Configure PowerPivot and Deploy Solutions (SQL Server 2012 SP1)

This topic describes the deployment and configuration of middle-tier enhancements to the PowerPivot features in SharePoint Server 2013 including PowerPivot Gallery, Schedule data refresh, Management Dashboard, and data providers. Run PowerPivot for SharePoint 2013 Configuration tool to complete the following:

For information on installing the PowerPivot for SharePoint 2013 Configuration tool, see Install or Uninstall the PowerPivot for SharePoint Add-in

For more information on BI features and changes to installation with SQL Server 2012 SP1, see Install SQL Server BI Features with SharePoint 2013 (SQL Server 2012 SP1).

This topic contains the following sections:

Run PowerPivot for SharePoint 2013 configuration

Verify PowerPivot Configuration

Troubleshoot Issues

Run PowerPivot for SharePoint 2013 configuration

Note: The SQL Server 2012 SP1 setup wizard installs two different configuration tools for Microsoft SQL Server 2012 PowerPivot for SharePoint. They each support a different version of SharePoint.

Name

Description

PowerPivot for SharePoint 2013 Configuration

SharePoint 2013

PowerPivot Configuration Tool

SharePoint 2010 with SharePoint 2010 Service Pack 1 (SP1)

Note: To complete the following steps, you must be a farm administrator. If you see an error message similar to the following:

  • “The user is not a farm administrator. Please address the validation failures and try again.”

Either login as the account that installed SharePoint or configure the setup account as the primary administrator of the SharePoint Central Administration Site.

  1. On the Start menu, click All Programs, and then click Microsoft SQL Server 2012 , click Configuration Tools, and then click PowerPivot For SharePoint 2013 Configuration. Toold is listed only when PowerPivot for SharePoint is installed on the local server.

  2. Click Configure or Repair PowerPivot for SharePoint and then click OK.

  3. The tool runs validation to verify the current state of PowerPivot and what steps are required to complete configuration. Expand the window to full size. You should see a button bar at the bottom of the window that includes Validate, Run, and Exit commands.

  4. On the Parameters tab:

    1. Default Account UserName: Enter a domain user account for the default account. This account will be used to provision services, including the PowerPivot service application pool. Do not specify a built-in account such as Network Service or Local System. The tool blocks configurations that specify built-in accounts.

    2. Database Server: You can use SQL Server Database engine that is supported for the SharePoint farm.

    3. Passphrase: Enter a passphrase. If you are creating a new SharePoint farm, the passphrase is used whenever you add a server or application to the SharePoint farm. If the farm already exists, enter the passphrase that allows you to add a server application to the farm.

    4. PowerPivot Server for Excel Services: Type the name of an Analysis Services SharePoint mode server. In a single-server deployment, it is the same as the database server. [ServerName]\powerpivot

    5. Click Create Site Collection in the left window. Note Site URL so you can reference it in later steps. If the SharePoint server is not already configured, then the configuration wizard defaults the web application, and site collection URLs to the root of http://[ServerName]. To modify the defaults review the following pages in the left window: Create Default Web application and Deploy Web Application Solution

  5. Optionally, review the remaining input values used to complete each action. Click each action in the left window to see and review the details of the action. For more information about each one, see the section “Input values used to configure the server in Configure or Repair PowerPivot for SharePoint 2010 (PowerPivot Configuration Tool) in this topic.

  6. Optionally, remove any actions that you do not want to process at this time. For example, if you want to configure Secure Store Service later, click Configure Secure Store Service, and then clear the checkbox Include this action in the task list.

  7. Click Validate to check whether the tool has sufficient information to process the actions in the list. If you see validation errors, click the warnings in the left pane to see details of the validation error. Correct any validation errors and then click Validate again.

  8. Click Run to process all of the actions in the task list. Note that Run becomes available after you validate the actions. If Run is not enabled, click Validate first.

For more information, see Configure or Repair PowerPivot for SharePoint 2010 (PowerPivot Configuration Tool)

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Verify PowerPivot Configuration

Services:

  1. In Central Administration, in System Settings, click Manage services on server.

  2. Verify that SQL Server Analysis Services and SQL Server PowerPivot System Service are started.

Farm Feature:

  1. In Central Administration, in System Settings, click Manage farm features.

  2. Verify that PowerPivot Integration Feature is Active.

Site Collection Feature:

  1. Browse to your site URL that was created by the Configuration tool.

    Click Settings SharePoint Settings, and then click Site Settings.

    Click Site Collection Features.

  2. Verify that PowerPivot Feature Integration for Site Collections is Active.

PowerPivot Service Application:

  1. In Central Administration, in the Application Management, click Manage service applications.

  2. Verify the service application status is started. The default name is Default PowerPivot Service Application.

    Click the name of the services application to open the PowerPivot Management Dashboard for the service application opens. On first use, the dashboard takes several minutes to load.

For more information, see Verify a PowerPivot for SharePoint Installation.

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Troubleshoot Issues

To assist in troubleshooting issues, it is a good idea to verify the diagnostic logging is enabled.

  1. In SharePoint Central Administration, click Monitoring and then click Configure usage and health data collection.

  2. Verify Enable usage data collection is selected.

  3. Verify the following events are selected:

    • Definition of usage fields for Education telemetry

    • PowerPivot Connects

    • PowerPivot Load Data Usage

    • PowerPivot Query Usage

    • PowerPivot Unload Data Usage

  4. Verify Enable health data collection is selected.

  5. Click OK.

For more information on trouble shooting data refresh, see Troubleshooting PowerPivot Data Refresh (https://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/3870.troubleshooting-powerpivot-data-refresh.aspx).

For more information on the configuration tool, see PowerPivot Configuration Tools.

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