In SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) the Report Server is the core component of the product. In the 2000 & 2005 product, the Report Server consisted of both a Windows & Web service. The web services facilitate the programmatic interfaces (APIs) into the Report Server. The windows service provides initialization, scheduling, delivery, and maintenance tasks. Together, the services represent a single instance of a SSRS Report Server. The Report Server is also where you can plug in your custom developed Data Processing, Delivery, Rendering, and Security extensions.

A SSRS Report Server relies on backend databases for both its permanent and temporary requirements. By default, the two Report Server databases are called reportserver and reportservertempdb. These databases can reside on either a local or remote instance of SQL Server 2000 or 2005. Furthermore, you should not directly change the data or structure in these databases; only work through the SSRS various interfaces that will in turn update the data in these databases.

When you intend to upgrade a SSRS 2000 or 2005 instance that has been configured with any of the following Report Server database configurations your upgrade will be blocked:

·         SQL Server 2000 in a different instance

·         SQL Server 2000 on a remote instance

·         SQL Server 2005 on a remote instance running in a 2000 compatibility mode

If you leverage the SQL Server 2008 Upgrade Advisor (SSUA) to advise you of your database servers upgrade issues the tool will report back a warning informing you of the issue. To correct the issue and thus allow you to upgrade your SQL Server 2000 or 2005 instance to the 2008 product you have one of two choices:

·         Upgrade (and ensure the compatibility mode is set to 2005) your remote SQL Server 2000 server to 2005 that houses the Report Server databases

·         Move the Report Server databases to a SQL Server 2005 or 2008 instance and do not forget to use the SSRS Configuration tool to connect the Report Server to the new database server instance

Derek Comingore