SSRS Migration

  • Hi Team ,

     

    We are planning to upgrade our SQL server instance and SSRS instance to either AWS RDS (SQL server 2019)or EC2 instance  (2019). Our Current database is hosted on SQL server 2012 and SSRS server is on 2008 R2.

     

    We have couple of questions on it .

    1. How to get assessment for SSRS report  . We would like to know compatibility issues that can occur when SSRS upgraded to EC2  instance and when hosted with Amazon RDS.
    2. Do we need to migrate SSRS reporting server along with RDS /EC2 database instance ? Or we can do it in 2 steps

      i.e. Upgrade the database instance first then after it stabilized in production we then plan to migrate the SSRS report .

     

    Thanks & Regards

    Arvind Patil

  • I think I can answer both questions, but I would still recommend doing it in a test environment first.

    So question 1 - my understanding is that SSRS hasn't had any features removed between 2008 R2 and 2019.  Therefore upgrading should be no problem.  Upgrading to EC2 and AWS should also be no problem (assuming they both support SSRS) as those are really just moving SSRS to a new host.  The only problem I can think of that you may hit would be the URL changes IF you have any reports  or applications that have hard-coded links back to other reports.

    Question 2 - as far as I know, you can do this in 2 steps without issue.  You already have SSRS and SQL Server instance at different versions and it is working no problem, and my understanding is that the versions don't need to match.  SSRS just needs permissions to the reporting databases as well as to create jobs.  You will need to make sure you back up the encryption key prior to the upgrade so you can restore it later though.  SSRS has options for this baked in.  If you go the 2 step approach, I would recommend doing the database first as you have a nice and easy rollback method by simply re-pointing SSRS back to the on-site 2012 instance.

    One thing you MAY need to do is some back-end table changes when you migrate to another server IF you are on Standard Edition (as opposed to Enterprise edition).  Standard edition only allows 1 SSRS instance connected to the database and you need to remove the old one before you can add a new one.  I got hit a few times with that while doing upgrades and migrations.  SSRS hosted on ONLY 1 server, but the server name changed.  The instance would start, but nobody could view reports until I cleaned up a table.  Forget which one, but I found it with a quick google.

    What I would recommend is if you can get a test instance in the cloud (EC2 or AWS), try it out.  If you can't get a test instance in the cloud, spin up a new VM to test it as the process should be similar.

    My advice above has been done without using AWS or EC2 mind you.  We are entirely an on-site shop at the moment.

    The above is all just my opinion on what you should do. 
    As with all advice you find on a random internet forum - you shouldn't blindly follow it.  Always test on a test server to see if there is negative side effects before making changes to live!
    I recommend you NEVER run "random code" you found online on any system you care about UNLESS you understand and can verify the code OR you don't care if the code trashes your system.

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