SSRS Load Balancing, Listeners and Licenses

  • I hope someone can verify this for me.

    We're about to upgrade to 2017 and we're addressing an old question that is apparently causing issues in our current 2012 environment.

    Set up would be 4-node cluster, cross-datacenter with 2 servers on each DC. On each DC, one server would be OLTP and the other would be reporting. I've read that we can add the regular report server db to an AG without needing to add the tempdb version (correct me if I'm wrong). But what we want is to add a load balancer to the mix.

    Load balancer (vip) -> web servers -> database instance where SSRS is installed. If we have a listener on the web servers redirecting to the SSRS database, is that the same has having a running SSRS service on those servers?

    If not like running the SSRS service (which does require an extra license), is the listener something we have to pay an extra license fee for? 

    My network / hardware knowledge is a bit out of date, so I'm crash-coursing this info as fast as I can. Any assistance (links, explanations) you can give me would be appreciated.

    Brandie Tarvin, MCITP Database AdministratorLiveJournal Blog: http://brandietarvin.livejournal.com/[/url]On LinkedIn!, Google+, and Twitter.Freelance Writer: ShadowrunLatchkeys: Nevermore, Latchkeys: The Bootleg War, and Latchkeys: Roscoes in the Night are now available on Nook and Kindle.

  • I've read that we can add the regular report server db to an AG without needing to add the tempdb version (correct me if I'm wrong). But what we want is to add a load balancer to the mix.

    If you do this, then you will need to restart SSRS after AG failover to recreate the TempDB database. Easier to just add it to the AG, this usually has minimal impact and simplifies failover.

    Load balancer (vipvip) -> web servers -> database instance where SSRS is installed. If we have a listener on the web servers redirecting to the SSRS database, is that the same has havinghaving a running SSRS service on those servers?

    If not like running the SSRS service (which does require an extra license), is the listener something we have to pay an extra license fee for?

    No, the listener is not the same as having multiple SSRS instances. Ultimately, the load balancer and web servers are going to point to a single SSRS instance, which may end up being a bottleneck, but from a licensing perspective means you only need to pay for that instance.

    As with any licensing question though, the safest bet is to check with your licensing reseller for confirmation.

  • Thank you. I appreciate the information. I was wondering about that temp database thing. Someone on another thread / another website (I can't find the link right now) had said it didn't need to be in sync on the different nodes and that just rubbed me the wrong way.

    Brandie Tarvin, MCITP Database AdministratorLiveJournal Blog: http://brandietarvin.livejournal.com/[/url]On LinkedIn!, Google+, and Twitter.Freelance Writer: ShadowrunLatchkeys: Nevermore, Latchkeys: The Bootleg War, and Latchkeys: Roscoes in the Night are now available on Nook and Kindle.

  • Brandie Tarvin - Friday, February 22, 2019 4:23 AM

    Thank you. I appreciate the information. I was wondering about that temp database thing. Someone on another thread / another website (I can't find the link right now) had said it didn't need to be in sync on the different nodes and that just rubbed me the wrong way.

    Load balancing SSRS is scale-out and is an Enterprise only feature.  You can install multiple instances of the SSRS service and configure each instance to point to a single database hosting the report server databases.

    Each 'web server' will need to be licensed.

    Also - since SSRS is not AlwaysOn aware - the service(s) on the 'web servers' needs to be restarted if the group is moved to the other server.  See this article: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/database-engine/availability-groups/windows/reporting-services-with-always-on-availability-groups-sql-server?view=sql-server-2017

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  • Jeffrey Williams 3188 - Sunday, February 24, 2019 9:26 AM

    Brandie Tarvin - Friday, February 22, 2019 4:23 AM

    Thank you. I appreciate the information. I was wondering about that temp database thing. Someone on another thread / another website (I can't find the link right now) had said it didn't need to be in sync on the different nodes and that just rubbed me the wrong way.

    Load balancing SSRS is scale-out and is an Enterprise only feature.  You can install multiple instances of the SSRS service and configure each instance to point to a single database hosting the report server databases.

    Each 'web server' will need to be licensed.

    Also - since SSRS is not AlwaysOn aware - the service(s) on the 'web servers' needs to be restarted if the group is moved to the other server.  See this article: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/database-engine/availability-groups/windows/reporting-services-with-always-on-availability-groups-sql-server?view=sql-server-2017

    We don't load balance SSRS specifically, if I understand what I've been told. But I'm adding your comments to our notes so we can verify what we're doing on the next build.

    Brandie Tarvin, MCITP Database AdministratorLiveJournal Blog: http://brandietarvin.livejournal.com/[/url]On LinkedIn!, Google+, and Twitter.Freelance Writer: ShadowrunLatchkeys: Nevermore, Latchkeys: The Bootleg War, and Latchkeys: Roscoes in the Night are now available on Nook and Kindle.

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