Power BI Report Server licensing via SQL EE SA

[TomaszLuchowski]

Dear All,

Our prospective customer has SQL EE with SA. We want to take advantage of this to deploy PowerBI Report Server.

Can we just install PowerBI Report Server on a new machine? Or does the machine where we install PowerBI Report Server need to be the machine to which they assign SQL EE Core licenses?

Perhaps we could install Power BI Report Server on a new machine, as long as we create the database on an existing SQL server, which has SQL EE Per-Core licenses?

Kind regards

Tomasz

[chrisfin]

It works just installing SSRS on a machine does currently with SQL customers.  If you install Power BI Report Server on a machine with no current SQL installation, you be consuming those cores from your SQL EE+SA agreement and be required to have licenses for them.  If you install it on the same machine as you currently have another SQL component installed on, then that machine has already been licensed and doesn't required net new cores to be purchased.

Hope that helps,

Chris

[xpherion]

Chris,

         Are you sure about this? Is there any documentation? How do you check if Power BI Report Server has valid license after that?

[muchinski]

Hello @xpherion,

During the Power BI Report Server installation, you will be asked for the Product key. You can find the key on VLSC at the description of you SQL Server 2016 EE license. There is a description about the license there.
After the installation, if you run the Report Server Configuration Manager you can check the 'Edition' to see if it is Evaluation or not.

Before you install it side by side with you actual Report Server, I recommend that you do it first in a testing environment.

You can also install it in a separate machine as Evaluation (180 days) migrate you SSRS and then upgrade the license running the setup again.

You can check this link for more tips about migration from SSRS to PBIRS https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/reportserver-migrate-report-server/

Dont forget to have a backup of:
- You SSRS Database

- SSRS configuration files (rsreportserver.config, rssrvpolicy.config and web.config)

- SSRS Encription key

Best,
Evandro.

[TomaszLuchowski]

Chris, thanks, just to clarify - can I install Power BI Report Server on a SQL Machine which already has SSRS? Or would it conflict or attempt to perform the upgrade from SSRS to PBI Report Server?

Thanks

Tomasz

[chrisfin]

You can run it side by side, yes.