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Planning a Deployment Mode

SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services supports two modes of deployment for report server instances:

  • Native mode, including native mode with SharePoint Web Parts, where a report server runs as an application server that provides all processing and management capability exclusively through Reporting Services components.

  • SharePoint integrated mode, where a report server is deployed as part of a SharePoint server farm.

Native Mode

In native mode, a report server is a stand-alone application server that provides all viewing, management, processing, and delivery of reports and report models. This is the default mode for report server instances. You can install a native mode report server that is configured during setup or you can configure it for native mode operations are Setup is finished.

SharePoint Integrated Mode

In SharePoint integrated mode, a report server must run within a SharePoint server farm. A SharePoint site provides the front-end access to report server content and operations. The report server provides all report processing and rendering.

SharePoint integrated mode requires Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 or Office SharePoint Server  2007, the Reporting Services Add-in for SharePoint Technologies, and a report server that is configured for SharePoint integrated mode. A report server is configured for this mode if the report server database to which it is connected can store application data in a format that is optimized for non-hierarchical site and document addressing found in a deployment of a SharePoint product or technology. For more information, see Configuring Reporting Services for SharePoint 3.0 Integration and Deploying Models and Shared Data Sources to a SharePoint Site.

Native Mode with SharePoint Web Parts

For deployments that have simple integration requirements, you can consider using SharePoint Web Parts as an alternative to SharePoint integrated mode. Reporting Services provides two Web Parts that you can install and register on an instance of Windows SharePoint Services 2.0, Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, SharePoint Portal Server 2003, or Office SharePoint Server  2007. From a SharePoint site, you can use the Web Parts to find and view reports that are stored and processed on a report server that runs in native mode. These Web parts were introduced in earlier releases of Reporting Services. For more information about how the native mode Web Parts compare with SharePoint integrated mode features, see Planning for SharePoint Integration.

Switching Modes

Report server modes are mutually exclusive. You can switch modes by reconfiguring the report server database connection to point to a database that stores application data in the format expected for a given mode, but there is no supported approach for migrating content between database types. For more information about how to configure an existing report server instance to run in SharePoint integrated mode, see How to: Switch Server Modes (Reporting Services Configuration).

Deploying a SharePoint Integrated Report Server in a Multi-Lingual Environment

Windows SharePoint Services and Office SharePoint Server products are available in many more languages than SQL Server. Currently, SQL Server is localized into these languages: Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Russian, and Spanish.

When you configure a report server to run within a deployment of a SharePoint product or technology, you might see a combination of languages. The user interface, documentation, and messages will appear in the following languages:

  • All application pages, tools, errors, warnings, and messages that originate from Reporting Services will appear in the language used by the Reporting Services instance in one of the SQL Server languages.

  • Application pages that you open on a SharePoint site, the Report Viewer Web Part, and Report Builder will appear in one of the 22 supported languages for the Reporting Services Add-in. To view the list of supported languages, go to SQL Server Downloads and find the download page for the Reporting Services Add-in.

  • SharePoint sites, SharePoint Central Administration, online help, and messages are available in the 39 languages supported by Office Server products.

If the language of your SharePoint product or technology differs from the report server language, Reporting Services will try to use a language from the same language family that provides the closest match. If a close substitute is not available, the report server uses English.

For more information about language support in Reporting Services, see International Considerations for Reporting Services on msdn.microsoft.com or Solution Design Considerations for Multi-Lingual or Global Deployments (Reporting Services) in SQL Server Books Online.