Configure a firewall for report server access

Article
02/02/2024

Reporting Services report server applications and published reports are accessed through URLs that specify an IP address, port, and virtual directory. If Windows Firewall is turned on, the port that the report server is configured to use is most likely closed. Indications that a port might be closed are receiving a blank page when you attempt to open the web portal from a remote client computer, or a blank Web page after requesting a report.

To open a port, you must use the Windows Firewall utility on the report server computer. Reporting Services doesn't open ports for you. You must perform this step manually.

By default, the report server listens for HTTP requests on port 80. As such, the following instructions include steps that specify that port. If you configured the report server URLs to use a different port, you must specify that port number when following the instructions in this article.

You must open port 1433 and 1434 on the external computer if one of the following statements is true:

If you're accessing SQL Server relational databases on external computers
If the report server database is on an external SQL Server instance

For more information, see Configure a Windows Firewall for database engine access. For more information about the default Windows Firewall settings, and a description of the TCP ports that affect the Database Engine, Analysis Services, Reporting Services, and Integration Services, see Configure the Windows Firewall to allow SQL Server access.

Prerequisites

These instructions assume that you already configured the service account. They also assume you created the report server database and configured URLs for the Report Server Web service and the web portal. For more information, see Manage a Reporting Services native mode report server.

You should also verify that the report server is accessible over a local Web browser connection to the local report server instance. This step establishes that you have a working installation. You should verify that the installation is configured correctly before you begin opening ports. To complete this step on Windows Server, you must also add the report server site to Trusted Sites. For more information, see Configure a native mode report server for local administration (SSRS).

Open ports in Windows Firewall

Open port 80

From the Start menu, select Control Panel, select System and Security, and then choose Windows Firewall. Control Panel isn't configured for Category view, you only need to select Windows Firewall.
Select Advanced Settings.
Select Inbound Rules.
Select New Rule in the Actions window.
Choose the Port rule type.
Select Next.
On the Protocol and Ports page, choose TCP.
Select Specific Local Ports and enter a value of 80.
Select Next.
On the Action page, select Allow the connection.
Select Next.
On the Profile page, select the appropriate options for your environment.
Select Next.
On the Name page, enter the name of ReportServer (TCP on port 80).
Select Finish.
Restart the computer.

Next steps

After you open the port, you must grant user access to the report server through role assignments on Home and at the site level. This action is done before confirming whether remote users can access the report server on the opened port. You can open a port correctly and still have report server connections fail if users don't have sufficient permissions. For more information, see Grant user access to a report server.

You can also verify that the port is opened correctly by starting the web portal on a different computer. For more information, see The web portal of a report server.

Configure a firewall for report server access

Prerequisites

Open ports in Windows Firewall

Open port 80

Next steps

See also

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