2014/2016 Developer Edition of SQL Server (Backward Compatibility)

Question

It seems the developer edition is now free to install and use (in development environments).

Our production environment is 2012 SQL Server. Would I be able to use the 2016 developer edition to develop 2012 reports/SSIS/SSAS, or would I need to use the standard 2012 developer tools (which I guess I still need to buy?).

Thanks

Answer 1

Yes, but with a few caveats.

You can develop reports with later versions of SSDT and build/deploy these to earlier versions of SSRS. You need to specify the TargetServerVersion in the build configuration: eg

or

This will determine what RDL schema version is built and deployed, if you chose to deploy the project, as well as the build artefacts that are created locally in the Solution's bin folder.

That said, if you create a report with SSRS 2016 specific features you will get warnings (eg a Custom Parameter Pane) or errors (eg SSRS 2016 chart type) when building/deploying to earlier versions.

So it's possible, you just need to be vigilant with your process.