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Troubleshooting Configuration Errors

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Use this topic to troubleshoot problems that you encounter when configuring a report server.

Version Requirements for the Reporting Services Configuration Tool

SQL Server 2005 SP2 provides a newer version of the Reporting Services Configuration tool. If you install SP2, you must use the SP2 version of the Reporting Services Configuration tool to configure the report server. In addition, you cannot use the SP2 version of the Reporting Services Configuration tool to configure a pre-SP2 report server. This incompatibility occurs because the Reporting Services Configuration tool uses a new version of the WMI provider, which is not backward compatible. If you attempt to use the Reporting Services Configuration tool with an unsupported version, the following error will occur: "The WMI Provider has returned an unspecified status at ReportServicesConfigUI.WMIProvider.ConfigurationItem.CreateConfigurationItem."

Unexpected Error Occurs While Configuring Report Server Virtual Directory if Report Manager is not Installed

If you configure the report server virtual directory and Report Manager is not installed, the Reporting Services Configuration tool will close unexpectedly and show the following error: “SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services Configuration tool has encountered a problem and needs to close.” The virtual directory is actually created, despite the error message. The error only occurs once. When you re-open the tool, you can finish server configuration without encountering the error again.

An ASP.NET Timeout Error Occurs After Two Minutes of Report Processing

For a report server that runs in SharePoint integrated mode, you might encounter an ASP.NET time-out error for long-running reports that require more processing time than the default time-out specifies. By default, the ASP.NET time-out is approximately two minutes. Reports that need more than two minutes to process will quit unexpectedly and the Windows SharePoint Services error page will appear with the following error: “An unexpected error has occurred.”

If you think this error is due to a time-out issue, you can work around the error by adding an httpRuntime executionTimeout attribute to the Web.config file of the SharePoint Web application.

Be sure to provide a value that is sufficient to complete processing for long-running reports. For a native mode report server, the default value is 9000 seconds for a report server and Report Manager. Consider choosing a similar value when you specify executionTimeout for the SharePoint Web application.

To change the timeout value for a SharePoint Web application:

  1. Go to <drive>:\inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\<dir>. The directory name is based on the port number used to access the SharePoint site. If the SharePoint site uses port 80, the path will be \inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\80.

  2. Open Web.config.

  3. Search for httpRuntime.

  4. Add the executionTimeout value. The following examples provides an illustration of syntax that is valid for this attribute:

    <httpRuntime maxRequestLength="51200" executionTimeout = "9000" />

For more information, see httpRuntime Element ( ASP.NET Settings Schema) on MSDN.

If you have deployed multiple applications in a SharePoint farm, repeat the previous steps for each Web.config file in the farm. This requirement applies to all the SharePoint Web application Web.config files in the subdirectories under <drive>:\inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories. It also applies to Web.config files for applications in the farm that are installed on different computers.

Do not specify https://localhost for a report server URL that is used throughout a SharePoint farm

When you specify a report server URL in the Manage integration settings page in SharePoint 3.0 Central Administration, do not use http://locahost/reportserver for the report server URL if the report server is integrated with SharePoint Web applications that are part of a farm deployment. A URL address that specifies https://localhost will not be valid for SharePoint Web front-ends that are installed on remote servers.

Configure administrative and service accounts to use unique domain user accounts

A deployment of a SharePoint product or technology uses a variety of accounts to run services and access front-end and back-end servers. If you specify domain accounts for your deployment, be sure to follow best practice recommendations and specify accounts that are used exclusively by the SharePoint Web application. Do not configure a service account to run under the domain user account of an actual person who will be accessing the SharePoint site. If you access a SharePoint site using service credentials, you might encounter access denied errors when you open reports.

If you do not use a domain account, you might encounter a second issue provided you have the following combination of factors:

  • The report server is integrated with a SharePoint farm that consists of more than one computer.
  • The SharePoint site and the report server are on different computers.
  • The SharePoint site is hosted in an application pool that runs as a built-in account, such as NetworkService.
  • The Reporting Services proxy endpoint connection to the report server is configured to use Trusted Account mode.

In this scenario, when a user views a report or accesses Reporting Services features from the SharePoint site, the following error occurs:

"An unexpected error occurred while connecting to the report server. Verify that the report server is available and configured for SharePoint integrated mode. The permissions granted to user '<acccountname>' are insufficient for performing this operation."

To avoid this error, follow the recommendations in the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 product documentation and run the application pool service as a domain account. For more information about service account requirements and recommendations, see Plan for administrative and service accounts in the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 product documentation.

Service account requirements for Reporting Services

Restrictions on using built-in accounts apply to some deployment topologies of Reporting Services that include a report server running in SharePoint integrated mode. The following combination of factors will result in service account requirements:

  • Report Server is integrated with a SharePoint farm comprising more than one computer.
  • The report server and SharePoint Central Administration web site run on separate computers.

In this scenario, if either the Report Server Web service or Windows service runs under a built-in account such as NetworkService, the Grant database access option in SharePoint Central Administration will not work correctly. Consequently, accessing any Reporting Services feature through a SharePoint site will result in the following error:

"An unexpected error occurred while connecting to the report server. Verify that the report server is available and configured for SharePoint integrated mode. --> Server was unable to process request. --> Client found response content type of 'text/html; charset=utf-8', but expected 'text.xml'."

To avoid this error, choose one of the following approaches:

  • On the computer that hosts the report server, continue to run the Report Server Web service as NetworkService and add the built-in account, such as NT_AUTHORITY\NetworkService to the WSS_WPG Windows group.
  • Configure the service accounts to run under a domain user account as follows:
    1. Start the Reporting Services Configuration tool and connect to the report server.
    2. Click Windows Service Identity, click Windows Account, type a domain user account, and click Apply.
    3. Click Web Service Identity, for Report Server, click New, type an application pool name, click Windows Account, type a domain user account, and click Apply.
    4. Reset IIS.
    5. Restart the Windows service.

Error while enumerating application pools

If you are configuring a remote report server instance, certain Internet Information Services (IIS) administration settings can block report server configuration. The following error occurs when administration settings conflict with remote server configuration:

An error occurred while enumerating the application pools on <computer name>. If <computer name> is a remote server, try changing the firewall settings in the operating system to allow the enumeration.

To work around this error, add TCP port 135 and inetinfo.exe to the list of exceptions for the Windows Firewall.

For more information, see the "Add a Port to the Exceptions List for a Specific Connection" in the Windows Firewall Operations Guide published on the TechNet site at www.microsoft.com. You can also search for "Windows Firewall Settings: Remote Administration Tools" to read the recommendations for IIS configuration.

See Also

Concepts

Configuring Reporting Services Components

Other Resources

Troubleshooting Reporting Services

Help and Information

Getting SQL Server 2005 Assistance