Reporting Services Report Manager Configuration
This page briefly describes the folder and user configuration that Avectra implements for use with NetForum sites. Avectra's hosting staff will configure servers housed at the hosting data center in accordance with these standards. Premise-based clients who are configuring their own servers for Reporting Services use should also follow the same standards.
Users
You can use Report Manager to set up users and define security for reports. There is no coordination between the security model of Reporting Services and the security model of NetForum. In a dedicated or premise-based environment, users can be managed in Report Manager separately from NetForum , if the use of Report Manager to run reports is intended.
For all NetForum sites configured by Abila, there will be a standard SQL Database User called netforumRSreportuser, which is used by NetForum to execute Reporting Services reports. This user will be a local windows account on the Report Server box. This account will have access to the appropriate Report Manager folders (see next section) as a Content Manager, which is the highest level of security available. This user and its password are identified with the system options ReportWSLoginUserName and ReportWSLoginPassword, respectively. If these system options are left blank, the account used to log into NetForum will be used to run the report. In a dedicated or premise-based environment, a different account may be designated for ReportWSLoginUserName if so desired. The designated account must exist as a account on the report server.
Folders
The screen shot below is from Report Manager, and shows the standard folder setup to support a NetForum site. As you can see, windows folders are not used, but rather a folder system managed by the Report Server within the main database on the Report Server (the one named "ReportServer" by default).
In this example, the folders for a baseline site are shown. Each folder should be named to correspond to the NetForum site which will be using the it. A test site would have a separate folder, and would also have these four subfolders. There is a system option called RSRootClientReportFolder that identifies the name of the root folder for a particular site.
In the Report Setup for each report, the RDL Path field must contain the correct folder location for the "Base Reports" or "Custom Reports" as appropriate for that report. Optionally, subfolders may be set up in the custom reports folder to organize those reports which must also be included in the RDL Path of the reports setup configuration.
Base Reports
This folder contains all baseline reports and is where new and updated reports are placed during upgrades.
Custom Reports
This folder contains all custom reports.
temp_reports
This folder holds temporary report objects which are used to run the report with the appropriate data. Whenever a report is run, any objects older than two days will be removed, up to five objects per report execution. Only Quick Reports require an object to be created in this folder, and the same clean up rules are present as part of running a Quick Report. This folder name is configured in the ReportApplicationRSServerFolder system option.
temp_subscriptions
This folder is included for legacy support only. It is no longer needed. The folder name is configured in the ReportApplicationRSServerSubFolder system option.
Header_Footer_Images
This folder is intended to store image files that may be dynamically displayed on reports. There are 2 system options in NetForum that exist to store the name of image files that would exist in this folder. They are ReportApplicationRSHeaderImagePath and ReportApplicationRSFooterImagePath. When a report is run via NetForum , the page header section of the RDL will be searched for standard image files and replaced by the image noted by the ReportApplicationRSHeaderImagePath system option. The equivalent works for the report's page footer section using the ReportApplicationRSFooterImagePath image file. This function may be turned off at the NetForum report setup level using a checkbox field called .
Report Subscriptions
Reporting Services allows the creation of a report subscription, which will run the report at a specified date/time or on a regular interval and deliver the result to the subscriber via email or place the file in a specified location. NetForum leverages these subscriptions to allow scheduling reports. To be able to create a subscription, the Reporting Services Configuration must have a Sender Email Address and an SMTP Server configured. This information is accessed via the Reporting Services Configuration Manager which is installed on the server running Reporting Services.
Access to Report Manager for Hosted Clients
Shared Environments —Direct client access to Report Manager is not allowed.
Dedicated Environments — Client access to Report Manager is allowed. This provides the ability to deploy reports, manage folders, manage users, and perform many other functions that the Report Manager provides. The one caveat to this is that Reporting Services is installed on the SQL Server, so a VPN or RDC connection would be necessary to run Report Manager, as the hosted SQL Servers do not allow public access. If a client wishes to run Report Manager from their web server, then the purchase of an additional SQL Server license for the web server would be necessary.