Microsoft distributes Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1) or Microsoft SQL Server 2012 fixes as one downloadable file. Because the fixes are cumulative, each new release contains all the hotfixes and all the security updates that were included with the previous SQL Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1) or SQL Server 2012 update release.
Symptoms
Consider the following scenario:
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You run a complex Multidimensional Expressions (MDX) query on an instance of Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Analysis Services (SSAS 2008 R2) or an instance of Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Analysis Services (SSAS 2012).
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The following conditions are true for the MDX query:
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The MDX query uses the NONEMPTY function.
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The WHERE clause of the MDX query has a named set.
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An axis set of the MDX query and the named set use hierarchies from the same dimensions.
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In this scenario, you might receive the following error message:
The expression contains a function that cannot operate on a set with more than 4,294,967,296 tuples.
Note This issue also occurs in Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services (SSAS 2008).
Resolution
Cumulative update information
SQL Server 2012
The fix for this issue was first released in Cumulative Update 1 for SQL Server 2012. For more information about this cumulative update package, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
2679368 Cumulative update package 1 for SQL Server 2012Note Because the builds are cumulative, each new fix release contains all the hotfixes and all the security fixes that were included with the previous SQL Server 2012 fix release. Microsoft recommends that you consider applying the most recent fix release that contains this hotfix. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
2692828 The SQL Server 2012 builds that were released after SQL Server 2012 was released You must apply a SQL Server 2012 hotfix to an installation of SQL Server 2012.
Cumulative update package 3 for SQL Server 2008 R2 SP1
The fix for this issue was first released in cumulative update package 3. For more information about how to obtain this cumulative update package for SQL Server 2008 R2 SP1, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
2591748 Cumulative update package 3 for SQL Server 2008 R2 SP1Note Because the builds are cumulative, each new update release contains all the hotfixes and all the security updates that were included with the previous SQL Server 2008 R2 SP1 update release. We recommend that you consider applying the most recent update release that contains this hotfix. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
2567616 The SQL Server 2008 R2 builds that were released after SQL Server 2008 R2 SP1 was released
Workaround
To work around this issue, use the NON EMPTY clause instead of the NONEMPTY function, and remove the different granularities or other kinds of arbitrary shape sets in the WHERE clause.
Status
Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.
