Built-in SSRS 2008 Roles

I couldn't find a satisfactory permission matrix for the built-in SSRS 2008 roles, so I'm publishing one here. This is a pretty comprehensive list; you may have to maximize your browser window for this!

For completeness, I'll mention that you can manage these roles by connecting to a Reporting Services instance and browsing the Security folder.

If you connect to the database engine, you can find the permissions encapsulated in the TaskMask column of the Roles table, in the ReportServer database. I would avoid editing the permissions there.

Enjoy!

	Built-in Role	System Administrator	System User
	Description	View and modify system role assignments, system role definitions, system properties, and shared schedules.	View system properties and shared schedules.
	TaskMask	110101011	001010001
Task	Description
Manage roles	Create, view, modify and delete role definitions.	X
Manage report server security	View and modify system-wide role assignments.	X
View report server properties	View properties that apply to the report server.		X
Manage report server properties	View and modify properties that apply to the report server and to items managed by the report server.	X
View shared schedules	View a predefined schedule that has been made available for general use.		X
Manage shared schedules	Create, view, modify and delete shared schedules used to run reports or refresh a report.	X
Generate events	Provides an application with the ability to generate events within the report server namespace.
Manage jobs	View and cancel running jobs.	X
Execute Report Definitions	Start execution from report definition without publishing it to Report Server.	X	X

	Built-in Role	Browser	Content Manager	My Reports	Publisher	Report Builder
	Description	May view folders, reports and subscribe to reports.	May manage content in the Report Server. This includes folders, reports and resources.	May publish reports and linked reports; manage folders, reports and resources in a users My Reports folder.	May publish reports and linked reports to the Report Server.	May view report definitions.
	TaskMask	0010101001000100	1111111111111111	0111111111011000	0101010100001010	0010101001000101
Task	Description
Set security for individual items	View and modify security settings for reports, folders, resources, and shared data sources.		X
Create linked reports	Create linked reports and publish them to a report server folder.		X	X	X
View reports	View reports and linked reports in the folder hierarchy; view report history snapshots and report properties.	X	X	X		X
Manage reports	Create, and delete reports; and modify report properties.		X	X	X
View resources	View resources in the folder hierarchy; and view resource properties.	X	X	X		X
Manage resources	Create, modify and delete resources, and modify resource properties.		X	X	X
View folders	View folder items in the folder hierarchy; and view folder properties.	X	X	X		X
Manage folders	Create, view and delete folders; and view and modify folder properties.		X	X	X
Manage report history	Create, view, and delete report history snapshots; and modify report history properties.		X	X
Manage individual subscriptions	Each user can create, view, modify and delete subscriptions that he or she owns.	X	X	X		X
Manage all subscriptions	View, modify, and delete any subscription regardless of who owns the subscription.		X
View data sources	View shared data source items in the folder hierarchy; and view data source properties.		X	X
Manage data sources	Create and delete shared data source items; and modify data source properties.		X	X	X
View models	View models in the folder hierarchy, use models as data sources for a report, and run queries against the model to retrieve data.	X	X			X
Manage models	Create, view, and delete models; and view and modify model properties.		X		X
Consume reports	Reads report definitions		X			X

SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services RS.EXE Supporting Forms Authentication

I've decided to expand the scope of my blog to more than just Identity Management. Recently, I've been submerged in the BI space, and since I'm not sure when I'll resurface, I'd like to contribute some of the cool stuff I've been doing back to the community.

I'm currently working on a scale-out deployment of SSRS that uses Forms authentication. Everything is working well with the security extension, and now we're focusing on moving everything into Stage. Good time for the scripting utility, rs.exe, right? Well, if you didn't already know, rs.exe isn't supported with Forms authentication. Wow, what a bummer.

What's more, I can't use the RSScripter, which is a very cool and useful app for generating scripts for rs.exe.

So, what do I do? I could write my own utility. We already have a web service client to integrate SSRS with an in-house app. I would just need to add a bunch of management features to it... and add commands to extract and load... and make it generic enough to reuse... and then maintain it. Nah, that sounds like a lot of work. Let's just use .NET Reflector on the original rs.exe app!

I've reassembled rs.exe with the ability to preserve the RS authentication cookie, which is required with Forms authentication. Hopefully someone out there finds this useful!

http://rs1.codeplex.com/

BTW, the RSScripter also doesn't support Forms authentication, because rs.exe doesn't, and RSScripter is dependent on rs.exe. Leave me a comment if you need a version of RSScripter that works with Forms auth.

Good luck!

Update 2011-06-22: RS1.EXE works with SSRS 2008 R2 with SP1