Reporting Services Configuration Tool
Use the Reporting Services Configuration tool 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 can be used to configure a local or remote report server instance. You can use the Reporting Services Configuration tool 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 tool 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 tool 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 tool 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 tool 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.
Starting and Using the Reporting Services Configuration Tool
You can open the tool from the SQL Server program group on the report server computer. The tool is version-aware. If you have multiple versions of Reporting Services installed on the same computer, be sure to use the SQL Server 2008 version of the tool to configure a SQL Server 2008 report server. 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.
The Reporting Services Configuration tool is installed automatically when you install Reporting Services. For more information about how to start the tool, see How to: Start Reporting Services Configuration.
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.
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