SQL Server Reporting Services 2008 Installation

his article is a step-by-step walk through of SSRS 2008 installation on a virtual machine. If you are going to install SSRS on a physical machine, then the steps are still similar and you can benefit from it.

Environment Check List

To follow the steps, you would need to have the following programs installed and configured on your machine:

• Have already setup a virtual machine. I am using VMware with Windows XP as guest operating system (if you need help to do this, read article: How to install VMware Player?)
• Have already installed SQL Server 2008 R2 on your machine (without the Reporting Services)
• Have already created an ISO image from the installation disk
  (If you need help to do this, read article: How to create ISO disk image?)

If you have the above installed and ready, here are the steps:

1. This first thing we need to do is to boot the virtual machine. Once the guest operating system is on, we have to mount the optical disk drive to the ISO image which we have already created and contains the installation files. To do this, right click on the CD icon located on the bottom right of your VMware Player window box and choose Settings:

2. Be default the connection is set to use physical drive. Choose, Use ISO image file and browse to the directory were file is stored then click OK:

3. If the ISO image is connected successfully, you will see the file mounted as your CD drive in My Computer window:

4. Right Click on the CD drive and choose Open to view the content. Browse to the appropriate folder directory (D:\English\SQLServer2008R2\Developer) and double click on the installation file Setup:

5. SQL Server Installation Center will open:

6. From the left menu, choose Installation and then click on New installation or add features:

7. Setup checks if you have the necessary support files. Click OK:

8. Click install:

9. The system checks if you have all the required software dependencies. If any of the rules fail for you, then setup will provide a link which contains further instructions. You have to install the prerequisites software before you can proceed. In this case, all rules passed and we click on Next:

10. Since we are adding the Reporting Services to an existing instance of SQL Server, we will select the second option and click Next:

11. The next window asks to select the new features that we want to add. Select (Tick) Reporting Services & Business Intelligence Development Studio and click Next:

12. Another check. Click Next:

13. Checking Disk Space Requirement. Click Next:

14. Next is server configuration which asks you to associate an Account to use for the Reporting Services. I am choosing SYSTEM (You can also create a separate account), click Next:

15. Choose Install, but do not configure the report server and click Next:

16. If you want to report errors to Microsoft, then tick the box; otherwise, click Next to continue installation:

17. Another check for installation rules. Click Next:

18. Setup is almost ready to proceed with the actual installation. Click Install:

19. Setup is complete and Reporting Services is added.

20. It is time now to configure the Reporting Services. Browse to:
Start > All Programs > Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 > Configuration Tools > Reporting Services Configuration Manager and click on it: (we can also see that SQL Server Business Intelligence Development Studio is installed):

21. You will be asked to connect to the Reporting Services. Click Connect:

22. If the installation is successful, you will be connected. On your left side, there is a menu which you would need to configure few. The first is Service Account, I have left this to the default which is Local Account but as it was mentioned previously, you can specify a separate account. Now go to next, Web Service URL:

23. Under the Web Service URL tab, it is best to leave the Virtual Directory name as defaulted to ReportServer. This is common and widely known. Click on Apply to deploy this configuration.

24. Under Database tab, Reporting Services store all reports and related information in separate database. Since this is the first time, we do not have them. Click on Change Database to create them.

25. Follow the steps in next few screens to create the reporting databases:

26. Now go to the next tab Report Manager URL. Leave the virtual directory as Reports and click on Apply to deploy the configuration. You will see once its done green checks under Results section.

For the purpose of this exercise, I am not going to skip Email Settings but you can add your details there if you want reports to be scheduled and sent to email address. Click on Exit to finish.

27. Finally, there are two important URL which allow us to access the Reporting Services:

http://localhost/Reports(This is where all reports are going to displayed once deployed. It is also the place where users can view and run reports)

http://localhost/ReportServer(This is the location where reports are going to be deployed to)

To check that everything is done correctly and the installation is successful, to test this, open your internet explorer and type the above URL, you should see this:

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Installing And Configuring Windows Deployment Services

In this post we will see how to install and configure Windows Deployment Services. Windows Deployment Services is a technology from Microsoft for network-based installation of Windows operating systems. In windows server 2003 it was called as Remote Installation Services (RIS). The purpose of WDS is to remotely deploy the windows operating systems, Windows Deployment Services role in server 2008 R2 enables you to efficiently deploy Windows operating systems, particularly Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 R2. Windows Deployment Services role can be used to set up new computers through a network-based installation without the IT Professional having to be physically present at each computer and without having to install directly from CD or DVD media.

Lab Setup – I have setup 2 virtual machines, the first virtual machine is installed with Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise SP1 OS and its our domain controller. The second virtual machine is installed with Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise SP1 OS and its our WDS server. The DHCP server role has been installed on the domain controller, this DHCP service will provide IP addresses to the other machines.

On the server where you are installing Windows Deployment Services role, launch the Server Manager, right click on Roles, click on Add Roles. On theServer Roles page, select Windows Deployment Services. Click on Next.

On the Role Services page, the Deployment Server and Transport Server roles are checked by default. Click on Next.

Once the installation is complete click on close.

If you are looking for command line installation of WDS server, then use the below command.

Open the powershell and run the command ServerManagerCmd -install WDS.

Click on Start, click on Administrative Tools, click on Windows Deployment Services. On the WDS console, expand Servers, right click on the WDS server and click on Configure Server.

Read the requirements once before you click next.

Choose the Remote Installation Folder location on other drive. The folder contains the boot images, install images, so make sure this drive has enough space to hold the data. Click on Next.

Select Respond to all client computers (known and unknown). Click on Next.

Uncheck the checkbox for Add images to the server now. We will add the images in the next step. Click Finish.

In this step we will add Boot Image and Install Image. Boot images are images that you boot a client computer into to perform an operating system installation. To add the boot image, right click Boot Images and click on Add Boot Image.

Browse to the location where the operating system installation files are stored. In this example we will importing boot.wim from windows 7 professional SP1 64 bit DVD as boot image. The boot.wim file can be found under folder named Sources. Select boot.wim and click on Open.

Enter the name for the boot image. Click on Next.

We have imported or added a boot image to our WDS server. Click on Finish.

The boot image can be seen under Boot Images folder.

To add the Install image, right click Install Image, click on Add Install Image, provide a name and create a new Image Group. Click on Next.

Now we have to select and add the Install image. Install images are the operating system images that you deploy to the client computer. Click on Browseand the select Install.wim. Click on Open.

In the below screenshot we will select all the editions of windows 7 that are listed. click on Next.

Click on Finish to close the Add Image Wizard.

Lets configure the WDS server properties now. Launch the Windows Deployment Services Console, right click the WDS server and click onProperties. Click on Boot and make sure Require the user to press the F12 key to continue the PXE boot is selected for known and unknown clients.

Click on PXE Response and make sure that Respond to all client computers (known and unknown) is selected. Click on Apply and Okay.

In the next post we will look at steps to deploy an image using WDS and also to capture it.

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