Settings to Configure Snapshot Caching from Report Manager
As we have learned, the primary
objective of Snapshot caching is to support the maintenance of snapshots
(or “histories”) of selected reports over time for comparison or other
purposes. “Fringe benefits” include
enhanced general reporting performance, especially for more complex or larger
reports, because the Snapshot reports are generated from cached
intermediate files in the Report
Server database.
In a manner similar to that of setting other caching
options in Reporting Services, we make the required settings within the Report execution properties for the respective report. In the subsections that follow, we will examine
these settings for a sample report from the perspective of the Report
Manager. We will do so, as we have in other articles of this subseries,
using a report from among the samples that are available to anyone installing Reporting
Services 2005.
If you have not installed
the samples, you’ll need to install them to use the sample report with which we
perform the steps below. If you prefer to use a local report, the steps will
be approximately the same for accessing the property settings for your
report of choice.
Configure Snapshot Caching
Most of us are aware that, among the graphical user,
command-line and programmatic interfaces that Reporting Services makes
available to us for performing management activities, Report Manager is
perhaps the most user-friendly. This web-based management application
interfaces with the Report Server via the Web Service API, and is
easily accessed using a web browser. Report Manager has many uses, and
affords us a straightforward means of flexibly managing access to all reports
and related resources.
Let’s take a look at how we can make Snapshot caching
settings for a report within the Report Manager. To do this, we will take the following
steps:
1.
Open an
instance of the web browser on the PC.
2.
Point the
browser to the following URL:
http://<Server_Name>/Reports
NOTE: Replace <Server_Name>
in the above with the name of the server hosting Report Manager in the
local environment. Also, replace the default Reports directory with the
appropriate virtual directory established in the local environment, if
yours is different.
Report Manager’s home
page next appears,
somewhat similar to that depicted in Illustration 3.
Illustration 3: Accessing
the Report Manager from the Web Browser
3.
Access the
sample reports (mine are within the AdventureWorks Sample Reports
directory shown in Illustration 3 above), by navigating into their
containing folder(s) from the home page.
4.
Click-select
the Sales Reason Comparisons report from among the sample reports
listed, as shown in Illustration 4.
Illustration
4: Opening the Sample Sales Reason Comparisons Report ...
The report briefly
executes, and then opens.
5.
Click the Properties
tab atop the report, as depicted in Illustration 5.
Illustration
5: Accessing Report Properties ...
6.
Click the Execution
tab that appears on the left panel of the page, as shown in Illustration 6.
Illustration
6: Accessing the Execution Settings for the Report ...
Note: Credentials must be stored, and default parameters
must be in place, for any report for which we wish to configure Snapshot
caching.
We arrive at the Execution
properties page, where we can set execution properties for the
currently selected report only. These options determine when report
processing occurs, as we have seen in other articles of this series. Among
other activities, we can make settings to govern a report run during off-peak
hours, and the like, for flexible resource scheduling within our own
environments.
7.
On the Execution
page, click-select the radio button to the immediate left of Render this
report from a report execution snapshot.
8.
Select Use
the following schedule to create execution snapshots.
9.
Leaving the
radio button to the immediate left of Report-specific schedule selected,
click the Configure button to its immediate right.
We arrive at the schedule details page, where we can
establish a schedule for Snapshot report generation.
10.
Within the Schedule
Details section in the upper half of the page, select the radio button
labeled Month on the left side of the section.
11.
Within the Monthly
Schedule box in the Schedule Details section, ensure that all months
have been selected via the associated checkboxes.
12.
Select the
radio button labeled On calendar day(s) within the same Monthly
Schedule box, supplying a “1” in the
input box to the right of the label. (Clear any residual settings in the On
day of week checkboxes just above.)
13.
Modify the Start
time at the bottom of the box to read “12:00 AM.”
14.
In the Start
and end dates section in the bottom portion of the page, click the calendar
icon to the right of the input box labeled Begin running this schedule on.
15.
Select November
1 (or other, more relevant date for the time you are performing these
procedures) using the calendar selector, as depicted in Illustration 7.
Illustration
7: Selecting a Date to Begin Snapshot Execution ...
16.
In like
manner, select a date exactly a year away in the input box labeled Stop this
schedule on, ensuring that the selection is enabled via a checkmark in the
checkbox to the left of the label.
Our settings, which establish a schedule for Snapshot
generation at midnight on the first of every month, to
continue through one annual cycle, appear as shown in Illustration 8.
Illustration
8: Schedule Details, with Our Input
It is useful to consider that we can, of course, initiate Snapshot
execution from either the individual report level (the foregoing procedure) or
from a shared schedule.
17.
Click OK
(at bottom left) to save settings and to return to the Execution page.
18.
Select the
radio button labeled Create a report snapshot when you click the Apply
button on this page, if you wish to create a Snapshot report
immediately.
Our settings on the Execution page, together with a
summary of our newly established schedule for Snapshot generation,
appear as depicted in Illustration 9.
Illustration
9: Execution Page Settings with Schedule Summary
Unless we dictate differently, a single Snapshot
will be maintained with the ReportServerDB database. By default,
whenever a new Snapshot report is created, it will be swapped with the
single Snapshot already in place. To maintain historical Snapshots
within the database, we need to make the appropriate settings on the History
tab, as we shall see in the next section.
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