Specifications
SharePoint Integration CHAPTER 9 187
SharePoint Integration
SQL Server 2008 R2 Reporting Services continues to improve integration with SharePoint. In
this release, you nd better options for conguring SharePoint 2010 for use with Reporting
Services, working with scripts to automate administrative tasks, using SharePoint lists as data
sources, and integrating Reporting Services log events with the SharePoint Unied Logging
Service.
Improved Installation and Conguration
The rst improvement affects the initial installation of Reporting Services in SharePoint inte-
grated mode. Earlier versions of Reporting Services and SharePoint require you to obtain the
Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services Add-in for SharePoint as a separate download for
installation. Although the add-in remains available as a separate download, the prerequisite
installation options for SharePoint 2010 include the ability to download the add-in and install
it automatically with the other prerequisites.
After you have all components installed and congured on both the report server and the
SharePoint server, you need to use SharePoint 2010 Central Administration to congure the
General Application settings for Reporting Services. As part of this process, you can choose
to apply settings to all site collections or to specic sites, which is a much more streamlined
approach to enabling Reporting Services integration than was possible in earlier versions.
Another important improvement is the addition of support for alternate access mappings
with Reporting Services. Alternate access mappings allow users from multiple zones, such as
the Internet and an intranet, to access the same report items by using different URLs. You can
congure up to ve different URLs to access a single Web application that provides access
to Reporting Services content, with each URL using a different authentication provider. This
functionality is important when you want to use Windows authentication for intranet users
and Forms authentication for Internet users.
RS Utility Scripting
Report server administrators frequently use the rs.exe utility to perform repetitive administra-
tive tasks, such as bulk deployment of reports to the server and bulk conguration of report
properties. Lack of support for this utility in integrated mode had been a signicant problem
for many administrators, so having this capability added to integrated mode is great news.
SharePoint Lists as Data Sources
Increasing numbers of companies use SharePoint lists to store information that needs to be
shared with a broader audience or in a standard report format. Although there are some
creative ways you could employ to get that data into Reporting Services, custom code was
always part of the solution. SQL Server 2008 R2 Reporting Services has a new data exten-
sion provider that allows you to access SharePoint 2007 or SharePoint 2010 lists. After you