Administering Core Business Intelligence Services - Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Administration - page 160

How it works...
The initialization is a requirement for report server operation; it occurs when SSRS is
started for the first time and when you join the report server to the existing deployment. The
initialization process creates and stores a symmetric key used for encryption. The symmetric
key is created by the Microsoft Windows Cryptographic Services and subsequently used
by the Report Server service to encrypt and decrypt data. The following steps describe the
initialization process:
F The Report Server configuration file RSReportServer.config plays a key role to
get the installation identifier and database connection information.
F The Report Server service requests a public key from Cryptographic Services.
Then, it creates a private and public key and sends the public key to the Report
Server service.
F The Report Server service stores the installation identifier and public key values to
the report server database.
F For symmetric key authorization, the Report Server service calls the Cryptographic
Services again to create the symmetric key.
F The Report Server service connects to the report server database again, and adds
the symmetric key to the public key with the installation identifier values that were
stored previously.
F Before storing it, the Report Server service uses its public key to encrypt the
symmetric key. Once the symmetric key is stored, the report server is considered
initialized and available to use.