SQL Server 2005 SP2 supported with Crystal Reports Server XI R2 for CMS database?

[Former Member]

Post Author: Erik

CA Forum: Deployment

Is SQL Server 2005 SP2 supported as the CMS (Central Management Server) database for Crystal Reports Server XI R2?

I'm getting ready to deploy Crystal Reports Server XI R2 and I was very suprised to find that the documentation only lists SQL Server 2000 or MSDE 2000 as supported (MS SQL Server) database platforms for the CRSXI R2 CMS database. Is that true?

Is the documentation outdated? It is currently October, 2007 and CRSXI R2 will not support SQL Server 2005? SQL Server 2008 is due out in a few months now (Q1 2008), but CRSXI R2 only supports the 7yr old version of SQL Server? That would seem odd to me, so I'm asking for clarification.

Is anyone currently using CRSXI R2 with SQL Server 2005 as the CMS database?

Furthermore, if anyone has additional insight, I'm considering deploying CRSXI R2 on a Windows Server 2003 server with MS SQL Server 2005 SP2 which is also running SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS). (Should provide for an interesting comparison of product features...SSRS 2005 Vs. CRSXI R2). But another question that comes to mind...will CRSXI R2 play nicely with SQL Server 2005 SP2 running SSRS 2005 all on the same server?

SUMMARY OF QUESTIONS:

1) Can CRSXI R2 use SQL Server 2005 SP2 as it's CMS database?

2) Will CRSXI R2 run nicely on the same server that is also running SQL Server 2005 SP2 with SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS)?

Thank you, in advance, for your reply!

Erik

[Former Member]

Post Author: Erik

CA Forum: Deployment

Well, I never received a response in the forum (obviously). This forum doesn't seem to be reviewed by Business Objects, and thus has questionable value. But I'll endeavor to help you.

So the answer I found and am experiencing is that CRSXI R2 does work on MS SQL Server 2005 SP2, and Business Objects does support it. It sounded like CRSXI R2 should also work on MS SQL 2005 or with SQL 2005 SP1 also. As I recall it seemed there were some passing comments from BO support that there were issues with CRSXI R1 and SQL 2005, but they were just passing comments and I did not get into it because it was not my scenario.

If I'm not mistaken, I believe the upgrade from CRSXI R1 to R2 is free. Just download and install R2. There may have even been a Service Pack for CRSXI that I saw on the BO website...(?) But our CRSXI came with R2 and the Service Pack was already there.

I did have trouble with viewing rights, but that was corrected after applying their CRSXI Fix Pack 2 and 3. (I think Fix Pack 2 alone would have fixed it, but I put them both on as 3 was the newest at the time.)

So the gist of the problem was that their documentation was outdated. They emailed me a new PDF documentation file (dated Apr-25-2006 10:26 AM), but it doesn't appear that I can attach it here to this post. I called up BO and requested current documentation. Maybe their website is updated now, but the documentation I found on their website at the time was also outdated. Ok, I Googled it and found a link to the PDF file they sent me. Try this.http://support.businessobjects.com/communitycs/technicalpapers/crs_xi_r2_supported_platforms_windows.pdfor tryhttp://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=crs_xi_r2_supported_platforms_windows.pdf

In their current documentation it does state that it supports SQL Server 2005. For me, one other notable item was that they also discontinued support of older Oracle drivers for older versions of Oracle. However, on a different support call one of the BO Techs told me that the newer Oracle Drivers are backwards compatible with older Oracle databases and with the newer Oracle Driver installed on the server and client, then CRSXI R2 can still use a native Oracle driver for connectivity.

So you should be able to run CRSXI R2 with SQL Server 2005 and BO does obviously support it. (I've called quite a few times myself...works better than this forum, I guess.)

I will mention that I have experienced a report timeout issue, which required changes to registry and IIS settings...(BO Support helped with it).Also noticed that the ActiveX Print control (one-click printing) is an issue in that non-admin users cannot install and thus cannot use this feature without an admin installing it first (which is not viable in larger scenarios). Their writing up a knowledge base article on how to deploy their Print Control now.

If it is helpful for you, we used IIS instead of the Java Application Server, (we did not install the Tomcat server), and we're using Active Directory (single sign-on) authentication.

I think you can download the CRSXI R2 from here.http://www.businessobjects.com/products/reporting/crystalreports/server/upgrade.asp

Fix Packs from here.http://support.businessobjects.com/downloads/critical_hot_fixes/default.asp

Hope that helps!

-Erik

[Former Member]

Post Author: jhardwood

CA Forum: Deployment

Erik,

Did you ever get an answer to this question? I am redeploying CRSXI R1 on a new server, but have installed SQL Server 2005 on that server (CRSXI R1 was running with SQL Server 2000 on our old server). I have things up and running, but am having a trouble when users run reports. Page 1 of each report comes up quickly and accurately, but when they try to display page 2, Infoview just hangs and churns forever. I got tech support on the line, and the guy seemed a little puzzled. When he saw that I was using SQL Server 2005, he said it was not supported and would help me no further. He did tell me that if I was going to run SQL Server 2005, I should upgrade to CRSXI R2.

I can't believe their product won't work on SQL Server 2005 (especially R2!)