Reporting Services Mode

I need to do an asp.net application that has reports and Forms Authentication
(no windows authentication). I have absolutely NO need for centralized
reports or load balancing.
On my last project I used sql05 reports within asp.net vs05 on a win03/32bit
server and used LOCAL reports.
The good things
Software configuration management was easy because the reports were local.
The bad things
Rendering in Firefox/mozilla - was very very very poor
Report features for browsers other than IE was poor (searching bookmarks)
Exporting large reports >20 meg - crashes IIS
Would the bad things get better if I:
1. Put in links from my asp.net app to the reporting services web site
or
2. Use the asp.net reportviewer but link to reports on the reporting
services server.
As I see it
Doing 1 or 2 would involve some new security; I would like to use my
applications FormAuthentication, which is not against Windows accounts.
Doing 1 or 2 would complicate my software configuration management.
Doing 1 or 2 would complicate my development and deployment infrastructure.
Doing 1 would degrade the look and feel of my application.
Would doing all the extra work involved with 1 or 2, reduce crashing or
improve rendering in Firefox? I don't understand what the real-physical
differences are between running local or on Report Server, other than
distributing the load. I also don't understand why you lose some export
modes when running local reports, but suspect it has to do with licensing.
Your suggestions are appreciated.
thanks,
p.s. I am upgrading the OS to win03 64bit to reduce IIS crashing during
export.Hello Chunk,
The report viewer control Browser Compatiblity with firefox will be
improved in the Visual Studio .Net 2005 SP1.
If you have any specific issue with Firefox, you could send your feedback
to the product team:
http://connect.microsoft.com/
As for the export type, this is by design. Also, you could send your
feedback to the product team if you have any suggestion.
Sincerely,
Wei Lu
Microsoft Online Community Support
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==================================================(This posting is provided "AS IS", with no warranties, and confers no
rights.)|||Is there any difference in rendering between local reports and reports
servered off of the Report Server?|||Hello Chunk,
The main difference between the local processing mode and remote processing
mode is that in local processing mode, your application will retrieve and
render the report while in remote mode, report server will retrieve and
render the report.
You could refer this article for more detailed information:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnsql90/htm
l/integratrsapp.asp
Sincerely,
Wei Lu
Microsoft Online Community Support
==================================================
When responding to posts, please "Reply to Group" via your newsreader so
that others may learn and benefit from your issue.
==================================================This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.|||This question came up because one of our developers went through a really bad
time with the Report Viewer control and Firefox. She believes the
ReportViewer Control is evil and we should just give links to the reports
hosted on the Report Server so we don't have to use the Report Viewer.
If we did this some of our asp.net apps would loose their look and feel
because the reports would no longer be embedded. Personally, I don't think
it would render any different. The article you referenced didn't really get
that technical on the rendering of embedded reports.
"Wei Lu [MSFT]" wrote:
> Hello Chunk,
> The main difference between the local processing mode and remote processing
> mode is that in local processing mode, your application will retrieve and
> render the report while in remote mode, report server will retrieve and
> render the report.
> You could refer this article for more detailed information:
> http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnsql90/htm
> l/integratrsapp.asp
>
> Sincerely,
> Wei Lu
> Microsoft Online Community Support
> ==================================================> When responding to posts, please "Reply to Group" via your newsreader so
> that others may learn and benefit from your issue.
> ==================================================> This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
>|||Before going to using links you better test. I think firefox has problems
with reports period, regardless of how you do it.
Bruce Loehle-Conger
MVP SQL Server Reporting Services
"Chuck P" <Chuck@.newsgroup.nospam> wrote in message
news:7454D820-CBDD-4BED-A8E7-6BC0DADE2E69@.microsoft.com...
> This question came up because one of our developers went through a really
> bad
> time with the Report Viewer control and Firefox. She believes the
> ReportViewer Control is evil and we should just give links to the reports
> hosted on the Report Server so we don't have to use the Report Viewer.
> If we did this some of our asp.net apps would loose their look and feel
> because the reports would no longer be embedded. Personally, I don't
> think
> it would render any different. The article you referenced didn't really
> get
> that technical on the rendering of embedded reports.
>
>
> "Wei Lu [MSFT]" wrote:
>> Hello Chunk,
>> The main difference between the local processing mode and remote
>> processing
>> mode is that in local processing mode, your application will retrieve and
>> render the report while in remote mode, report server will retrieve and
>> render the report.
>> You could refer this article for more detailed information:
>> http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnsql90/htm
>> l/integratrsapp.asp
>>
>> Sincerely,
>> Wei Lu
>> Microsoft Online Community Support
>> ==================================================>> When responding to posts, please "Reply to Group" via your newsreader so
>> that others may learn and benefit from your issue.
>> ==================================================>> This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
>> rights.
>>|||That was my guess. I would imagine the rendering dll would be the same on
the Report Server or locally. However, it can't be identical because you get
less output options if you render locally.|||Hello Chunk,
If you could provide some detailed information about what error or what
behavior that you could not get the report render correctly in the FireFox,
I will be appreciated.
Sincerely,
Wei Lu
Microsoft Online Community Support
==================================================
When responding to posts, please "Reply to Group" via your newsreader so
that others may learn and benefit from your issue.
==================================================This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.|||Most of them are described in MSDN community forums.
Search on ReportViewer and FireFox
http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/Search/Search.aspx?words=firefox&searchKey=&lcid=1033&searchscope=forumscope&siteid=1&ForumID=75&ForumGroupID=-1&GoButton=+Go+
The HyperLinkTarget failure is bad:
http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=333437&SiteID=1
If you have links in the report, without a target=_self, if you place a
href in the report the link will open in the iframe of the report viewer.
This only true for pages after the inital page page 1 the viewer behaves
properly.
Shrinking tables (use a hidden textbox) is widely discussed
http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=248271&SiteID=1
There is a good article on the code project on how to place the viewer for
better rendering.
http://www.codeproject.com/sqlrs/ReportViewer2005.asp
ToolBar Display Issue:
http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=354888&SiteID=1
Would be great to get a KB article that would document all the issues/work
arounds in one place!|||Hello Chuck,
Thanks for the feedback. Since the compatibility of FireFox for reporting
service will be improved in the Visual Studio .Net 2005 SP1, the product
team will provide some KB article together with SP1 release.
You could download the beta version and try to test do those issue resolved.
Here is the download url for Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 Beta
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=8D702463-674B-4978-
9E22-C989130F6553&displaylang=en
Sincerely,
Wei Lu
Microsoft Online Community Support
==================================================
When responding to posts, please "Reply to Group" via your newsreader so
that others may learn and benefit from your issue.
==================================================This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.|||Hi ,
How is everything going? Please feel free to let me know if you need any
assistance.
Sincerely,
Wei Lu
Microsoft Online Community Support
==================================================
When responding to posts, please "Reply to Group" via your newsreader so
that others may learn and benefit from your issue.
==================================================This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Reporting Services Forms Authentication in a Server Farm environme

Hello,
I am trying to set up SQL Server Reporting Services in a dual server
environment. There are two machines, app01 and app02, each running the
Report Manager and the Report Server. These two machines sit behind a
context switch, so that you may type in a virtual address such as
"www.reports.com" and the request will be redirected to one of the two
machines.
At the moment, I am simply trying to get the Forms Authentication example
that you can install along with SQL Server 2005 to work. I have been able to
get the example to work on each machine individually. In other words, if you
use your browser to go to the report server directly, the login page is
displayed and upon successful authentication, the user is redirected to the
Report Manager. However, when I attempt to access the application from the
virtual URL, I recieve the logon page an can never get past it. I am not
exactly sure what is happening, but when I fill in a valid username and
password and submit, I am redirected to the exact same page.
I checked the log files on the machine and I would image that this error
message is evidence of the problem I am having
3wp!ui!5!8/30/2007-11:23:04:: i INFO: Overwriting existing cookie
w3wp!ui!5!8/30/2007-11:23:04:: e ERROR: The report server is not responding.
Verify that the report server is running and can be accessed from this
computer.
w3wp!ui!5!8/30/2007-11:23:04:: e ERROR: HTTP status code --> 500
--Details--
Microsoft.ReportingServices.UI.Global+RSWebServiceWrapper+CantCommunicateWithReportServerException:
The report server is not responding. Verify that the report server is running
and can be accessed from this computer.
at
Microsoft.ReportingServices.UI.Global.RSWebServiceWrapper.GetSecureMethods()
at
Microsoft.SqlServer.ReportingServices2005.RSConnection.IsSecureMethod(String
methodname)
at
Microsoft.SqlServer.ReportingServices2005.RSConnection.ValidateConnection()
at
Microsoft.ReportingServices.UI.ReportingPage.EnsureHttpsLevel(HttpsLevel
level)
at Microsoft.ReportingServices.UI.ReportingPage.ReportingPage_Init(Object
sender, EventArgs args)
at System.EventHandler.Invoke(Object sender, EventArgs e)
at System.Web.UI.Control.OnInit(EventArgs e)
at System.Web.UI.Page.OnInit(EventArgs e)
at System.Web.UI.Control.InitRecursive(Control namingContainer)
at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean
includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint)
I do not know how to resolve this issue. Advice would be greatly appreciated.
--
TristanHi All,
We are having a similar problem. Has anyone found out a way around this.
I suspect its related to cookies and the domain etc they are attached to but
have not been
able to find a way around this problem yet?
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
Rick
"Tristan" wrote:
> Hello,
> I am trying to set up SQL Server Reporting Services in a dual server
> environment. There are two machines, app01 and app02, each running the
> Report Manager and the Report Server. These two machines sit behind a
> context switch, so that you may type in a virtual address such as
> "www.reports.com" and the request will be redirected to one of the two
> machines.
> At the moment, I am simply trying to get the Forms Authentication example
> that you can install along with SQL Server 2005 to work. I have been able to
> get the example to work on each machine individually. In other words, if you
> use your browser to go to the report server directly, the login page is
> displayed and upon successful authentication, the user is redirected to the
> Report Manager. However, when I attempt to access the application from the
> virtual URL, I recieve the logon page an can never get past it. I am not
> exactly sure what is happening, but when I fill in a valid username and
> password and submit, I am redirected to the exact same page.
> I checked the log files on the machine and I would image that this error
> message is evidence of the problem I am having
> 3wp!ui!5!8/30/2007-11:23:04:: i INFO: Overwriting existing cookie
> w3wp!ui!5!8/30/2007-11:23:04:: e ERROR: The report server is not responding.
> Verify that the report server is running and can be accessed from this
> computer.
> w3wp!ui!5!8/30/2007-11:23:04:: e ERROR: HTTP status code --> 500
> --Details--
> Microsoft.ReportingServices.UI.Global+RSWebServiceWrapper+CantCommunicateWithReportServerException:
> The report server is not responding. Verify that the report server is running
> and can be accessed from this computer.
> at
> Microsoft.ReportingServices.UI.Global.RSWebServiceWrapper.GetSecureMethods()
> at
> Microsoft.SqlServer.ReportingServices2005.RSConnection.IsSecureMethod(String
> methodname)
> at
> Microsoft.SqlServer.ReportingServices2005.RSConnection.ValidateConnection()
> at
> Microsoft.ReportingServices.UI.ReportingPage.EnsureHttpsLevel(HttpsLevel
> level)
> at Microsoft.ReportingServices.UI.ReportingPage.ReportingPage_Init(Object
> sender, EventArgs args)
> at System.EventHandler.Invoke(Object sender, EventArgs e)
> at System.Web.UI.Control.OnInit(EventArgs e)
> at System.Web.UI.Page.OnInit(EventArgs e)
> at System.Web.UI.Control.InitRecursive(Control namingContainer)
> at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean
> includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint)
>
> I do not know how to resolve this issue. Advice would be greatly appreciated.
> --
> Tristan|||Hi,
I have since resolved the problem I was having. I don't know if this
solution will work for your situation, but its simple enough to try, so it is
probably worth a shot.
The dual app servers that we are using are sitting behind a "round-robin"
switch hosted at something like www.reports.com. The switch will redirect
any given request to either www.reports1.com or www.reports2.com, and it does
so randomly.
The fix that I employed involded going to the "host" file on both of the
machines and mapping all requests to the local machine back out to the
virtual url (www.reports.com). In other words I added these entries to the
host files of the two different machines:
machine 1:
127.0.0.1 www.reports.com
machine 2:
127.0.0.1 www.reports.com
The host file is typically located at %SystemRoot%\system32\drivers\etc\
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Host_file for other common locations.
Hope this helps.
-Tristan
--
Tristan
"XtremeGod" wrote:
> Hi All,
> We are having a similar problem. Has anyone found out a way around this.
> I suspect its related to cookies and the domain etc they are attached to but
> have not been
> able to find a way around this problem yet?
> Any help would be appreciated.
> Thanks
> Rick
> "Tristan" wrote:
> > Hello,
> >
> > I am trying to set up SQL Server Reporting Services in a dual server
> > environment. There are two machines, app01 and app02, each running the
> > Report Manager and the Report Server. These two machines sit behind a
> > context switch, so that you may type in a virtual address such as
> > "www.reports.com" and the request will be redirected to one of the two
> > machines.
> >
> > At the moment, I am simply trying to get the Forms Authentication example
> > that you can install along with SQL Server 2005 to work. I have been able to
> > get the example to work on each machine individually. In other words, if you
> > use your browser to go to the report server directly, the login page is
> > displayed and upon successful authentication, the user is redirected to the
> > Report Manager. However, when I attempt to access the application from the
> > virtual URL, I recieve the logon page an can never get past it. I am not
> > exactly sure what is happening, but when I fill in a valid username and
> > password and submit, I am redirected to the exact same page.
> >
> > I checked the log files on the machine and I would image that this error
> > message is evidence of the problem I am having
> >
> > 3wp!ui!5!8/30/2007-11:23:04:: i INFO: Overwriting existing cookie
> > w3wp!ui!5!8/30/2007-11:23:04:: e ERROR: The report server is not responding.
> > Verify that the report server is running and can be accessed from this
> > computer.
> > w3wp!ui!5!8/30/2007-11:23:04:: e ERROR: HTTP status code --> 500
> > --Details--
> > Microsoft.ReportingServices.UI.Global+RSWebServiceWrapper+CantCommunicateWithReportServerException:
> > The report server is not responding. Verify that the report server is running
> > and can be accessed from this computer.
> >
> > at
> > Microsoft.ReportingServices.UI.Global.RSWebServiceWrapper.GetSecureMethods()
> >
> > at
> > Microsoft.SqlServer.ReportingServices2005.RSConnection.IsSecureMethod(String
> > methodname)
> >
> > at
> > Microsoft.SqlServer.ReportingServices2005.RSConnection.ValidateConnection()
> >
> > at
> > Microsoft.ReportingServices.UI.ReportingPage.EnsureHttpsLevel(HttpsLevel
> > level)
> >
> > at Microsoft.ReportingServices.UI.ReportingPage.ReportingPage_Init(Object
> > sender, EventArgs args)
> >
> > at System.EventHandler.Invoke(Object sender, EventArgs e)
> >
> > at System.Web.UI.Control.OnInit(EventArgs e)
> >
> > at System.Web.UI.Page.OnInit(EventArgs e)
> >
> > at System.Web.UI.Control.InitRecursive(Control namingContainer)
> >
> > at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean
> > includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint)
> >
> >
> > I do not know how to resolve this issue. Advice would be greatly appreciated.
> >
> > --
> > Tristan