Cube, Build, Deploy, Process

Dear all,

I'd like to get simple and clear explanation of the cube in data mining, and 3 notions we encounter a lot : Build, Deploy, and Process.

(1) What is the cube that is created when we deploy a mining solution/project?
I wonder what type of cubes they are because although the dialog on deploy/process
show that cube, after successful deployment we still don't see the cube in Cubes folder
of the project.

(2) Why the SQL Server created that cube? Even though we process only one table
and only use case-table (without nested table)

(3) Can someone explain these 3 concepts with CLEAR differences between them?
(A) Build
(B) Deploy
(C) Process

As far as I know, the stages are like that : build, then deploy, then process. Also, it seems
to me that those operations do not create objects inside 'Relational' database, but create
objects (binary and text, with text files usually in XMLA programming language) in the
related project's folders and subfolders. Any good explanation is appreciated.

Bernaridho

1 & 2: The cube is an internal object used as a data structures in processing the mining structure and models. It is not visible externally and should be ignored. The only reason the cube is visible during processing is to surface potential processing errors, such as type mismatches.

3: Build - build takes the project's objects and builds a script that can be sent to the Analysis Services server. As with any "build" process, validation occurs to verify if any ovbious errors are present in the project

Deploy - Deploy sends the project to a server and creates any objects in that project on the server. Since the unit of deploymet is a database, any same-named database will be overwritten.

Process: Process is when the objects actually consume data and become useful. Prior to processing, the objects are "empty" and con not be queired.

|||Hi Jamie,

Thank you for replying. I'd like to add something about 'Process' that I found in your
book 'Data Mining with SQL Server 2005'. In the context of Data Mining, Process
also means 'Train'. That is, it's during 'Process' that the Analysis Service (background
process) trains the mining model. Hopefully this is useful for other member of this forum.

Thank you,

Bernaridho