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How to: Back Up the Reporting Services Encryption Key

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You can use the Reporting Services Configuration tool or the RSKEYMGMT command-line tool provided by SQL Server 2005 to back up the encryption key.

Note

This topic directs you to perform actions on the Team Foundation application-tier server. In dual-server deployments, this is a different physical computer than the Team Foundation data-tier server. In single-server deployments, both the logical application-tier and the logical data-tier are located on the same physical computer.

Required Permissions

To perform this procedure, you must be a member of the Local Administrator group which has the role of a Content Manager in SQL Reporting Services or have the Manage report server security permission set to Allow. For more information, see Team Foundation Server Permissions or the SQL Server 2005 topic "System-Level Tasks" (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=82327).

To back up the Report Server encryption key

  1. On the Team Foundation application-tier server, click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft SQL Server, click Configuration Tools, and then click Reporting Services Configuration.

  2. Enter the data-tier computer name and database instance at the Reporting Server Installation Instance Selection dialog box.

  3. In the left navigation bar, click Encryption Keys, and then click Backup.

  4. In Encryption Key Information dialog box, type a password in the Password box for the file, and then click the Key File.

  5. In the Save As dialog box, enter the file name for storing the Report Server encryption key, click OK, and then click OK in the Encryption Key Information dialog box.

Using the RSKEYMGMT Tool

You might want to use a command-line tool instead of the Reporting Services Configuration tool.

Note

If your deployment is a dual or cluster deployment, the application tier does not support the Reporting Services Configuration tool, you must use the RSKEYMGMT tool.

To back up the Report Server encryption key using RSKEYMGMT

  1. Open the Command Prompt window and locate the RSKEYMGMT tool.

    By default, the tool is located in the installation directory as follows drive:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Tools\Binn folder.

  2. Use the -e, -f, and -p options of the RSKEYMGMT tool to create a backup file that is password protected for the encryption key.

    For example, the following command line extracts the key, creates a file named MyRSKeyBackUP, and specifies a password to encrypt or decrypt the key.

    RSKEYMGMT -e -f c:/mybackups/myRSkeybackup -p StrongPassword

    Note

    For more information about the RSKEYMGMT tool, use the /? option. For example, you can run RSKEYMGMT /? in the Command Prompt window.

See Also

Tasks

How to: Activate a Fail-Over Application-Tier Server
How to: Back Up a Team Foundation Server