Managing Report Server Content

In Reporting Services, content management refers to the management of reports, models, folders, resources, and shared data sources. All these items can be managed independently of each other through properties and security settings. Any item can be moved to a different location in the report server folder namespace. To manage items effectively, you need to know which tools to use and the tasks that a content manager performs.

Note

Content management is different from server administration. For more information about how to manage the environment in which a report server runs, see Administering Reporting Services and Deploying Reporting Services.

Content management includes the following tasks:

  • Securing the report server site and items by applying the role-based security provided with Reporting Services.
  • Structuring the report server folder hierarchy by adding, modifying, and deleting folders.
  • Setting defaults and properties that apply to items managed by the report server. For example, you can set baseline maximum values that determine report history storage policies.
  • Creating shared data source items that can be used in place of report-specific data source connections. A publisher or content manager can select a data source that is different from the one originally defined for a report; for example, to replace a reference to a test database with a reference to a production database.
  • Creating data-driven subscriptions that generate recipient lists by retrieving data from a data store.
  • Balancing report-processing demands that are placed on the server by scheduling report processing and specifying which ones can be run on demand and which ones are loaded from cache.

Management tasks are organized into two predefined roles: System Administrator and Content Manager. By default, a user who is a local system administrator is automatically assigned to both roles. He or she can assign additional users to either role to delegate management responsibilities. For more information about these predefined roles, see System Administrator Role and Content Manager Role.

To manage report server content, you can use Management Studio or Report Manager. Management Studio allows you to connect to and manage multiple report servers simultaneously within a single workspace. It also provides script functionality, and organizes managed content and other objects hierarchically. Report Manager is a Web-based user interface to a single report server. It supports most of the functionality that Management Studio supports for Reporting Services. Each Report Manager connects to one report server (you cannot easily switch between report servers). The primary advantage of using Report Manager is convenience; you can open it in a browser window from any computer in your network domain.

In This Section

  • Managing Reports
    Provides information about managing reports, resources, report history, and the My Reports folder.
  • Managing Models
    Provides information about managing the models used for building ad hoc reports.
  • Managing Folders
    Explains how to create, modify, and delete folders, and how to add items to a folder.

See Also

Concepts

Administering Reporting Services
Report Manager

Other Resources

Deploying Reporting Services
Managing and Working With Published Reports
Introducing SQL Server Management Studio
Accessibility Issues in Reporting Services

Help and Information

Getting SQL Server 2005 Assistance