How can one build the TFS cube from scratch?

Question

We are having issues with the TFS cube. I don't think it has been built since TFS was installed. The warehouse seems to be working and has new data it just seems to be the cube that doesn't work.

We tried rebuilding it using the TFS Administrator Console but that made things worse, the data that was in there was erased and replaced by what looks like a blank Database.

I tried deleting the Database so that I could see if the cube was actually being built but now when I run the rebuild it says it's looking for an existing Database so it won't even try.

Now that I have deleted it, how can I rebuild the cube from scratch?

Even if I can retrieve the Database it was empty and I wanted to try building it from scratch anyway to see if that fixes the issue.

Answer 1

The Tfs_Warehouse extracts data from Tfs_CollectionA, Tfs_CollectionB, etc databases, and Tfs_Analysis get data from Tfs_Warehouse database. So no worries when the Tfs_Warehouse and Tfs_Analysis is deleted, it is allowed to create a new one.

Here are the steps how to get it work:

1. Delete Tfs_Warehouse and Tfs_Analysis from SQL instance in SQL Server Management Studio.
2. Open TFS Administrator Console, go to Reporting node, and click Edit.
3. On the Reporting dialog, select Use Report checkbox. And fill the Tfs_Warehouse, Tfs_Analysis and Reporting information separately on Warehouse, Analysis Services and Reports tabs.

Please check this blog for the detailed steps: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/20113.rebuild-tfs-warehouse-and-analysis-databases-from-scratch.aspx

In addition, by default, Tfs_Warehouse and Tfs_Analysis refreshes every 2 hours. You can manually refresh the cube to get the latest data: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff400237.aspx