SSRS Management Features in SQL Server 2008

Browser-based management: Report Manager

Manages and maintains reports in the reporting environment.

Windows-based management: SQL Server Management Studio

Provides slightly better performance than the browser-based tool. It has convenience of a single point of access (SQL Server Management Studio) for management of all SQL Server–related components.

Shared data sources

Share data source connections between multiple reports, and are managed independently from any of the reports.

Scripting support

Helps automate server administration tasks. For example, an administrator can script deployment and security settings for the group of reports, instead of doing the same one by one using Report Manager.

Folder hierarchy

Organizes reports by certain criteria, such as reports for specific groups of users (for example, a folder for the sales department).

Role-based security

Controls access to folders, reports, and resources. Security settings get inherited through the folder structure, similar to Windows folders security inheritance. Security can be inherited through the hierarchy or redefined at any level of hierarchy: folder or report. Role-based security works with Windows authentication. Security is installed during SSRS installation.

Job management

Monitors and cancels pending or in-process reports.

Shared schedules

Share schedules between multiple reports, and are managed independently from any of the reports.

History

Allows storing snapshots of a report at any particular moment of time. You can add report snapshots on an ad hoc basis or as a recurring scheduled operation. History can be used to view past versions of a report and see how information on a report has changed.

Linked reports

Create a link to an existing report that provides a different set of properties, parameter values, or security settings to the original report. To the user, each linked report appears to be a standalone report.

XML-based server configuration

Edits configuration files to customize email delivery, security configuration tracing, and more.

Database server and report logging capability

Contains information about the reports that execute on a server or on multiple servers in a single web farm. You can use the report execution log to find out how often a report is requested, what formats are used the most, and what percentage of processing time is spent on each processing phase.

Command-line utilities

Configure, activate, manage keys etc. and also perform scripted operations.