Crystal Report Server & SQL Server

Question

I am currently in the process of setting up a crystal report server but before I even start I am trying to plan the best method.

Should the Crystal Report Server software be installed on the same server as the SQL server? What are the pros and cons?

Or should the crystal report server software be installed on its own virtual server?

Thanks

Answer 1

You'll typically want Crystal installed on another machine. You usually don't want anything installed on the SQL Server other than SQL Server.

This way that any load that Crystal places on the OS when running reports (which can be a lot depending on how much data is in the reports) doesn't take away from the SQL Server.

Answer 2

As MrDenny states -- its good form when economically feasible to segment the SQL server from any application servers, be it Crystal Reports, SharePoint, or another line of business application. That being said, you mention installing Crystal on its own Virtual Server, in which case it sounds like your SQL server shares that same virtual server (is that so?).

If that is the case -- you may not see any initial benefit from the segmentation. If you decide to install Crystal on the SQL server, consider giving it its own IP and hostname such that if you decide later to segment the services onto seperate machines (or virtual machines) it is an easy migration.