Analysis Services 2005/2008 Command-line Utility ascmd.exe (Free)

The ascmd command-line utility enables a database administrator to execute an XMLA script, MDX query, or DMX statement against an instance of Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services (SSAS). This command-line utility contains functionality for Analysis Services that resembles the sqlcmd utility included with SQL Server 2005. For more information, see the topic sqlcmd Utility in SQL Server 2005. The execution results of the script, query, or statement can be stored in a file together with relevant SQL Server Profiler trace information. The default install location for the ascmd command-line utility is as follows:
<systemdrive_>\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Samples\Analysis Services\Administrator\ascmd

Scenarios

The following scenarios give examples of using the ascmd command-line utility.

Processing a Partition from a Third-Party Tool

A database administrator must process partitions and dimensions as part of a nightly extract, transform, and load (ETL) process. The ETL tool is not a SQL Server tool and the database administrator cannot use SQL Server Agent’s built-in support of XMLA scripts or run a SQL Server 2005 Integration Services (SSIS) package. The database administrator wants an automated solution that uses the third-party tool. The solution is a command-line utility to run an XMLA script. The utility is then called from the third-party tool. The database administrator downloads and compiles the ascmd command-line utility sample. After compilation, the database administrator can use the ascmd command-line utility to execute XMLA scripts that process partitions and dimensions.

Backing Up an OLAP Database from a Third-Party Tool

Another database administrator at the same company is required to automate the back-up of an Analysis Services database. Again, because the scheduling software that the company is using is not a SQL Server tool, the task has to be run from the command line. The database administrator generates the appropriate XMLA script (using SQL Server Management Studio). Then, the third-party scheduling software uses the ascmd command-line utility to run the XMLA script to backup the OLAP database.

Using XMLA During an Installation

A developer for an independent software vendor is required to integrate the execution of an XMLA script directly into the installation of the firm's product. The developer must run an XMLA script and retrieve status (and trace events) to know that the Analysis Services database was created correctly. The developer can do this by using the ascmd command-line utility.

Command-line utility is part of Microsoft SQL Server Product Samples: Analysis Services project at codeplex. There is version of this utility for Analysis Services 2005 and 2008.

You can read more about this utility and download it from here.

Also make sure you read "Readme for ASCMD".