Performance Considerations for Recursive Calculations in MDX

The other day, while investigating a customer performance problem, Chris Webb came up with a sequence of very simple and targeted MDX queries against SQL Server 2008 Adventure Works database that clearly illustrate some of the pitfalls people may encounter when they write recursive MDX formulas. Today we explore how MDX formula engine generates execution plans for those queries and discuss some engine limitations in this area that may have big impact on query performance.