Deploying and Managing
PowerPivot for SharePoint
An Analysis Services and SQLCAT presentation
Dave Wickert, Denny Lee
Microsoft

Session Code • Session Title
SQL Server Customer Advisory Team (SQLCAT)
• Works on the largest, most complex SQL projects worldwide
• MySpace - 4.4 million concurrent users at peak time, 8 billion friend
relationships, 34 billion e-mails, 1 PetaByte store, scale-out using SSB
and SOA http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/Case_Study_Detail.aspx?casestudyid=4000004532
• Bwin – Most popular European online gaming site – 30000 database
trans / second, motto: “Failure is not an option”; 100 TB total storage
http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/Case_Study_Detail.aspx?casestudyid=4000004138
http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/Case_Study_Detail.aspx?casestudyid=4000001470
• Korea Telecom - Largest telco in Korea serves 26 million customers;
3 TB Data Warehouse
http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/Case_Study_Detail.aspx?casestudyid=4000001993
• Drives product requirements back into SQL Server from our
customers and ISVs
• Shares deep technical content with SQL Server community
• SQLCAT.com & http://blogs.msdn.com/mssqlisv

Session Code • Session Title
SQL Server Design Win Program
• Target the most challenging and innovative SQL Server
applications
• 10+ TB DW, 3k/tran/s OLTP, Large 500GB+ Cubes, Competitive
migrations, Complex deployments, Server Consolidation (1000+)
• Invest in large scale, referenceable SQL Server projects
across the world
• Provide SQLCAT technical & project experience
• Conduct architecture and design reviews covering performance,
operation, scalability and availability
• Offer use of HW lab in Redmond with direct access to SQL Server
development team
• Work with Marketing Team Developing PR

Session Code • Session Title
Upgrade Reliability Assurance
Regular status updates within one month of completing each
playback test cycle
Complimentary testing for qualified customer against every new
version of SQL Server
Opportunity to request improvements directly from the product
group for potential upgrade issues
Preparing for a smooth transition to the next version of SQL Server ...
Two-way NDA and Participation Agreement
to ensure security and privacy
For more information, contact sqlura@microsoft.com

Session Code • Session Title
SQLCAT and SQL CSS Invite You…
ROOM 611
• To the SQL Server Clinic where the most experienced SQL Server experts in the
world will be waiting to talk with you.
• Bring your toughest Questions / Challenges to the experts who have seen it all
• Architect and Design your future applications with experts who have done it before
with some of the largest, most complex systems in the world
• Or just stop in to say hello!

Session Code • Session Title
Agenda
Focus is PowerPivot for SharePoint
• Implementations
• PowerPivot Infrastructure
• Capacity Planning
• Upload Configuration
• Troubleshooting

Implementations
How are we going to build this?

Session Code • Session Title
Implementations
Installation
Read the manuals!!!
• New end-to-end install guides will be on sqlcat.com shortly
There are a lot of steps and a lot components integrated together:
• PowerPivot System Service, AS Engine, SharePoint, Excel Services,
Reporting Services, Excel Client, Office Workspace, IIS, Windows, etc.)
Examples:
• To change password for SharePoint Farm takes seven separate steps in the
farm, services, and IIS.
• Multiple steps to handle larger file sizes
Quick Tips
• Requires domain accounts
• Upgrade is tricky! May want to build out new server vs. upgrading existing

Implementations
PowerPivot “New Server”
PowerPivot
“New Server”

Implementations
Move SQL databases out
SharePoint
Databases
SharePoint
Web/App Server

Implementations
Scale-out
SharePoint
Databases
SharePoint
Web/App Server
SharePoint
Web/App Server
SharePoint
Web/App Server
SharePoint
Web/App Server
LB

Implementations
Dedicated servers w/
high availability
SharePoint
Databases
SharePoint
Web Server
SharePoint
Web Server
SharePoint
App Server
SharePoint
App Server
SharePoint
App Server
LB
. . .
. . .

Implementations
Capacity planning (long term)
“New Server”
(1)
‘alias’ the SharePoint RDBMS physically moves the database,
but the SharePoint configuration remains intactSingle
Server
(2)
‘migrate’ the SharePoint RDBMS so that the SharePoint
configuration sees the database server in its true
location
Single
Server
(3)
Single
Server
Single
Server
Multiple
Servers
Scale-out the farm by adding NLB servers;
all servers providing all services(4)
Specialize the farm; add app servers which are tied
to various services (size, scale and configure)
WFE App
Server
(5)
App
Server
App
Server
http://bit.ly/cZOHe0

Session Code • Session Title
Implementations
Delegation, Claims, Active Directory
• Issue: Clicking on slicers on a PowerPivot workbook in SharePoint only
worked as a domain administrator
• Tried: The data connection uses Windows Authentication and user
credentials could not be delegated
• Solution: Occurs when AD environment upgraded from NT 4.0. Ensure users
are:
• Members of the “Pre-Windows 2000” NT group (i.e. have Pre-Windows 2000
Compatible Access”
• Part of the “Authenticated Users” group and have “Read Permissions”
• References
• Delegation, Claims, Active Directory…Oh My!…Aw Crap!
• The data connection uses Windows Authentication and user credentials could not
be delegated
• Testing the Claims To Windows Token Service for different identities
• Delegation, Claims, Active Directory….Again?! Frak!

PowerPivot Infrastructure
a peek inside

PowerPivot Infrastructure

PowerPivot for Excel
The database is IN the workbook
Excel
PowerPivot Add-In
MSOLAP
AMO ADOMD.NET
VertiPaq Engine

PowerPivot for Excel
Architecture
Excel Client
PivotTable MSOLAP
In-Proc
TCP
HTTP
VertiPaq
PowerPivot
Add-In
AMO
ADOMD.NET

A peek into the VertiPaq Internal Storage
Understanding why an Excel PowerPivot workbook is so large

Data Sources
PowerPivot for SharePoint
Server, Services, and Components
WFE
Excel Web Access
App
Excel Calculation
Services
Content
SQL
Excel Web Service
SharePoint Farm
MSOLAP
TCP
HTTP
Channel
PowerPivot Web
Service
Excel Calc Services
PowerPivot System
Service
Analysis Services in
VertiPaq Mode
PowerPivot Service
Application Proxy
Client
Excel Services
Application Proxy
Excel Services
PowerPivot Services
c2wts

Data Sources
PowerPivot for SharePoint
Rendering the PowerPivot Workbook
WFE
Excel Web Access
App
Excel Calculation
Services
Content
SQL
Excel Web Service
SharePoint Farm
MSOLAP
TCP
HTTP
Channel
PowerPivot Web
Service
Excel Calc Services
PowerPivot System
Service
Analysis Services in
VertiPaq Mode
PowerPivot Service
Application Proxy
Client
Excel Services
Application Proxy
c2wts

Data Sources
PowerPivot for SharePoint
Rendering the PowerPivot Workbook
WFE
Excel Web Access
App
Excel Calculation
Services
Content
SQL
Excel Web Service
SharePoint Farm
MSOLAP
TCP
HTTP
Channel
PowerPivot Web
Service
Excel Calc Services
PowerPivot System
Service
Analysis Services in
VertiPaq Mode
PowerPivot Service
Application Proxy
Client
Excel Services
Application Proxy
c2wts
c:Program Files...OLAPBackup

Data Sources
PowerPivot for SharePoint
PowerPivot does NOT require Kerberos
WFE
Excel Web Access
App
Excel Calculation
Services
Content
SQL
Excel Web Service
SharePoint Farm
MSOLAP
TCP
HTTP
Channel
PowerPivot Web
Service
Excel Calc Services
PowerPivot System
Service
Analysis Services in
VertiPaq Mode
PowerPivot Service
Application Proxy
Client
Excel Services
Application Proxy
c2wts

Data Sources
PowerPivot for SharePoint
Server Action
WFE
Excel Web Access
App
Excel Calculation
Services
Content
SQL
Excel Web Service
SharePoint Farm
MSOLAP
TCP
HTTP
Channel
PowerPivot Web
Service
Excel Calc Services
PowerPivot System
Service
Analysis Services in
VertiPaq Mode
PowerPivot Service
Application Proxy
Client
Excel Services
Application Proxy
c2wts

PowerPivot for SharePoint
Server Action > c2wts

Data Sources
PowerPivot for SharePoint
Server Action > c2wts
WFE
Excel Web Access
App
Excel Calculation
Services
Content
SQL
Excel Web Service
SharePoint Farm
MSOLAP
TCP
HTTP
Channel
PowerPivot Web
Service
Excel Calc Services
PowerPivot System
Service
Analysis Services in
VertiPaq Mode
PowerPivot Service
Application Proxy
Client
Excel Services
Application Proxy
c2wts

Data Sources
PowerPivot for SharePoint
Server Action
WFE
Excel Web Access
App
Excel Calculation
Services
Content
SQL
Excel Web Service
SharePoint Farm
MSOLAP
TCP
HTTP
Channel
PowerPivot Web
Service
Excel Calc Services
PowerPivot System
Service
Analysis Services in
VertiPaq Mode
PowerPivot Service
Application Proxy
Client
Excel Services
Application Proxy
c2wts
c:Program Files...OLAPBackup
ImageLoad

PowerPivot for SharePoint
Load Balancing
App1
Excel Calculation
Services
SharePoint Farm
MSOLAP
TCP
HTTP
Channel
PowerPivot System
Service
Analysis Services in
VertiPaq Mode
PowerPivot Service
Application Proxy
c2wts
App2
Excel Calculation
Services
MSOLAP
TCP
HTTP
Channel
PowerPivot System
Service
Analysis Services in
VertiPaq Mode
PowerPivot Service
Application Proxy
• By default, set to round-
robin health allocation
• Testing notes that BP to
set to health-based
allocation
• Uses more resources
than round-robin
• BUT, pro-actively evicts
unnecessary VertiPaq
dBs when under
memory pressure

Capacity Planning
A preview on how to plan for PowerPivot for
SharePoint

Session Code • Session Title
Capacity Planning
Provisioning
Metric Determination
Total # of Users • Ascertain maintenance costs for user-base
• Storage Requirements = Avg # of files x Avg Size of files x
Total # of Users
Total # of Concurrent Users Help determine number of SharePoint WFEs
Total # of PowerPivot Users Help determine number of SharePoint Application Servers
(hosting Excel Services, AS Engine, PowerPivot System
Service)
# of Files; Avg/Max Size of Files Necessary to determine storage requirements to host
SharePoint data (PowerPivot and non-PowerPivot).
Data Refresh Options • Security and driver issues – users will have access to
data sources that PowerPivot may not have
• Frequency and # of files dictate how much resources
used to process/open/store these files

Session Code • Session Title
Capacity Planning
e2e Perf Test Preview > Scenario
• We are currently running end-to-end capacity testing; will be released
as part of PowerPivot Best Practices Guide
• Test Scenario
• Starting w/ 25 workbooks; range of workbooks from 3MB-400MB
• Dell R905 Windows Server 2008R2 64-bit, 64GB, 16 cores, local 15K disks
RAID 10
• ECS/PowerPivot Same Server vs. Separate Servers
• >1.5M queries executed in our tests for each run
• Observations
• SSAS queries small % of browser RT (e.g. 200-500ms for 30s RT)
• A lot of queries from ECS to Analysis Services in VertiPaq mode (by way of
OLEDB and PSS), e.g. 196-500 calls for small workbooks (factor is number of
parts and slicers)
• Size of workbooks small so memory not an issue (e.g. 10GB to SSAS);
network, disk counters minimal

Session Code • Session Title
Capacity Planning
Impact of slicers, charts, tables, worksheets
~20
~530

Data Sources
Capacity Planning
e2e Perf Test Preview > Context
WFE
Excel Web Access
App
Excel Calculation
Services
Content
SQL
Excel Web Service
SharePoint Farm
MSOLAP
TCP
HTTP
Channel
PowerPivot Web
Service
Excel Calc Services
PowerPivot System
Service
Analysis Services in
VertiPaq Mode
PowerPivot Service
Application Proxy
Client
Excel Services
Application Proxy
c2wts
0:00
0:30
0:00.4

Capacity Planning
e2e Perf Test Preview > Server Load
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100110120130140150160
ResponseTime(s)
CPU%
ECS/PowerPivot on Same Server
1. Avg ECS CPU
1. Avg AS CPU
1. Avg RT
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100110120130140150160
ResponseTime(s)
CPU%
ECS/PowerPivot on Separate Server
2. Avg ECS
2. Avg AS CPU
2. Avg RT

Session Code • Session Title
Capacity Planning
e2e Perf Test Preview > Observations
• DRAFT – we are NOT done yet
• Will publish “PowerPivot Best Practices” and/or “PowerPivot
Capacity Planning” guide(s) once tests are completed on
sqlcat.com
• Observations … NOT final conclusions
• CPU hits inflection point, does not max out, RTs increase more so
after inflection (processor, memory, disk, network are NOT
bottlenecks)
• RT 2s vs. 10s (separate / same) much > linear perf
• Leaning towards optimal design to have separate ECS : PowerPivot
servers (2:1 ratio)
• Separate results also confirm that performance / scalability relate to
the HTTP POSTs
• Still determining what WCF / ASP.NET / IIS tweaks we can use to
better handle the traffic (thus able to push more through single box
and multibox

Capacity Planning
Content database > RBS
SharePoint
Excel Services
PowerPivot
Web Services
SharePoint dBs
SQL
RBS > Filestream
10K
http://bit.ly/9BW9Wx

Dedicated RBS
Capacity Planning
Content dB > RBS Server
SharePoint
Excel Services
PowerPivot
Web Services
SharePoint dBs
SQL RBS > Filestream

Capacity Planning
Content dB > RBS Server Concurrency
266
463
1119
186
261
1028
192
281
579
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1 Client 2 Clients 5 Clients
Upload Duration (ms) by
Number of Concurrent Clients
Content DB
RBS on SharePoint DB Server
RBS on Dedicated Server

Upload Configuration
Uploading a PowerPivot workbook to
SharePoint takes on new meaning…

Session Code • Session Title
Upload Configuration
Quick Notes
SharePoint is optimized for download, hence our
concerns for PowerPivot scenarios were for upload
Important because IT (SharePoint) Administrators
are now dealing with larger files
• Default SharePoint Scenarios
• Max Size: 50Mb; Average Size: 20Mb
• PowerPivot SharePoint Scenarios
• Max Size: 2000Mb (configure Excel Services and SharePoint);
Average Size: ~50Mb
• Install instructions provide how to configure this

Upload Configuration
High Latency / Low Bandwidth
• Saving from Excel uses
Cobalt protocol
• Saves file asynchronously,
i.e. user can continue to
edit file while file is
uploaded
• File is uploaded in 4K
chunks
• Slower than WebDAV (next
page) but more suitable for
high latency / low
bandwidth scenarios

Session Code • Session Title
Upload Configuration
Using WAN Accelerators
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
1 2 3
ExecutionTimeinSeconds
Run
Document Upload Execution Time
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
ExecutionTimeinSeconds
Run
Document Upload Execution Time
1.6 GB
1.8 GB
2 GB

Upload Configuration
Low Latency / High Bandwidth
• Saving from SharePoint UI
ultimately uses WebDAV
• Saves file synchronously but
does it pretty fast
• Think IIS HTTP posts –
optimized for corporate
environments

Troubleshooting
Diagnose
Late breaking bugs!

Troubleshooting
Reading ULS Logs
%commonprogramfiles%Microsoft SharedWeb Server Extensions14LOGS

Troubleshooting
SQL Profiler

Troubleshooting
Resources
• SQL Server PowerPivot for SharePoint Newsgroup
• Personal / MVP blogs like:
• powerpivotgeek.com
• dennyglee.com
• powerpivotpro.com
• powerpivot-info.com
• powerpivotblog.nl
• Twitter > #PowerPivot
• Professional Microsoft PowerPivot for Excel and
SharePoint > Chapter 9*

Troubleshooting
Late breaking bugs . . .
Client: Never edit database and rely on the Excel dirty
workbook check – always manually SAVE, then exit

Troubleshooting
Late breaking bugs . . .
Server: Doing a SQL Server 2008 R2 install prior to installing
PowerPivot for SharePoint

Troubleshooting
Late breaking bugs . . .
Issue: If running on a fast multi-core server (e.g. we’ve seen
this on a dual 6-way server with 96GB memory)
A “New Server” installation may fail to configure SharePoint
Secure Store. No error is returned; it just isn’t there . . .
Solution: Follow the “Existing farm” post-install sets to
configure a Secure Store service application, generate a master
key and create any desired accounts.

Troubleshooting
Late breaking bugs . . .
Issue: Snapshots fail to be taken (red “X”) in lower right-hand corner.
Many issues appear to be in play that can cause this problem:
• Make sure Excel Services is working. Without it, you don’t get
snapshots.
• You may have used the Blank site template. It has the PowerPivot
feature disabled – make sure the site collection feature is turned
on
• The setting for how to view an item may have been changed from
“In-Browser” to “in-application”. Check the document library
advanced settings.
• If all else fails, login interactively with the web application’s app
pool service account – can you view the content in Excel Services
using that account?

Troubleshooting
Late breaking bugs . . .
Issue: Databases are not being deleted from your local AS
instance, ULS is reporting “Type mismatch” failures.
Fixed in CU4, but you can cause it by-hand if you delete
databases using SSMS
Workaround:
• Go ahead and use delete if you wish – most databases will
delete OK
• If you are unable to delete (and you get the “Type mismatch”
error), then issue a detach instead and clean up the data
folder by-hand

Troubleshooting
Late breaking bugs . . .
Where we need your help to get a repro:
• If you do an installation and you find that the
PowerPivot timer jobs are missing
• If you are trying to modify a SP master page to
customize a Gallery, you may find that your changes
are not being applied.
If you run into any of these, drop me a line directly
(dwickert@microsoft.com)

Session Code • Session Title
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