SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services Feature Matrix
One of the common misconceptions is that SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services is a free product. Not really surprising maybe because Reporting Services is part of SQL Server 2005 Express Edition with Advanced Services. Now that version is free bit that doesn't mean the Reporting Services is completely free product, just that one of its SKU's is free.
Reporting Services has a number of different features and, just like the different versions of SQL Server have different options, depending on the version you can do more or less with it.
The free version has quite a few limitations as compared to the more complete, and expensive, versions. Amongst the most important are the fact that the Express version of Reporting Services only allows for reporting over the data on the local server, no remote connections are allowed. Another few restrictions are the output rendering formats, security and subscriptions.
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Data Source(s)
| Express 1, 2
| Workgroup 1, 2
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| SE and EE support all data sources (OLAP and Relational)
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Rendering
| Excel, PDF, Image (RGDI, Print), DHTML
| Excel, PDF, Image (RGDI, Print), DHTML
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| Standard and Enterprise editions support all output formats
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Management
| Report Manager
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| Workgroup, Standard, and Enterprise editions support SQL Server Management Studio and Report Manager
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Caching
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History
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Delivery
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Scheduling
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Extensibility
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| Can add/remove renderers, data sources, and delivery
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Custom Authentication
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SharePoint Integration
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Scale-out Report Servers
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Subscription
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Data Driven Subscription
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Role Based Security
| Fixed Roles
| Fixed Roles
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| Standard and Enterprise editions can add roles
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Report Builder
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Report Builder Data Sources
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| Workgroup 1, 2
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Model Level Security
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Infinite Clickthrough
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Reporting Services features are not yet available in SQL Server 2005 Express Edition.
Notes: 1 = Local Server Only; 2 = Relational Only