RSS Reporter - Frequently Asked Questions

• What is RSS Reporter?
  
  RSS Reporter is an RSS feed generator for SQL Server. It provides a web interface for feed configuration and management. It can generate feeds for SQL Server job execution status, feeds containing the output of ad-hoc queries and feeds reporting database size and space usage. Feeds can be consumed in any RSS Reader.
  
  
  
  
• What does RSS Reporter require to install?
  
  You can install and run RSS Reporter on any machine that has IIS 5.0 or higher and .NET framework 2.0.
  
  
  
  
• I successfully installed the RSS Reporter, but, when I open it, I get the error message: "An error occurred during the processing of a configuration file required to service this request. Please review the specific error details below and modify your configuration file appropriately".
  
  This error occurs when the RSS Reporter virtual directory has not been configured to use ASP.NET 2.0. To correct it, open the property page of the RSS Reporter virtual directory (usually RssReporter under the default website) and, in the ASP.NET tab, select ASP.NET 2.0 from the "ASP.NET version" drop-down list.
  
  
  
  
• Since RSS Reporter for SQL Server requires .NET 2.0 can I run it on a machine where websites built on .NET 1.0/1.1 are also running?
  
  Yes. You can run .NET 1.0/1.1/2.0 applications/websites side by side on both IIS6 and IIS5. Please exercise caution and refer to Microsoft documentation on this topic.
  
  
  
  
• I am creating a new user, I entered all the required information, but when I click on the "Add and Continue" button I get the error: "Failed to save the user information due to insufficient permissions. Write access to the path C:\inetpub\wwwroot\RssReporter\App_Data is denied".
  
  RSS Reporter saves the user and profile information in the App_Data subfolder located under the main installation folder. You should assign write NTFS permission to IIS worker process account on this subfolder. If RSS Reporter has been installed on Windows XP or Windows 2000, assign write permission to machinename\ASPNET account, (where machine name is the computer on which RSS Reporter is installed); if you are using Windows Server 2003, assign write permission to the NETWORK SERVICE account.
  
  
  
  
• When I open the RSS Reporter I get "Page not Found".
  
  Assuming that you did not change the website or virtual directory during the installation you should be able to access RSS Reporter at http://machinename/RssReporter; otherwise the url should be adjusted accordingly. If you’re still getting "Page not Found", check the ASP.NET extension on the IIS manager snap-in and ensure that it is allowed.
  
  
  
  
• I can only add one SQL Server in my profile.
  
  RSS Reporter is provided free for one SQL Server instance. To manage additional SQL Servers you need to purchase a license.
  
  
  
  
• I have defined a SQL Server expression filter in the "Job Preferences" page, but I see no jobs in the RSS feed.
  
  "SQL Server expression" is a filter that behaves like the where clause in a SQL Server select statement. RSS Reporter exposes the field job_name that you can write your criteria against. You can specify, for example:
  
  job_name like 'backup%' and right(job_name, 3) <> 'tmp'
  This criteria selects only SQL Server jobs the name of which starts with the word "backup" and do not end with the "tmp".
  
  
  
  
• I created an ad-hoc query, but some of the fields do not appear in the feed.
  
  RSS Reporter excludes from the ad-hoc query feed all the fields of data type binary, varbinary, text, ntext, image, timestamp and xml.
  
  
  
  
• How can I use more than one field as the title of the feed item in the ad-hoc query page?
  
  You can define a combined field in your query and use that field as the item title.
  
  
  
  
• Database Info feed does not appear properly formatted in some rss reader.
  
  Database Info feed displays the database space used vs. space available graphically using a proportional bar. This graphic is not rendered properly in some RSS readers. You can switch to simple text feed by changing the ChartedDatabaseInfoFeed parameter to false in the Web.Config file.
  
  
  
  
• I can sort or filter the feeds in Microsoft IE 7, but not in some other RSS readers.
  
  RSS Reporter feeds implement Microsoft Simple List Extensions, which provides sorting and filtering functionally. Other RSS readers may not support this extension and consequently the sorting and filtering may not be available.