Server Deployment Checklist

This topic describes steps for deploying Report Server. Following these steps can help you avoid errors that occur when a system is not correctly configured or fully deployed.

Before You Install

Before you run Setup.exe, you must have a Web server, an instance of SQL Server, and several accounts that can be used by SQL Server Reporting Services server components. The computers that you choose must satisfy minimum software and hardware requirements. For more information, see Hardware and Software Requirements for Installing SQL Server 2005.

• Decide on a Web server and Web site to host the report server. It can be any server that runs Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) 5.0 or a later version. You can use any Web site. Reporting Services requirements for URL access are on the virtual directories that provide access to the report server and Report Manager.
• Enable ASP.NET on the Web server. To do this on Windows Server 2003, click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and select Manage Your Server to add the Application Server role to the computer.
• Decide on an instance of SQL Server to host the report server database. You can use a local or remote instance of SQL Server. You should choose an instance that is on a computer that has the storage capacity to accommodate your reports. For more information about the disk space requirements, see Report Server Database Requirements. For more information about edition requirements for the Database Engine instance used, see Creating a Report Server Database.
• Verify that the instance of SQL Server that hosts the report server database is physically secure. A malicious user who gains access to the report server database and has permission to change the content or modify the schema is a serious security risk.
• Create or identify the accounts used in a report server deployment. You must have service accounts for the Web service and Windows service, and credentials for connecting to the report server database. For more information, see Connections and Accounts in a Reporting Services Deployment.

Run Setup

After you have decided on which servers to use and know which accounts you want to specify for each service, you are ready to run Setup.exe. You run Setup on the Web server that hosts the Reporting Services server-side components. For more information about running Setup, see Installing SQL Server Reporting Services.

After Setup Completes

On the report server computer, follow these steps after setup is finished to complete the deployment:

• Open port 80 in Microsoft Windows Firewall to enable incoming requests over port 80. If you installed Reporting Services on Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack, HTTP requests over port 80 are blocked by default. To open port 80, do the following:
  1. Click Start, point to Control Panel, click Windows Firewall, click Exceptions, and then click Add Port.
  2. In Name, type Web Server (TCP 80).
  3. In Port number, type 80.
  4. For the protocol, select TCP.
  5. Click OK.
     To confirm that the Web server is available, open a browser window and type http://<webservername>. If you opened the port successfully, the default Web page appears.
     To support remote administration of a report server, you must make additional modifications to Windows Firewall settings. For more information, see Configuring a Report Server for Remote Administration.
• (Optional) Run the SQL Server Surface Area Configuration tool to make some Web and Windows service features unavailable. You can prevent scheduled operations and Web service calls. Removing these features can significantly reduce the scope of operations for a report server.
• (Optional) Install Oracle client tools on the report server if your reports use the Microsoft .NET Framework Data Provider for Oracle. After you install the client tools, you must restart IIS. To support subscriptions to reports that use Oracle data sources, you must grant permissions to the NetworkService account. For more information, see https://support.microsoft.com/kb/870668.
• (Optional) Install the .NET Framework Data Provider for Teradata version 12.00.00.01 to create report models based on a Teradata database. For more information, see Configuring Reporting Services for Teradata-based Report Models.
• On the instance of SQL Server that is hosting the report server database, verify that the SQL Server Agent service is running. SQL Server Agent must be running before users define subscriptions and other scheduled operations. Use the SQL Server Surface Area Configuration tool to enable SQL Server Agent.
• Start the Reporting Services Configuration tool and connect to the report server that you just installed. If you installed a default configuration, you can use the tool to verify that the report server is configured. If you installed a files-only installation, you must specify virtual directories, accounts, and a report server database.
  Step through the pages in the Reporting Services Configuration tool to configure accounts, the report server database, and other settings.
• Back up the symmetric key that supports encryption on a report server. For more information, see Backing Up and Restoring Encryption Keys.
• Ping the Report Server Web service to make sure it is running. In a browser window, type https://localhost/reportserver. You should also verify that Report Manager is running. In a browser window, type https://localhost/reports. This is the virtual directory for Report Manager.
• (Optional) Enable My Reports to give users personal folders for storing and managing individual reports. For more information, see Enabling and Disabling My Reports.
• (Optional) Disable client-side printing if you do not want to provide this feature. Client-side printing is enabled by default. For more information, see Configuring Client-Side Printing for Reporting Services.
• (Optional) Review the configuration files to make unavailable any rendering presentation formats that you do not want to use. Because Reporting Services is designed for Web-based reporting, reports are initially rendered in HTML. Users can view on-demand reports in another format. You can restrict the rendering extensions that are available by removing them from the configuration files. You might also want to customize report server e-mail delivery settings, set limits on the number of open connections, or adjust memory limits. For more information, see Reporting Services Configuration Files and Specifying Rendering Extension Parameters in Configuration Files.
• (Optional) View or modify memory limits for the Report Server Web service or Windows service. By default, both services are tuned for optimal performance. For more information about the default settings, see Configuring Available Memory for Reporting Services.
• Create role assignments to grant report server access to other users. Generally, for each group or user, you should create a pair of role assignments: one for system access and a second one to access items in the report server folder namespace. For more information and step-by-step instruction, see Tutorial: Setting Permissions in Reporting Services and Managing Permissions and Security for Reporting Services.
• (Optional) On a domain controller, create entries for multiple domain name servers that can be used by the Report Scheduling and Delivery Processor if there is a denial of service attack on an external server (such as an e-mail server) that is the recipient of report delivery. This step is not required, but it mitigates a possible security threat by giving the report server an alternative way of delivering reports if the primary Domain Name System (DNS) server is unavailable.

See Also

Concepts

Planning a Reporting Services Deployment
Deployment Modes for Reporting Services
Administering Reporting Services
Reporting Services Component Overview
Report Deployment Checklist

Other Resources

Deploying Reporting Services
URL Access

Help and Information

Getting SQL Server 2005 Assistance

Change History