Reporting Services Log Files

A report server uses a variety of log files to record information about server operations and status. Click a link in the following table to view additional information about each log, including its location and how to view its contents.

Log Description

Windows Application Log

The Microsoft Windows Application log contains information about report server events.

Windows Performance logs

The Windows Performance logs contain report server performance data. You can create performance logs, and then choose counters that determine which data to collect. For more information, see Monitoring Report Server Performance.

Reporting Services Trace Logs

Reporting Services trace logs contain very detailed information that is useful if you are debugging an application or investigating an issue or event.

Report Server Execution Log

Report Server execution log contains data about specific reports, including when a report was run, who ran it, where it was delivered, and which rendering format was used.

The execution log is stored in the report server database. For more information about how to access this log, see Querying and Reporting on Report Execution Log Data

Setup log files

Log files are also created during Setup. If Setup fails or succeeds with warnings or other messages, you can examine the log files to troubleshoot the problem. For more information, see How to: View SQL Server 2005 Setup Log Files.

Comparing the Reporting Services Trace Logs and Report Server Execution Log

The trace logs and execution log are used exclusively by Reporting Services. The following table provides a summary of how the log files compare.

File File retention File size How enabled Stored

Report Server Execution Log

Specified through site settings in Report Manager or SQL Server Management Studio. The default is 60 days. Older entries are deleted to make room for new entries. On a mature installation, only 60 days of information will be available at any given time.

Not possible.

Specified through site settings in Report Manager or SQL Server Management Studio. The default is enabled.

In the report server database.

Use the server management sample reports to view log file content.

Reporting Services Trace Logs

Specified through the KeepFilesForDays configuration setting in the RStrace section. This value is set to 14 day by default.

Specified through the FileSizeLimitMb configuration setting in the RStrace section. This value is set to 32 megabytes by default.

You can control file size by setting tracing levels (0 through 4) to control how much content is recorded. You can also specify which components get traced.

If the log file maximum is reached before the 14 day expiration date, older entries will be replaced with newer entries.

Set trace level to 0 to disable tracing. The default is enabled.

On file system in four different log files. Use a text editor to view log file content.

See Also

Concepts

Administering Reporting Services

Other Resources

Deploying Reporting Services
Reporting Services Errors and Events

Help and Information

Getting SQL Server 2005 Assistance

Change History

Release History

12 December 2006

New content:
  • Trace log/Execution log comparison.