SQL Azure Reporting CTP
Hey SQL Server Reporting Services developers, have you ever wished you could deliver Reporting Services capabilities without having to install, configure and maintain a Reporting Services instance on your own hardware? Well your wish has come true with SQL Azure Reporting, a new cloud-based managed service that is part of the SQL Azure family hosted on the Windows Azure Platform.
With SQL Azure Reporting, you can develop reports using Report Designer. But instead of deploying reports to a Report Server running on your own hardware, you can deploy it directly to a SQL Azure Reporting managed service in the cloud running in a Microsoft data center. These reports can be viewed from from your own applications with the Visual Studio 2010 ReportViewer control running in applications hosted on-premise or in the cloud in a Windows Azure web role.
SQL Azure reporting has the following differences in comparison to Reporting Services:
Easy service provisioning without having to install, maintain, configure and patch your own server software.
Supports SQL Azure data sources only.
Supports SQL Azure username / password authentication only.
Does not support Reporting Services extensions for custom data sources, assemblies, report items, authentication, etc.
Does not support Report Subscriptions or schedules.
Does not support Report Manager. Reports are delivered through the Report Service to applications.
You can sign up for the SQL Azure Reporting CTP here: