Evaluating Reporting Services

  • Hi Guys,

    I have been given the task to evaluate Reporting Services...Hurrah!

    A general question really, what is the best way to go about it?

    By that I mean do I need a dedicated test server or can I load it onto my local machine (I'm using SQL 2K Developer Edition).

    Also I assume my local SQL needs to be service packed to SP3a..is that correct?

    Any other pointers would be greatly appreciated.

    Many Thanks

    Graeme

  • Hi Graeme

    I have recently used Reporting services on a project and I was very impressed. I think Crystal Reports might be losing a few developer users. The biggest difference is that you need Visual Studio .Net to build reports, there are some other third party editors around but they seem to be too expensive for my liking. This meens that normal users would not be able to build their own reports, but I have found that normal users normally have to understand the structure of the DB in any case and normally can't cope with report building.

    You can run Reporting services on you local machine. The only thing is that you have different versions of Reporting Services install CD's for the different versions of SQL 2000 (Standard, Enterprise and Developer). It depends which version of Reporting services you have. The install will create 2 DB's. Now you just need to Open Visual Studio .Net and select the New Project Type that will now be available. Build some reports, deploy and view from a web.

    Use SP3a there is also a srvice pack for Reporting Services available for download from Microsoft.

     

    Happy Reporting!

    Johan

  • Hi Guys,

    Thank you very much for your input.

    It's always good to get advice from those who know.

    I am looking forward to getting my teeth into this.

    Many Thanks again...Graeme

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