Pro SQL Server 2012 Reporting Services

CHAPTER 10  MANAGING REPORTS

If you have two SSRS servers, then moving an SSRS server from one instance to another is simple.
We had two SSRS servers in the test environment, RS05 and HWC04, so the move was easy enough. To
instruct the SSRS service on RS05 to use the SSRS databases on HWC04, we used the command-line
utility rsconfig. The rsconfig command or Reporting Services Configuration Manager is required when
first joining one SSRS Web service to a Web farm that uses the same ReportServer database. The syntax
for the rsconfig command is as follows:

rsconfig -c -s HWC04 -d ReportServer -a SQL -u username -p password

With RS05 using the remote SQL Server database, we initiated another test to see whether the CPU
utilization improved. The CPU utilization improved substantially and was now under the 60 percent
average.

 Note Specific licensing guidelines are available for the SSRS 2012 deployment and the location of the

databases and data sources. For more information, visit http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/en/us/get-sql-

server/licensing.aspx.

Controlling SSRS Programmatically

There are two main methods of controlling SSRS 2012 through code:

• Web services


• Windows Management Interface (WMI)

In the following sections, we’ll give an introductory look at using both of these technologies to
manage reports from code. You’ll use the SOAP API, otherwise known as the Report Server Web service,
to add subscription functionality to the SSRS viewer that you created in Chapter 9. You’ll now extend it
to allow your users to add subscriptions for the reports you’ve developed and deployed so far. This has
two main benefits. First, it allows you to offload some of the processing activity from the SQL Server and
SSRS 2012 server during the day, when they are used most heavily. Second, it saves the executives who
want to receive the reports from spending time navigating to the report server, entering the parameters,
and waiting for the results. Each of the code listings below will be shown in C#, but VB versions are in the
Pro_SSRS project download, available in the Source Code/Download section of the Apress Web site
(www.apress.com).

Controlling SSRS with SOAP

The SSRS 2012 Report Server Web service offers a feature-rich way of interacting with and controlling
your reporting server. Based on SOAP and operating over HTTP, the Report Server Web service is a
simple, yet powerful, way to access the features of the server. In fact, SSRS 2012’s Report Manager is built
using ASP.NET and the SSRS Report Server Web service.
Using the Report Server Web service, you can create custom applications that control all aspects of
the server and cover the entire reporting life cycle:

• Folder and resource management


• Task, role, and policy management