KB484922: Observing differences in Datamart table name and Metric Column Alias after upgrading to MicroStrategy 2021 Update 1

Description

After upgrading to Strategy 2021, you may notice differences in your datamart table names and metric column alias in some corner cases. This behavior is expected, as in this release Strategy engine addresses potential SQL injection threats via datamart table names and metric alias by stripping off invalid characters. The invalid characters are dependent on each gateway and the default ones are:
 
"[]~`!@#$%^&*()\?|/ ;{} +=:'"<>,."
 
This should have a very limited impact on product upgrades and will only affect certain corner cases where such invalid characters are used within metric alias and datamart names.
 

Example

• Create a sample datamart, and specify the table name to include an invalid character such as TABLE#NAME
  

• For SQL server, the table name will be created by replacing the invalid character with an underscore: TABLE_NAME
  

The following is a comparison of the SQL difference observed between Strategy 2021 Update 1 and previous releases:
 

• Strategy 2021 Update 1
  

  
  Pass0 -               
  drop table TABLE_NAME
  
  Pass1 -         
  select [a12].[QUARTER_ID]  [QUARTER_ID],
           [a12].[QUARTER_DESC]  [QUARTER_DESC0],
           [a11].[ITEM_ID]  [ITEM_ID],
           [a11].[ITEM_NAME]  [ITEM_NAME0]
  into TABLE_NAME
  from [lu_item]  [a11]
           cross join  [lu_quarter] [a12]

  
  
• Previous Releases:
  

  
  Pass0 -              
  drop table TABLE#NAME
  
  Pass1 -              
  select [a12].[QUARTER_ID]  [QUARTER_ID],
           [a12].[QUARTER_DESC]  [QUARTER_DESC0],
           [a11].[ITEM_ID]  [ITEM_ID],
           [a11].[ITEM_NAME]  [ITEM_NAME0]
  into TABLE#NAME
  from [lu_item]  [a11]
           cross join  [lu_quarter] [a12]
  

  
  

The SQL changes will be detected by the Upgrade Impact log and it will let you know what invalid characters have been replaced and what the new name of the table is:

[Engine][UpgradeImpact][UID:54F3D26011D2896560009A8E67019608][SID:300B5641272CEFC1910F01C59C59465E][OID:905EB19C470C66FE5693ABA761202A2C] [ONAME:Pound Sign][TID:905EB19C470C66FE5693ABA761202A2C][TNAME:Pound Sign][REFID:F12842][STRING CHANGED TO:TABLE_NAME]

Solution

This is an expected change, and no further action is required.