StreamInsight is a Complex Event Process application that allows you to take streams of data and query it and then output the results.  We could write a WPF application that takes the UAV data as input streams, StreamInsight queries to answer our questions, and use Bing Maps as our presentation layer to output the results.  In this case we could write an adapter to capture the UAV location data such as GPS coordinates, speed, altitude, etc.  Once we have this data streaming in we can write queries against it such as where are all of the UAVs.  Using SQL Geography we can then start to incorporate geospatial functions to give us all of the UAVs in a particular region and which one is closest to the target.  We could then write an output adapter to plot these results on a map using the Bing Maps api.  Using XAML we could write a quick gui interface for our app to surface the query data.

This is just an idea of what StreamInsight can do.  Using StreamInsight in combination with other technologies can really add value to Intelligence oriented applications.

With it, you can download the underlying data from a report in ATOM format and use it as an input source to another application; PowerPivot, for example.  See MSDN for details (https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee210663.aspx).

Imagine my surprise when I recently ran across a server where this icon wasn’t available on the toolbar!  If you encounter a similar issue, it’s possible that your server is missing a necessary entry in the rsreportserver.config file. 

In the rsreportserver.config file, look under the Extensions element and then under the Render element. You should see something like this:

<Render>

      <Extension Name="XML" Type="Microsoft.ReportingServices.Rendering.DataRenderer.XmlDataReport,Microsoft.ReportingServices.DataRendering"/>

      <Extension Name="NULL" Type="Microsoft.ReportingServices.Rendering.NullRenderer.NullReport,Microsoft.ReportingServices.NullRendering" Visible="false"/>

      <Extension Name="CSV" Type="Microsoft.ReportingServices.Rendering.DataRenderer.CsvReport,Microsoft.ReportingServices.DataRendering"/>

      <Extension Name="ATOM" Type="Microsoft.ReportingServices.Rendering.DataRenderer.AtomDataReport,Microsoft.ReportingServices.DataRendering" Visible="false"/>

      <Extension Name="PDF" Type="Microsoft.ReportingServices.Rendering.ImageRenderer.PDFRenderer,Microsoft.ReportingServices.ImageRendering"/>

      <Extension Name="RGDI" Type="Microsoft.ReportingServices.Rendering.ImageRenderer.RGDIRenderer,Microsoft.ReportingServices.ImageRendering" Visible="false"/>

      <Extension Name="HTML4.0" Type="Microsoft.ReportingServices.Rendering.HtmlRenderer.Html40RenderingExtension,Microsoft.ReportingServices.HtmlRendering" Visible="false"/>

      <Extension Name="MHTML" Type="Microsoft.ReportingServices.Rendering.HtmlRenderer.MHtmlRenderingExtension,Microsoft.ReportingServices.HtmlRendering"/>

      <Extension Name="EXCEL" Type="Microsoft.ReportingServices.Rendering.ExcelRenderer.ExcelRenderer,Microsoft.ReportingServices.ExcelRendering"/>

      <Extension Name="RPL" Type="Microsoft.ReportingServices.Rendering.RPLRendering.RPLRenderer,Microsoft.ReportingServices.RPLRendering" Visible="false" LogAllExecutionRequests="false"/>

      <Extension Name="IMAGE" Type="Microsoft.ReportingServices.Rendering.ImageRenderer.ImageRenderer,Microsoft.ReportingServices.ImageRendering"/>

      <Extension Name="WORD" Type="Microsoft.ReportingServices.Rendering.WordRenderer.WordDocumentRenderer,Microsoft.ReportingServices.WordRendering"/>

</Render>

Add the ATOM element if it’s missing.  You’re all set!

-          On Demand  - where the is evaluated directly by the user

-          On Change:  prevent  - where the Data Definition Language Triggers are used to prevent a policy violation

-          On Change:  log – where the policy allows the change but logs the change

-          On Schedule – where the SQL Agent job is used to periodically evaluate the policy

The PBM feature is designed for SQL Server 2008 or subsequent releases, but with the use of the  Enterprise Policy Management Frameworks   solution available on codeplex.com policies can be evaluated against SQL 2000 and SQL 2005 environments.    The On-Demand evaluation mode is the only one of the four modes that allows for evaluation against the earlier editions.  This evaluation in conjunction with a powershell script enable the evaluation of policies against the earlier editions.

The Enterprise Policy Management Framework solution also provides canned reports that display the desired state of the managed instances.

More info on the Enterprise Policy Management Frameworks can be found at:

https://epmframework.codeplex.com/

More info can be found at:

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd266396.aspx

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb964713.aspx

1.     Microsoft Complex Event Processing Engine Manageability Protocol Specification

2.     SharePoint Web Services: DataSet DiffGram Structure Specification

3.     Tabular Data Stream Protocol Version 4.2

4.     SQL Server System Overview

5.     SQL Server Protocols Master Reference

6.     Native Web Services Protocol Specification

7.     Master Data Services Web Service Specification

8.     Database Publishing Wizard Protocol Specification

9.     Microsoft SQL Server CLR Types Serialization Formats

10.   SQL Server Analysis Services Version 8.0 Protocol Specification

11.   SQL Server Analysis Services Protocol Specification

12.   SqlClient Connection String Structure Specification

13.   Report Server Web Service Specification for SharePoint Forms Authentication: ReportServiceAuthentication

14.   Report Server Web Service Specification for Report Management for SharePoint Mode:  ReportService2006

15.   Report Server Web Service Specification for Report Management for Native Mode:  ReportService2005

16.   Report Server Web Service Specification for Report Management:  ReportService2010

17.   Report Server Web Service Specification for Report Execution:  ReportExecution2005

18.   Report Page Layout (RPL) Binary Stream Format Structure Specification

19.   Remote GDI+ (RGDI) Binary Stream Format Structure Specification

20.   Report Definition Language File Format Structure Specification

21.   OLEDB Connection String Structure Specification

22.   ODBC Connection String Structure Specification

23.   DataSet DiffGram Structure Specification

24.   SQL Server Binary XML Structure Specification

25.   XML Serialization of Synchronization Knowledge Specification

A lot of this is very deep and technical so you might wonder what value do they provide?

Well, they help anyone who needs to know how data flows within SQL Server. They could, possibly, help with an intractable debugging issue. Maybe your security/firewall team insists on knowing exactly what SQL Server sends across the network before they alter their firewall policies?

The benefit is that these protocols are not in a “black box” and if you want or need to get down to that level then you can.

Check out the following links for more details.

SQL Server Protocols Readme in .PDF format

https://download.microsoft.com/download/7/9/3/79326e29-1e2e-45ee-aa73-74043587b17d/[[ReadmefirstSQL]].pdf

SQL Server Protocols in a single 31 MB .ZIP file

https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=120223

Link to download individual SQL Server Protocols .PDF files

https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=91EF5106-944A-41E1-B3A0-5BD3F2356F32&displaylang=en

Forum for Using the Microsoft SQL Server Protocols

https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=115249

More info can be found at:

https://www.microsoft.com/systemcenter/en/us/optimizing-sql-server.aspx

https://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2008/en/us/R2-multi-server.aspx

From a technology perspective it is comprised of 3 key technologies (SQL Server, SharePoint, and Office).

As part of this stack Microsoft provides a set of tools to build BI solutions for every audience in the organization.

End Users

PowerPivot:  An Excel add-in enables Excel power users to easily create powerful BI solutions by streamlining the integration of data from multiple sources enabling interactive modeling and analysis of massive amount of data and by supporting the seamless sharing of data models and reports through Microsoft Office SharePoint 2010.

SQL Server 2008 R2 Report Builder:  An ad-hoc reporting client that accelerates report creation, collaboration and consistency by allowing users to create and share report components that can be accessed via the shared component library and by enabling the rapid assembly of comprehensive business reports using these shared components.  Report Builder 3.0 also has support for geospatial visualization including mapping, routing, and custom shapes can help your end users create customized reports that leverage existing content objects, such as queries, data regions, and charts and graphs. You can also enhance location-based data reports with Bing Maps in Report Builder 3.0.

Developers/Report Authors/Data Architects

SQL Server 2008 R2 Business Intelligence Development Studio(BIDS): SQL Server Business Intelligence Development Studio (BIDS) is the tool that provides intuitive wizards for building integration, reporting, and analytic solutions in a unified environment. BIDS supports the entire development life cycle of developing, testing, and deploying robust, highly secure, scalable solutions. In addition, developers will now enjoy updated support for RDL 2008 directly from Microsoft Visual Studio® and enhanced event and Ajax support on Report Viewer.

Dashboards and Scorecards

SharePoint Server 2010 PerformancePoint Services:A performance management service that you can use to monitor and analyze your business. By providing flexible, easy-to-use tools for building dashboards, scorecards, and key performance indicators (KPIs), PerformancePoint Services can help individuals across an organization make informed business decisions that align with company wide objectives and strategy. Dashboards, scorecards, KPIs, and reports help drive accountability. Integrated analytics help workers quickly move from monitoring information to analyzing it, and where appropriate, sharing it throughout the organization.

Presentation/Delivery

SharePoint 2010:  SharePoint 2010 makes Business Intelligence (BI) available to everyone, it can help all your people-and the entire company-be more effective and efficient.  It allows people to work naturally and confidently, thanks to a familiar user experience. Because SharePoint 2010 uses well-known applications and interfaces, people are comfortable from the start, and they know how to get the data they need.

From a capabilities perspective the slide below shows where the key BI capabilities map to what products.

There are certain problems that lend themselves to complex event processing in the government.  One example would be to use StreamInsight to monitor trading activity on the exchanges to look for certain patterns or anomalies.  Another would be to correlate sensor data to detect intrusions both physical and digital from multiple sources.  You could use StreamInsight to track assets in the theater of war such as UAVs, ground based assets, etc.  These are but a few examples of StreamInsight solutions in the government space.  In future blog posts I will explore some of these solutions in more detail.

For more information on StreamInsight please go to:

https://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2008/en/us/R2-complex-event.aspx

These two synchronization mechanisms also target different audiences.  Sync Frameworks targets the developers and provides more flexibility.  It also imposes more coding as in the case of the non-database store, the developer must code the providers.   Replication targets the DBAs and furnishes out of box procedures and monitors.

The following table also provides insight into how each mechanism addresses key features:

More info can be found at:

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc281959.aspx

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/sync/cc470041.aspx