Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008 Bible

Chapter 74. Administering Reporting Services

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Structure of the report server

• Report deployment options

• Security model and guidelines

• General server configuration

• Leveraging existing development with linked reports

• User and data-driven subscriptions

Once reports have been developed in Reporting Services, they must be delivered to be of value. Certainly most users won't be interested in loading up the development environment to view the latest sales report!

The Reporting Services server addresses this need. The server can run on the same hardware as the relational database but need not if system load requires scale-out. Installing the server creates one windows service and installs two relational databases: one that contains deployed report definitions and other metadata, and a second for temporary objects used in processing. After installation, be sure to visit the Reporting Services Configuration Manager to adjust settings and back up the encryption keys and save them in a safe place. Keeping all the metadata in the ReportServer database makes it simple to back up, but without the encryption key a restore will be difficult.

All access to the Reporting Services service happens via a Web Service, which enables reports to be uploaded and managed, security settings modified, and so on. The Web Service can be accessed in several ways:

• Business Intelligence Development Studio will deploy reports to the Web Service.

• Applications and browsers can explore and render reports by referencing ...