DWD Hardware and Software Recommendations

This section lists hardware and software recommendations for your data warehouse server, operating system and SQL server version.

These guidelines apply only to the data warehouse server. You might need additional servers for web publishing and so on, but that is not discussed here.

The two main considerations when deciding on the size of your data warehouse server are:

  • transactions volume

  • number of users

Transactions Volume

Calculate the number of transactions in the transactional files used. Remember that different files generate different numbers of transactions.

Transactions Volume Number of Transactions (millions)

< 1

Low

1 - 10

Medium

10 - 50

High

> 50

Very High

The transactional files normally include more than 90% of the business data. You can include the dimensions (master files) in your calculations, but usually this is not necessary.

Calculate the number of concurrent users using the data marts or the cubes. For a more accurate estimation of the requirements, you can count the data mart, a database that contains one or more models.

Number of Users

Concurrent users means that the data warehouse is dimensioned to serve all users at the same time without delay. If you are planning to use web clients, add a separate web server machine in the same or a lower category as the data warehouse server.

SSIS Creation

To troubleshoot SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) creation delay, see these references: