Denny Lee, Senior Program ManagerSQL Customer Advisory Team - Microsoft Corporation

New England Data Camp v1.0

It is all about the data!

Learn how to ensure a predictable Reporting Services deployment in your environment

Learn about the following as relates to Reporting Services

Backup/restore

Security/authorization

Scale/performance/high availability

Upgrade

Approach

Provide the technical knowledge needed to make sound decisions

Provide lessons learned from Real Customers

Thanks to Lukasz Pawlowski - SSRS

Works on the largest, most complex SQL Server projects worldwide

US: NASDAQ, Progressive, Premier Bankcard, Hilton Hotels

Europe: Barclays Capital, Danske Bank, McLaren, Bwin

Asia/Pacific: Korea Telecom, GMarket, Japan Railways East, China Mobile

LATAM: Banco Itau, Oi

Strategic ISVs: SAP, Siebel, JDE, PeopleSoft, GE Healthcare, SunGard, Siemens, Dynamics and more

Drives product requirements back into SQL Server from our customers and ISVs

Shares deep technical content with SQL Server community SQLCAT.com http://blogs.msdn.com/sqlcat http://blogs.msdn.com/mssqlisv

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sqlserver/bb331794.aspx

IT Pros who are new to Reporting Services Examples of how to use Reporting Services

Understanding architecture & deployments

Provide the knowledge building blocks needed to understand Reporting Services

IT Pros with existing deployment of Reporting Services Make SSRS more efficient and predictable

Learn from others

Validate your work

Fill in any gaps in your knowledge of how SSRS works Slide deck that is a valuable reference tool

Contains many tips & tricks Detailed understanding of SSRS = sleep better at night

• Reporting Services 101

• Backup/Restore

• Security

• Monitoring and Planning

• Deployment Topology

• Upgrade

• Tribal Knowledge

People lack understanding of BI solutions Need to understand key requirements of the user

base▪ E.g. ‘…they replaced pivots with SSRS, and then stumbled

during deployment…’

Business Intelligence quick guide Managed & Ad-hoc Reports = Reporting Services

Dashboards = Windows SharePoint Services▪ Use SSRS, Excel Services, PPS to provide content

Scorecards = Performance Point Server (PPS)

Analysts = Pivots = Excel Services

Report Server

SQL Server Catalog

Report Engine

Scheduling & DeliveryRendering

Data Processing Security Delivery Targets(E-mail, SharePoint, Custom)

Security Services

Output Formats

Data Sources

RDCE

Customized RDL

Custom Report ItemCustom

Visualization

SSMSReport

Viewer

Web Service Proxy

Report Viewer

Web Part

SharePoint

Web Services & URL Access

Client Application Report Server

Publishing

CreateReport

RDL

Compiled Definition

Managed Properties

Report Catalog

RDL

Compiled Definition

Managed Properties

RDL

Client Application Report Server Report Catalog

RSDB

Report

MetadataRDL

Compiled Definition

Managed Properties

Client Application Report Server Report Catalog

RSDB

RSTempDB

Report

Metadata

Session

Session

Compiled Definition

“Get & Run

Report”

Execution Snapshot

Report Data

Report Data

Word/Excel/

HTML/PDF

WMI Report Server Report Catalog

SSRS WMI Provider

IIS/HTTP.SYS

Config Files

SSRS Configuration

Manager

Setup

Client Application Report Server Report Catalog

RSDB

UserNamePassword

Connection StringSecret

Symmetric

Key (SK)

Service

Credentials (C1)

Public Key,

(PubK1)

Private Key

(PriK1)

PubK1(SK)

SK(Secret)

Importance Items to Backup

Critical • Report Server Databases• Symmetric Key• SharePoint Databases• Custom Extensions

Important • Configuration Files• RSTempDB• IIS Settings for RS 2005

Nice to Have • RDLs• SSL Certificates

Standard backup/restore SQL database techniques

Don’t forget to backup your SharePoint databases as well!

Configuration files

Recover by COPYING settings into default .config files Use RS Configuration Tool or WMI to recover:

▪ RSDB connection information (stored encrypted)▪ URL & SSL Settings (stored also in HTTP.SYS)

Symmetric Key Encrypts report data source settings Use Report Services Configuration Tool or rskeymgmt.exe to

backup/restore Keep backup in secure place and do not forget the password!

Rsreportserver.configRswebapplication.configReportingservicesservice.exe.configWeb.config (for RS & RM)

Rssvrpolicy.configRsmgrpolicy.configMachine.config

Start with focusing on data security Do not expose sensitive data in data centers Expose the minimum set of data required Audit data access

Report data sources Be careful which credentials are stored in report data sources

▪ Use read-only accounts!▪ We wary of unnecessary use of Windows Integrated▪ Review credentials options to ensure report authors are not abusing user’s credentials

Use Shared Data Sources▪ Control connection strings & credentials▪ Minimize management overhead

Data level security Use Kerberos delegation if you need end to end data security Use User!UserId in reports to identify the user within a report Parameters are not a security mechanism!

Use SSL

Protects report contents & credentials Performance is not an issue

Limit which machines can access your server

Consider IPSec Block undesired IP address ranges

Do not use Anonymous

Identify the abusive users and prevent future abuse Minimally have one user id for each network entry point

Proxies and Authentication Persistence do not mix Disable authentication persistence if using proxies

Watch out for common cross server authentication issues http://support.microsoft.com/kb/871179 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/896861 (Detailed blog post)

User authentication Kerberos is better than NTLM Kerberos requires setting SPNs and is harder to configure

Authentication is extensible ASP.NET Forms authentication sample Any custom authentication scheme is available Consider infrastructure solutions like Forefront or IAG

▪ Implement various authentication protocols (e.g. SSO) Authorization

Use Active Directory groups to minimize churn as users SSRS Security Roles are customizable - make them relevant to your user base Authorization is extensible

Credentials – Lowest Privilege Possible Service Account should be a low privilege domain account Set the Unattended Execution Account

Allow users only the minimal permissions they need Don’t manage reports from the SSRS server box…

Auditing Report Access Use the Execution Log Table (ELT) Copy information from ELT to your own databases Stores the user, report & parameter combination as well as

success/failure

Auditing all operations

Use SSRS Trace Logs with Verbose setting Data Access use data source auditing

Save off Log Files to secure location LogFile location is configurable is SSRS Use a write only location Archive log files so they are not automatically deleted

Keep configuration settings in synch Tools like IIS Manager or Service Control Manager easily

get settings out of synch Use SSRS Configuration Manager or WMI Provider instead Keep a meticulous backup of IIS & ASP.NET settings that

work Extensions & Custom Assemblies Deploying extensions is tricky – back up config files Trust authors; do security reviews

Moving reports between servers RS Scripter is widely used

Log Files▪ Execution Log, Trace Log, HTTP Log, Application Event Logs

Understand your scenarios and reports Scenarios are defined by user personas & usage patterns Reports are either test reports or actual reports Tests should isolate Report Server from other systems

Reports can overload underlying data source Determine which reports are most impactful Optimize these reports – retrieve only required data

Execute Performance Tests – before production! Using Visual Studio 2005 to Perform Load Testing on a SQL Server 2005

Reporting Services Report Server Database tools (SQL Profiler, sqlcmd scripts, SQL Scaler, etc.) Synthetic test tools (e.g. VSTS, Precise Insight, etc.)

Use appropriate execution options for reports Reports run “live” by default Enable caching for frequently run reports Execution Snapshots are often overlooked

▪ Can be scheduled to run in off peak hours

Monitoring Report Server Performance Task Manager, Event Viewer, Performance console Record performance numbers for later follow up Common Analysis

▪ Report by user type – e.g. is the CEO’s report running quickly?▪ Rate of failed reports and aggregate # of failures▪ Low usage reports should be retired▪ Poor performing reports should be optimized ▪ Aborted or internal errors

Windows Performance Counters CPU, Memory, disk space

Performance Counters▪ CPU (total & service usage)▪ I/O (page faults, read/write on disk)▪ Memory utilization (total & service)▪ Network I/O (read/write, send/receive, bandwidth)

RS Performance Objects MSRS 2008 Web Service: monitors RS performance MSRS 2008 Windows Service: monitors scheduled operations and report delivery ReportServer:Service: monitor HTTP-related events and memory management (new) SharePoint Integrated Mode: monitor RS events in SharePoint integrated mode

System Center Operations Manager

Report Catalog (RSDB) contains ExecutionLog and ExecutionLog2 Which reports are long running?

Subscriptions/Interactive?

Live Data or Snapshots?

Balanced?

Patterns for a report

Health of Reports Server Management Report Samples Populates separate tables / database

Provides SSIS package to extract and populate data

Follow instructions to setup schema and create job

Provides three reports for you to view report activity

Most common deployment is One-Box SSRS and SQL Server Relational Engine Great for developing and building something quick (and budget!)

▪ Good performance & scale if not mission critical

But not so good when it comes to production deployments Test environment should be as close to production as possible

Replicate security, configuration, hardware, software, network Clustering / High availability scenarios

Emphasize the need for performance testing Identify bottlenecks (e.g. Report Catalog, large drop downs, large reports, etc.) Do Massive Data volume testing Using Visual Studio 2005 to Perform Load Testing on a SQL Server 2005 Reporting

Services Report Server Protect your underlying data sources!

Reports can cause significant load on report data sources Planning for reporting load up front will save you time

Re

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Flat Files,OLE DB,ODBC

SQL, AS,DB2, Oracle,

Teradata, etc.

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RS Server

Clients

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RSDB

Flat Files,OLE DB,ODBC

SQL, AS,DB2, Oracle,

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RS Server

Report Server

Clients

Clients

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RSDB

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Flat Files,OLE DB,ODBC

SQL, AS,DB2, Oracle,

Teradata, etc.

RS Server

RS Server

RS Server

Report Server

NLB

Clients

Clients

Clients

1

2

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Teradata, etc.

RS Server

RS Server

RS Server

Report Server

Clients

Clients

Clients

1

2

N

1

NLB NLB

App

App

App

RSDB

Content Switch

RSDB

RSDB

SSRSSSRS

Mirro

r Serv

er

SQL Server Cluster

Cisco Global Site Selector (GSS) DNS

SQLNetworkNameA\SQL1Active IP:100.10.56.30

Alias Name = GreenActive IP: 100.10.56.30

100.85.3.10

Connect to: Green\SQL1

SQLHostNameB\SQL1Passive IP:100.85.3.10

DR

Site

Mirroring

Prin

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Applications:1- SharePoint2- SSRS3- BlackBerry4-Citrix Server5-VMware VC

Scalability Remote Report Catalog SSRS 2008 can scale up significantly before needing to scale out

▪ Scale up SSRS 2008 to 16 cores; Scale up SSRS 2005 to 4 cores

Scale-out SSRS 2008 or 2005 to increase throughput▪ Virtualization works well on larger hardware

Scaling Up Reporting Services 2008 vs. Reporting Services 2005: Lessons Learned

High Availability Scale-out Report Server Failover Cluster Report Catalog

Disaster Recovery Scale-out Report Servers to include a DR site

▪ Stop/disable the Report Server services to prevent them doing work

Mirror/Log Ship Report Catalog data to the DR site▪ Will need to manually fail over to this database server▪ Database Mirroring and Log Shipping Working Together

Great for overall portal and collaboration experience Information Workers access reports like any Office document

▪ Reports, data sources, report models are stored in document libraries

▪ Shared security model

▪ Features Supported by Reporting Services in SharePoint Integrated Mode

Supports Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 or Office SharePoint Server 2007

Report Metadata is stored in WSS Content DB Configuration can be a challenge

Read the White Paper: SQL Server Reporting Services integration with SharePoint Products and Technologies

Read the documentation: Configuring Reporting Services

Use Trusted Account mode Allows Windows users to access SharePoint

DOES NOT require Kerberos delegation for the deployment

No loss of functionality if using stored credentials in data sources

Re

po

rt Catalo

g

Rep

ortin

g Data

SSR

SRSDB

Flat Files,OLE DB,ODBC

SQL, AS,DB2, Oracle,

Teradata, etc.

RS Server

Report Server

Clients

Clients

Clients

SharePoint Content &Configuration

RSDB

Shae

reP

oin

tFar

m

NLB NLB

RS ServerWFE

WSS DBs

Custom Application

• Firewalls throughout environment to protect data• Point of entry: custom application• Point of entry: enforce access rights•Internet users can query read-only data replicated and cleansed from original data source•Good reference: Planning for Extranet or Internet Deployment

Pre-Upgrade Check list Upgrade Advisor Backup/Restore encryption keys Backup configuration files Move databases Backup customizations (especially extensions)

SSRS 2008 does not use IIS Upgrade automatically ports IIS settings

All published reports continue to run after an upgrade

RS Catalogs Upgrading SSRS usually means DB schema changes

▪ Before upgrading, plan for roll back▪ Upgrading a Reporting Server Database▪ In a scale-out all servers must be at same patch level

Considerations for Upgrading Reporting Services

Custom extensions Not all are supported Need to re-write custom rendering extensions using new Rendering

Object Model Security and Rendering extensions block upgrade

▪ Unconfigure the extension, upgrade, then reconfigure extension▪ Blocking behavior prevents broken servers after upgrade and unexpected

development costs due to upgrade Inventory & test extensions before upgrade

Save configuration settings for extensions Ensure reports using extensions are actually working Find problems with extension configuration quickly

Move extensions & assemblies after upgrade Major Version upgrade creates a new installation folder Extensions and assemblies are not moved by upgrade

Tips for Saving You Time

Blogs & Resources First steps after install Scripting Report Design Report Parameters Managing Subscriptions

Tips & Tricks

CodePlex – Samples! http://www.codeplex.com/

Blogs http://blogs.msdn.com/sqlrsteamblog/ http://blogs.msdn.com/lukaszp/

www.sqlcat.com MSDN documentation

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb545450.aspx Forums

http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowForum.aspx?ForumID=82&SiteID=1

Connect feedback http://connect.microsoft.com/

SSRS White Papers http://www.microsoft.com/sql/technologies/reporting/whitepapers.mspx

Verify configuration

Use SSRS Configuration Manager to view settings

Provision users Explicitly grant security roles to users on folders Grant Content Manager and System Admin roles

▪ Required on Vista & Windows Server 2008

Ensure browsers are configured correctly on local box Add RS & RM URLs to IE Trusted Sites on SSRS computer

▪ Required for Vista & Windows Server 2008 Add NTLM auto send enabled in FireFox & Safari

Verify SSRS is working View Report Server & Report Manager Create a shared data source Run a report Login as a low privilege user

Execute your backup strategy Symmetric key back up is essential

Rs.exe is the scripting utility for SSRS Executes VB.Net scripts

No need to compile

Exposes the SSRS Web Service endpoints Allows for automating repetitive tasks

Eg. Moving reports from one server to another

Samples

http://www.codeplex.com/MSFTRSProdSamples

Before starting to build reports: Ensure you have the targeted report export formats

identified▪ The design of each report will change how ell it exports to

various render formats

Plan your report logic▪ Build Functions or Custom Assemblies to standardize report

logic▪ Allow you to be operationally efficient

Use parameters and filtering▪ Few generic reports = easier maintenance

Page breaks on hidden items are ignored

Parameter values queries can cause significant load on report data sources Design materialized views that reduce query load Optimize data sets used for parameter values Parameter values queries execute many more times than report queries

Use hidden and internal parameters to validate user input Design a report with parameters A & B; B is hidden/internal Let parameter A be set by the user In the report have all expressions use parameter B Set the value of parameter B based on the value of parameter A

Report Server manages parameter values After a report is deployed, the server stores a copy of parameters and

their values Changing parameter values in Report Designer and re-deploying DOES

NOT update server parameter values

Use the subscription management reports http://blogs.msdn.com/lukaszp/archive/2007/08/01/monitoring-

subcription-status-new-reports.aspx Users will all pick different times to run their subscriptions Ensure your system can handle this load May want to deploy dedicated subscription processing servers

Sometimes need custom scheduler GenerateEvent API can trigger a subscription

▪ Call the method from an SSIS package▪ Build a process to monitor a file location

Build a custom scheduling engine Delivery failures are in the trace logs

In the words of our Customers:

‘SSRS is easy to deploy and out of the box’

‘SSRS 2008 makes deployment easier’

‘Web service provides interoperability’

“If you want to do things not in the box, there are a lot of ways to extend SSRS.”

“Generally, there is a way to accomplish goals”

PASS Community Summit 2008

November 18 – 21, 2008 Seattle WA