SQL Server 2012 Analysis Services in Tabular Mode

A Tabular Model 

A Tabular Model is simply a new type of server mode in SQL Server 2012. It utilizes a new storage mode known as the Vertipaq storage engine that enables higher compression rates by storing and compressing data across columns. The columnar compression enables faster response times when the data is less variable in a given column as oppose to the variability that is present in rows.

A Tabular Model can be created using various data sources inside Visual Studio to create a single model for all end user experiences.

It can then be deployed to SQL Server Analysis services database and utilized for reports in PowerView in addition to the traditional Excel, PowerPivot and SQL Server Reporting services.


However when you try to build a Tabular Model you may receive an interesting error:

The error read, The workspace database server “localhost” is not running in tabular mode.”

Essentially we are all used to installing SQL Server 2008 R2 with only one option for Analysis Services. Primarily this mode is used for Data mining and Multi-dimensional OLAP cubes.

When installing SQL Server 2012 you will encountered this issue because you failed to realize that the new version requires us to install the Analysis services component in “Tabular Mode” in addition to the traditional Data mining and OLAP mode as a separate installation.

Simply insert the installation media and follow the same steps.However, when it came to the portion chose “Tabular Mode” this time.

After completing that step you will be able to create a model file successfully.