewing user permissions for the Sales Scorecard that was created and published earlier in this article.

We will use two methods to view and edit permissions:

• We will use the Item Permissions toolbar command in the PerformancePoint Content list

• We will use the Permissions toolbar command in Dashboard Designer

To view or edit item permissions in a SharePoint list

1. Log into the Contoso-Client computer by using the Contoso\David.Hamilton user account.

2. In the address line, type http://contoso-appsrv.
The main team site opens.

3. In the Quick Launch, click Business Intelligence Center.
The Business Intelligence Center opens.

4. In the Quick Launch, click PerformancePoint Content.
The PerformancePoint Content SharePoint list opens and displays the dashboard items that we created earlier by using the Contoso\Susan.Burk account.

5. Locate an item, such as the Sales Scorecard, and select the check box to the left of the item’s name.

6. In the ribbon, click the Items tab, and in the Manage group, click the Item Permissions toolbar command.
A permissions page opens, where you can view or edit user permissions.

To view or edit user permissions in Dashboard Designer

1. In the browser window, in address line, type http://contoso-appsrv.
The main team site opens.

2. In the Quick Launch, click Business Intelligence Center.
The Business Intelligence Center opens.

3. In the Business Intelligence Center, click Monitor Key Performance, and then click Start using PerformancePoint Services.
The PerformancePoint site template opens.

4. Click Run Dashboard Designer.

5. In the Application Run – Security Warning dialog box, click Run.
Dashboard Designer opens.

6. In Dashboard Designer, in the Workspace Browser, click PerformancePoint Content.
In the center pane, the Unit Sales KPI, Sales Scorecard, and Sales Dashboard are listed.

7. Double-click Sales Scorecard to open it for editing.

8. On the Home tab, in the Item group, click Permissions.
A permissions page opens, where you can view or edit user permissions.

9. Close the permissions page, and then close Dashboard Designer. If a Dashboard Designer dialog box opens that prompts you to save changes to dashboard items, click Don’t Save.

10. Log off the Contoso-Client computer.

You have successfully configured PerformancePoint Services.

Concepts

Set up accounts for a BI test environment

Configure a Business Intelligence Center for a test environment

Enable Reporting Services in an integrated SharePoint Server BI test environment

In our baseline configuration, SQL Server Reporting Services is installed in native mode. To use any of the Reporting Services features on SharePoint Server such as PowerPivot, Access Services, or Report Builder 3.0, you must change your configuration of SQL Server Reporting Services to SharePoint integrated mode. The articles in this section instruct how to change from native to integrated mode and how to configure and start Report Builder 3.0 from the Business Intelligence Center.

In this section:

• Changing SQL Reporting Services from Native mode to Integrated mode in a BI test environment

• Configure Report Builder 3.0 for use in SharePoint BI test environment

Changing SQL Reporting Services from Native mode to Integrated mode in a BI test environment

Published: February 7, 2012

In our baseline configuration, SQL Server Reporting Services is installed in native mode. To use any of the Reporting Services features on SharePoint such as PowerPivot, Access Services, or Report Builder 3.0, you must change your configuration of SQL Server Reporting Services to SharePoint integrated mode. This article describes the steps that are required to switch to integrated mode.

Install SharePoint Server 2010 components on the Reporting Server computer

To use a reporting server in the SharePoint farm, you first have to install SharePoint Server components on the Contoso-SQL computer.

Note: You must have an internet connection to perform this procedure. Refer to Create a baseline environment for a BI test environment for instructions

To install SharePoint Server 2010 prerequisites

1. Log on to the Contoso-SQL virtual machine with the Contoso\SQLAdmin account.

2. On the SharePoint Server 2010 DVD, run default.hta.

3. On the SharePoint Server 2010 opening page, click Install software prerequisites.

4. Follow the wizard to complete installation of all prerequisites.

Note:
Depending on your configuration, you may have to restart your computer during this process.

5. When the wizard has finished, click Finish.

Once the prerequisites are installed, you can install SharePoint Server 2010 itself. Perform the following procedure to install SharePoint Server 2010 on Contoso-AppSrv.

To install SharePoint Server 2010

1. On the SharePoint Server 2010 DVD, run default.hta.

2. On the SharePoint Server 2010 opening page, click Install SharePoint Server.

3. On the Enter your Product Key page, type your product key, and then click Continue.

4. On the Read the Microsoft Software License Terms page, read the license agreement and accept the terms by selecting the I accept the terms of this agreement check box.

5. Click Continue.

6. On the Choose the installation you want page, click Server Farm.

7. On the Server Type page, select the Complete – Install all components option.

8. Click Install Now.

9. On the Run Configuration Wizard page, leave the Run the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard now check box selected, and then click Close.

10. On the Welcome to SharePoint Products page, click Next.

11. On the warning dialog box, click Yes.

12. On the Connect to a server farm page, select the Connect to an existing server farm option, and then click Next.

13. On the Specify Configuration Database Settings page:

a) In the Database server box, type the name of the database server (Contoso-SQL).

b) In the Database name text box, keep the default database name of SharePoint_Config.

c) Type the user name and password of the database access account (Contoso\SQLAdmin).

d) Click Next.

Note:
If the wizard cannot connect to Contoso-SQL, check the firewall settings in Windows Server.

e) On the Completing the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard page, click Next.

f) Select Do not use this machine to host the web site. Click OK.

g) On the Configuration Successful page, click Finish.

Configure SSRS in SharePoint integrated mode

To configure SSRS in SharePoint integrated mode

1. Log on to Contoso-SQL as Contoso\SQLAdmin.

2. Click Start, select All Programs, Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2, and Configuration Tools, and then click Reporting Services Configuration Manager.

3. In the baseline line configuration, SQL Server Reporting Services is installed on the default instance. The server name CONTOSO-SQL and the report server instance, MSSQLSERVER, are shown as the defaults. Click Connect.

4. On the report server status page, notice that the current Report Server mode is Native.

5. From the left navigation pane, click Database.

6. Click Change Database.

7. Select Create a new report server database, and then click Next.

8. Accept defaults for server name and credentials. Click Next.

9. In the Database Name box type BILabReportServer and change Report Server Mode to SharePoint integrated mode. Click Next.

10. Accept the default credentials and then click Next.

11. Verify the summary, and make sure that Report Server Mode is set to SharePoint integrated mode. Click Next.

12. Click Finish.

13. In the left navigation pane of Reporting Services Configuration Manager, click Web service URL, and then click the URL link to open it.

Note:
You will receive an error because you must still configure Reporting Services integration in SharePoint Server.

Configure SharePoint Server 2010 for Reporting Services integration

Finish the configuration of integrating Reporting Services with SharePoint Server 2010 by completing the following steps:

To configure SharePoint Server 2010 for Reporting Services integration

1. Log on to Contoso-AppSrv as Contoso\FarmAdmin.

2. Open SharePoint Central Administration.

3. On the left navigation pane, click General Application Settings. In the center page in the Reporting Services section, click Reporting Services Integration.

4. In the Report Server Web Service URL field, type http://CONTOSO-SQL/REPORTSERVER.

5. In the Authentication Mode section, select Trusted Account.

6. In the Credentials box, enter the user name CONTOSO\SQLAdmin and the password.

7. In the Activate the reporting services feature section, select Activate feature in all existing site collections.

8. Click OK.

Concepts

Create a baseline environment for a BI test environment

Configure Report Builder 3.0 for use in SharePoint BI test environment

Configure Report Builder 3.0 for use in SharePoint BI test environment

Published: February 7, 2012

When you are using the BI Center template, the Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) content types are already available. However, as we have switched to SQL Server Reporting Services integration after the initial installation, you must manually enable the SQL Server Reporting Services content types.

Enable content type management

To enable content type management

1. Open the library for which you want to enable multiple content types. On the library menu bar, you should see the following menus: New, Upload, Actions, and Settings. If you do not see Settings, you do not have permission to add a content type.

2. On the Library Tools ribbon tab, click the Library tab.

3. On the Settings ribbon group, click Library Settings.

4. In the General Settings section, click Advanced settings.

5. In the Content Types section, select Yes to allow management of content types.

6. Change any other settings that you want, and then click OK.

Add Report Server content types

To add Report Server content types to the document library on the BI Center

1. Go the BI Center, and from the Quick Launch pane, click Documents.

2. On the Library Tools ribbon tab, click the Library tab.

3. On the Settings ribbon group, click Library Settings.

4. In the Content Types section, click Add from the existing site content types.

5. In the Select Content Types section, in Select site content types from, click the arrow to select Reporting Services.

6. In the Available Site Content Types list, click Report Builder, and then click Add to move the selected content type to the Content types to add list.

7. To add Report Model and Report Data Source content types, repeat steps 5 and 6.

8. Click OK.

Concepts

Create a baseline environment for a BI test environment

Changing SQL Reporting Services from Native mode to Integrated mode in a BI test environment

Appendix: Code and Table Images

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view code as text

Click here to view code as text

Click here to view code as text

Click here to view code as text

Click here to view code as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view code as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view code as text

Click here to view code as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view code as text

Click here to view table as text