SSRS 2008 - caching data used by multiple reports - sql-server

I am using SQL Server Reporting Services 2008. I have one dataset which is shared among several reports--each report groups or formats data differently. Is it possible to configure things so that the data is pulled from SQL Server when one of these reports is built and then cached within SSRS for a configurable period of time? Assume that I can select against database tables but can not create objects.

Here's another option, which although complex, might fit your requirements.
Have all of the reports use an XML data source. Then create that XML datasource as an ASP.Net web page or web service. Configure and use SQL Cache Dependency to control when the database would be queried again.
Now, any time any one of the reports asks for the data it will be cached in your "middle tier".

Unfortunately no.
Your main option would be to investigate "Report Snapshots" to explicitly cache the report (and indirectly the data)
Otherwise:
You could change the reports to have a lot of conditional formatting etc so you only have one report. Some caching will happen automatically per user session, but not much
Use the ReportViewer control in local processing mode, using ASP.NET to cache data

You can now in SSRS 2008 R2:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms170438.aspx - Shared DataSets
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms155927.aspx - Report Caching in Reporting Services
Go SQL!

Related

SSRS Reports transferred to different server

I have several SSRS reports that need to be transferred to another server. Currently, all reports and SSRS reside on the same exact server as SSMS and all databases. I was wondering if there is a simple way to essentially take everything I have on SSRS (All Reports) and transfer them along with their data sources to the new server that I have. I know downloading all reports and uploading them to the new server is an option but I was wondering if their is an easier/more logical way to go about this process. After completion, SSRS and the SQL Server will be on different servers but still able to work together.
I have had really great experiences with an old (2007) program called "SSRS Scripter" (from Jasper Smith). It seems like it has been absorbed into a newer product called SqlServerFineBuild (which I have never used). The original stuff is a little hard to find, but very nice to work-with, imo.
Microsoft also has another product called Reporting Services Migration Tool (free) https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=29560 It is a command-line util and isn't the easiest or most-helpful. It has a UI-mode, but it isn't very user-friendly.
Both of these will only extract report files and settings from an existing site. You still need to use VStudio (+ reporting add-in) (and then some RS project work/design/config) to re-deploy.

How to access the data base behind IBM Cognos Report Studio

We are using the IBM Cognos Report Studio for Making the Reports.
And we have 1000s of reports developed and using.
Now i need to fetch all the SQL queries written in these 1000+ reports.
For that at present i am opening the report studio for each individual report and getting the query.
But it is very tedious job and taking months to get all the SQLs in these 1000+ reports.
So i am looking for a way to get all these queries from database behind Cognos studio.
Does these report parameters (including the SQL) store in a Database or only in Contentstore?
If it store in DB then is it possible to access the Report Studio in a Database tool like Oracle SQL Developer?
So that i can fetch all the SQLs in one shot from the database table.
Thanks for the help!
My experience migrating from one reporting product to another is like what you are asking. I think I had 7000 reports that I was aware of plus many reports sitting on workstation hard drives. At some point along the way we realized that the new product had different features than the old one, so report redesign was a good option in most cases. It took 18 months once we actually started working on the reports. That was to replace the 700 "standard" reports. Users were on their own (with support from IT and subject matter experts) for their custom work. I now have about 19,000 reports in Cognos.
Except where the report developer wrote SQL in a SQL object in the Queries area, Cognos reports do not contain SQL code. Cognos generates the SQL at runtime based on the report spec and user interaction (what parameters they set, what page the opened, etc.). Short of writing your own report spec parser, duplicating the work that Cognos does for you, there is no way I know of to generate the SQL.
One possibility: I haven't dug too deeply into the Cognos SDK. There may be a method there to generate the SQL for each report. Then you can do it automatically. Be aware that for thousands of reports you'll want to run this process during non-work hours. It could run for hours and may use a lot of resources.
Another possibility: Turn on native query logging (Cognos Administration | System | All dispatchers | | Set properties | Settings | Logging | Check the boxes for "Audit the native query..."). Then have a person, a product like those from Motio, or a Cognos SDK program you create yourself run every report. Then you can get the SQL from the Audit database. Of course, the problem here is answering prompts. It will probably take a person to run these.
To add two columns to a list, or two data elements to a report or page header or footer, or two filters (I don't know what you mean by "clause"), you'll want to use the Cognos SDK.
Choose relevant examples of different types of reports.
Examine the XML report spec for each of those reports.
Determine how to identify where the new element should appear in the XML.
Write a program (probably in C# or Java) to use the SDK to...
inspect every report in your environment.
determine which pattern the report fits.
add the data elements.
save the report.

Concentrating multiple MS SQL Servers into one

I have an interesting SQL challenge. I have multiple satellite (potentially in the 100s) of MS SQL express Servers that I need to concentrate into one central SQL Server. The satellite servers are basically logging transactions that occur, basically the usage of a material at a particular time. The central SQL Server will be used for reporting summary reports (e.g the amount of material used per day etc), rather than holding the full data set from each machine. I have a couple of ideas in mind of how to do this (using linked servers on the central server with a view on each satellite server is one, and a SQL task that periodically refreshes the data ). What I am not sure is how would that scale up when I am using multiple satellite servers, what would be the best solution performance wise ?
You can simply use the linked server queries. (format: server_name.database_name.schema_name.table_name)
Since your expectation is only to generate summary reports, you can create the required view / procedure definitions inside this one central SQL server without storing the data from different servers into it.

SQL web Reporting from multiple databases

Firstly let me start by letting you know that I am new to SQL reports. What I have is 2 independent customers, each have the same database structure, just on different SQL database machines.
What I want to do is create a reporting suite and have the customers use this so that they can run the reports from there own databases.
How is it best to do this
Thanks you in advance
Alpesh
You can serve reports via SSRS from a central server.
For each user you can use different data sources behind like two different report folders containing same rdl's but data source object mapping to own data

How to build database reports using multiple remote databases

Does anyone have experience building database reports - doesn't matter which database - i just want design ideas - for a system that is made up of many separate, but identical databases?
I cannot "combine" all databases into one. They must be separate.
But the structure is identical across all databases...
I need to build a web interface that will allow a user to get a "global" report that will query all databases and build one combined report.
Do you have any comments on how the model would look like? or anything you think i need to beware of?
Thanks.
I don't have first hand experience with cross database reports, my experience comes from a product the company i work for sells which can create reports from multiple databases, from your description i believe you require something of the "combine" tables kind, in this case i recommend you to detect the tables used in the query, and unify them in a single temporary intermediary database, for example Access, SQL Server CE or SQLite and then run the query against this temporary database or table.
If your databases are Microsoft SQL Server, then using SQL Server Reporting Services seems like a good solution. The software for the report generation / display is bundled along with the database software.
It gives you a web interface, where you can configure 'data sources' from any number of remote databases, and combine data from these sources into reports. It is user friendly and you can do all the report design / configuration through the web interface without having to write any code.
some references :
Building report using SQL Server stored procedure
http://blog.hoegaerden.be/2009/11/10/reporting-on-data-from-stored-procedures-part-1/

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