Share via

  • Article

Reporting Services Configuration Tool

Use the Reporting Services Configuration Manager to configure a Reporting Services installation. If you installed a report server by using the files-only installation option, you must use this tool to configure the server before you can use it. If you installed a report server by using the default configuration installation option, you can use this tool to verify or modify the settings that were specified during setup. Reporting Services Configuration Manager can be used to configure a local or remote report server instance. You can use the Reporting Services Configuration Manager to perform the following tasks:

  • Configure the Report Server service account. The account is initially configured during setup, but can be modified by using the Reporting Services Configuration Manager if you update the password or want to use a different account.

  • Create and configure URLs. The report server and Report Manager are ASP.NET applications accessed through URLs. The report server URL provides access to the SOAP endpoints of the report server. The Report Manager URL is used to open Report Manager. You can configure a single URL or multiple URLs for each application.

  • Create and configure the report server database. The report server is a stateless server that requires a SQL Server database for internal storage. You can use the Reporting Services Configuration Manager to create and configure a connection to the report server database. You can also select an existing report server database that already contains the content you want to use.

  • Configure a scale-out deployment. Reporting Services supports a deployment topology that allows multiple report server instances use a single, shared report server database. To deploy a report server scale-out deployment, you use the Reporting Services Configuration Manager to connect each report server to the shared report server database. For more information, see Planning for Scale-Out Deployment.

  • Backup, restore, or replace the symmetric key that is used to encrypt stored connection strings and credentials. You must have a backup of the symmetric key if you change the service account, or move a report server database to another computer.

  • Configure the unattended execution account. This account is used for remote connections during scheduled operations or when user credentials are not available.

  • Configure report server e-mail. Reporting Services includes a report server e-mail delivery extension that uses a Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) to deliver reports or report processing notification to an electronic mailbox. You can use the Reporting Services Configuration tool to specify which SMTP server or gateway on your network to use for e-mail delivery.

The Reporting Services Configuration Manager does not help you manage report server content, enable additional features, or grant access to the server. Full deployment requires that you also use SQL Server Management Studio to enable additional features or modify default values, and Report Manager to grant user access to the server. For an overview of deployment tasks, see Server Deployment Checklist.

Using the Reporting Services Configuration Manager

You can open the tool from the SQL Server program group on the report server computer.

The Reporting Services Configuration manager is version-specific. The Reporting Services Configuration tool that installs with this version of SQL Server cannot be used to configure an earlier version of Reporting Services. If you are running older and newer versions of Reporting Services side-by-side on the same computer, you must use the Reporting Service Configuration tool that comes with each version to configure each instance.

To use the Reporting Services Configuration tool, you must have the following:

  • Local system administrator permissions on the computer that hosts the report server you want to configure. If you are configuring a remote computer, you must have local system administrator permissions on that computer as well.

  • You must have permission to create databases on the SQL Server Database Engine used to host the report server database.

  • Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) service must be enabled and running on any report server you are configuring. The Reporting Services Configuration tool uses the report server WMI provider to connect to local and remote report servers. If you are configuring a remote report server, the computer must allow remote WMI access. For more information, see How to: Configure a Report Server for Remote Administration.

  • Before you can connect to and configure a remote report server instance, you must enable remote Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) calls to pass through Windows Firewall. For more information, see How to: Configure a Report Server for Remote Administration in SQL Server Books Online.

The Reporting Services Configuration tool is installed automatically when you install Reporting Services

You can connect to and configure one report server at a time. The following illustration shows the Reporting Services Configuration tool after you connect to a SQL Server 2008 report server. 

Reporting Services Configuration tool

Starting the Reporting Services Configuration Manager

To start Reporting Services Configuration

  1. Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2, and then point to Configuration Tools.

    If you want to configure a report server instance from a previous version of SQL Server, open the program folder for that version. For example, point to Microsoft SQL Server 2005 instead of Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 to open the configuration tools for SQL Server 2005 server components.

  2. Click Reporting Services Configuration Manager. The Connect to a Report Server Instance dialog box appears so that you can select the report server instance you want to configure.

  3. In Server Name, specify the name of the computer on which the report server instance is installed. The name of the local computer appears by default, but you can type the name of a remote SQL Server instance if you want to connect to a report server that is installed on a remote computer.

  4. If you specify a remote computer, click Find to establish a connection.

  5. In Report Server Instance, select the SQL Server Reporting Services instance that you want to configure. Only report server instances for this version of SQL Server appear in the list. You cannot configure earlier versions of Reporting Services.

  6. Click Connect.