Reporting Services Installation in SQL Server 2008 [Release] 1

Question

We have the full version of SQL 2008 Server (first release) installed and licensed from download (a couple years ago). Now we are getting into Reporting Services; however, it seems only the Express version of Reporting Services is installed.

In the control panel under Services, I only see "SQL Reporting Services (SQLEXPRESS)" listed. [Express is ALSO on the server]

I do not think the Reporting Services option was selected when we initially installed. I would like to go back and Change the installation, however I cannot find the SQL 2008 R1 installation disk or download.

Any advice? Thanks.

Answer 1

Microsoft does not licence Release Candidate (RC) software for production environments or long-term use. Instead, these are basically their version of beta software. In a production environment, you must use RTM software. If you check your license agreement from your initial download, you should see that you should be using the RC1 version of SQL Server 2008 only for testing.

As for how to install Reporting Services on an RTM version, unfortunately you are going to need the media. Since you believe you have a valid license, contact Microsoft and request a copy of the media. Once you have it, just run the setup.exe and it will allow you to modify your SQL installation to include SSRS.

Answer 2

If you can't find the original SQL Server 2008 installation media and don't have any subscriptions with Microsoft that entitle you to digital downloads of your purchased software, then I think you can try downloading the Enterprise Evaluation copy from here and using your existing license key for Standard in the installation process. After that, you should be able to add the Reporting Services features. Definitely backup your server before trying this, of course.

Failing that, you can install the trial version from scratch and use your license to upgrade it to the non-time-limited version (the upgrade paths allow for this).