SQL SSRS Report Status Test

Capturing report failures on-the-fly and rapidly troubleshooting them can go a long way in ensuring that user experience with the report server is above-par at all times. This can be achieved using the SQL SSRS Report Status test!

This test tracks the status of reports processed by the report server for each user, and promptly captures report failures, cancellations, and time-outs per user. Additionally, the test deduces why the reports failed, and reveals the count of reports that failed due to each reason. This way, the test points to the users who experienced the maximum number of report failures, and also enables administrators to instantly determine the cause of the failures. Detailed diagnostics of the test also point you to the precise reports that failed / were cancelled / have timed out, thus significantly reducing the troubleshooting cycle for administrators.

Target of the test : A Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services server

Agent deploying the test : A remote agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for each user of the report server being monitored

Configurable parameters for the test
Parameters	Description
Test period	How often should the test be executed
Host	The host for which the test is to be configured.
Port	The port at which the specified Host listens.
Instance	The name of a specific SQL Report server instance to be monitored. The default value of this parameter is “default”. However, if the Microsoft SQL Server hosting the SQL Reporting Server database uses named instances, then do the following: Configure the Instance parameter with the name of the SQL Server instance that hosts the SQL Report Server database. Do not change the default value of the Port parameter
Is Passive	If the value chosen is Yes, then the Microsoft SQL server (hosting the SQL report server database) under consideration is a passive server in a SQL cluster. No alerts will be generated if the server is not running. Measures will be reported as “Not applicable’ by the agent if the server is not up.
Is NTLMv2 Enabled?	In some Windows networks, NTLM (NT LAN Manager) may be enabled. NTLM is a suite of Microsoft security protocols that provides authentication, integrity, and confidentiality to users. NTLM version 2 (“NTLMv2”) was concocted to address the security issues present in NTLM. By default, the Is NTLMv2 Enabled? flag is set to No, indicating that NTLMv2 is not enabled by default on the target Microsoft SQL server hosting the report server database. Set this flag to Yes if NTLMv2 is enabled on that Microsoft SQL server.
Report Server Database IP, Report Server Database Port, Report Server Database Name	This test queries the report server database to pull details related to the status of the report requests. For this, the test needs to connect to the report server database. To enable this connection, enter the IP address of the report server database against the Report Server Database IP parameter, the port at which the report server database listens against the Report Server Database Port, and the name of the report server database against the Report Server Database Name. To determine the database IP, port, and name, ref er to Configuring the eG Agent to Connect to the Report Server Database.
User and Password	To run queries on the report server database, the test requires to connect to the report server database as a user with SELECT permissions to the ExecutionLog, Catalog, runningjobs, and users tables of that database. For this purpose, you can create a special user on the Microsoft SQL server, grant the required monitoring privileges to that user, and configure the User and Password parameters with the credentials of that user. To know how to create such a user, refer to Configuring the eG Agent with the Permissions Required for Running Queries.
Confirm Password	Confirm the Password by retyping it here.
Domain	By default, none is displayed in the Domain text box. If the 'SQL server and Windows' authentication has been enabled for the server being monitored, then the Domain can continue to be none. On the other hand, if 'Windows only' authentication has been enabled, then, in the Domain text box, specify the Windows domain in which the report server database that this test connects to exists. Also, in such a case, the User name and Password that you provide should be that of a user authorized to access the Microsoft SQL server hosting the report server database of interest.
DD Row Count	By default, this parameter is set to 10. This implies that by default the detailed diagnosis of the test reports the top-10 reports in terms of the running time of the reports. If you want detailed diagnosis to include more or less number of reports, then change the value of this parameter.
Detailed Diagnosis	To make diagnosis more efficient and accurate, the eG Enterprise embeds an optional detailed diagnostic capability. With this capability, the eG agents can be configured to run detailed, more elaborate tests as and when specific problems are detected. To enable the detailed diagnosis capability of this test for a particular server, choose the On option. To disable the capability, click on the Off option. The option to selectively enable/disable the detailed diagnosis capability will be available only if the following conditions are fulfilled: The eG manager license should allow the detailed diagnosis capability Both the normal and abnormal frequencies configured for the detailed diagnosis measures should not be 0.

Measurements made by the test

Measurement

Description

Measurement Unit

Interpretation

Successful reports

Indicates the number of reports that were completed successfully by this user during the last measure period.

Number

Cancelled reports

Indicates the number of reports of this user that were cancelled during the last measurement period.

Number

Ideally, the value of this measure should be 0. If this measure reports a non-zero value, then use the detailed diagnosis of this measure to identify the top-10 cancelled reports in terms of their running duration.

Parameter error reports

Indicates the number of reports of this user that failed in the last measure period due to parameter errors.

Number

Ideally, the value of this measure should be 0. If this measure reports a non-zero value, then use the detailed diagnosis of this measure to identify the top-10 reports in terms of their running duration, which had parameter errors.

Time-out expired reports

Indicates the count of reports of this user that timed out during the last measure period.

Number

If the value of this measure is very high, you may want to consider increasing the time-out setting for reports.

Report servers support three time-out values:

An embedded dataset query time-out value is the number of seconds that the report server waits for a response from the database. This value is defined in a report.
A shared dataset query time-out value is the number of seconds that the report server waits for a response from the database. This value is part of the shared dataset definition and can be changed when you manage the shared dataset on the report server.
A report execution time-out value is the maximum number of seconds that report processing can continue before it is stopped. This value is defined at the system level. You can vary this setting for individual reports.

Most time-out errors occur during query processing. If you are encountering time-out errors, try increasing the query time-out value. Make sure to adjust the report execution time-out value so that it is larger than the query time-out. The time period should be sufficient to complete both query and report processing.

You can use the detailed diagnosis of this this test to know which reports of a user timed-out.

Parameter value missed report

Indicates the number of reports of this user that failed in the last measurement period, because certain parameter values were missing.

Number

Internal error reports

Indicates the number of reports of this user that failed due to internal report server issues.

Number

Internal errors are uncommon. If you get this error, more information is available in report server trace logs. In addition, if you are running as local administrator on the same computer on which the error occurs, you can view the call stack for more information.

To determine the specific cause for this message, review the report server log files, which are located at \Microsoft SQL Server\MSRS12.<instancename >\Reporting Services\LogFiles.

You can also use the detailed diagnosis of this measure to view the top-10 reports in terms of running duration, which failed due to internal report server errors.

Rendering error reports

Indicates the number of reports of this user that failed in the last measurement period because of errors in rendering.

Number

This error can occur if Reporting Services cannot render or export the report.

The table below discusses the probable causes for rendering errors and how to resolve them:

Probable Cause	Possible Solution
Specified RDL page size is not valid	Specify a valid RDL page size and then try to generate the report again.
An unsupported unit type is specified	Valid unit types are cm, in, mm, pc, and pt. Specify a valid unit type and then try again.
A negative measurement for the page size, for example -5 cm, is specified	Specify a positive number for the page size and then try again.
Measurement for the page size is outside of the valid page margin size	Specify a measurement for the page size that is within the valid page margin sizes.
A color specified in the RDL is not valid	Choose a color supported by RDL and then try again.
An action label is specified and it is not valid	Specify a valid action label for each action.
An incorrect style value for the data type is specified.	Specify a correct value and then try again.
The border style specified is not valid	Specify a supported border style and then try again.
The specified mime type for an image report item is not valid	Specify a supported mime type for the report item and then try again.

Use the detailed diagnosis of this measure to view the top-10 reports (in terms of running time) that failed due to rendering errors.

Running reports

Indicates the number of reports of this user that are currently running.

Number

Using the detailed diagnosis of this measure, you can view the top-10 running reports (in terms of running duration). In the process, you can instantly identify the long-running reports.