Report Management - Professional SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services - page 426

Data Source Credentials
When the Report Server connects to a source database to retrieve data, authorization is performed on the
credentials it provides. Those credentials can be obtained from the user when the report is run, or they
can be values previously stored in the Report Server database. On-demand reports can run using creden-
tials supplied by the user at runtime or just use their current Windows account to authenticate. Scheduled
reports, however, must use credentials stored in the database. When a report run is not triggered by a
user — such as reports run on a schedule — credentials can't be supplied by a user. When reports are run
on the server, Reporting Services must still authenticate itself to a database to retrieve source data. Setting
up a Windows user account specifically for this can help to resolve issues by providing trails in places
like server logs.

Credentials Supplied by the User
Here, the user will be prompted for a user name and password each time he or she runs a report. The
credentials can be used to identify the user as a Windows account holder or passed directly to SQL
Server so that it can perform its own authentication and authorization. Users can provide Windows or
SQL credentials, depending on whether your SQL Server is configured for Integrated Windows or SQL
Server security.

Credentials Stored Securely
Data sources used by cached reports (either cached instances or report snapshots) must use stored cre-
dentials. This information is stored in encrypted form with the shared data source or the report defini-
tion in the Report Server database.

Updating Data Sources
Updating data sources is a common task. For example, if the report solution is moved from a develop-
ment environment to a production environment, you'll usually also need to point the data source at the
production database server and database.

Updating in Report Manager
You can change these Data Source properties from Report Manager or SQL Server Management Studio:

❑ Data Source Name: Use a unique name that makes it easy to tell what database the data source

points to.

❑ Connection Type: SQL Server, Oracle, OLEDB, and so on.

❑ Connection String: This includes the name of the server the source database is on and the name

of that database.

❑ Credentials: The user name and password that this data source uses to authenticate to the

source database server. This is an important one, because any time you change a Data Source
property you're required to reenter the user password. Be prepared.

Changing Data Source properties in Report Manager will overwrite the properties stored in the
ReportServer database. The report rdl file isn't modified in this process.