- Azure Analysis Services is a fully managed platform as a service (PaaS) that provides enterprise-grade data models in the cloud.
- Use advanced mashup and modeling features to combine data from multiple data sources, define metrics, and secure your data in a single, trusted tabular semantic data model.
- The data model provides an easier and faster way for users to browse massive amounts of data for ad-hoc data analysis.
- Azure Analysis Services is compatible with many great features already in SQL Server Analysis Services Enterprise Edition.
- Azure Analysis Services supports tabular models at the 1200 and higher compatibility levels.
- Tabular models are relational modeling constructs (model, tables, columns), articulated in tabular metadata object definitions in Tabular Model Scripting Language (TMSL) and Tabular Object Model (TOM) code.
- Partitions, perspectives, row-level security, bi-directional relationships, and translations are all supported*.*
- Tabular models in both in-memory and DirectQuery modes are supported.
- In-memory mode (default) tabular models support multiple data sources.
- Because model data is highly compressed and cached in-memory, this mode provides the fastest query response over large amounts of data.
- It also provides the greatest flexibility for complex datasets and queries.
- Partitioning enables incremental loads, increases parallelization, and reduces memory consumption.
- Other advanced data modeling features like calculated tables, and all DAX functions are supported.
- In-memory models must be refreshed (processed) to update cached data from data sources.
- With Azure service principle support, unattended refresh operations using PowerShell, TOM, TMSL and REST offer flexibilty in making sure your model data is always up to date.
- DirectQuery mode leverages the backend relational database for storage and query execution.
- Extremely large data sets in single SQL Server, SQL Server Data Warehouse, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Oracle, and Teradata data sources are supported.