Installing BIRT on a SharePoint Server

mdthahir

Hi all,

I am running a SharePoint server farm for my department and I would like my users to be able to generate reports using BIRT through the SharePoint site. The server runs SharePoint Server 2007, WSS 3.0, ASP.NET 2.0 and 3.0, IIS and VS 2005.

I would like users to be able to access the BIRT application online through the SharePoint site itself for generating their reports. What necessary software would I need to install in order to run BIRT on this server? I know I'll have to install Eclipse definitely. I know the general installation steps for installing it on a local machine but since this is a server deployment any general ideas on how to go about it would be immensely helpful?

If you need any other information about the farm or the SharePoint config, let me know.

Thanks,
Mohammed.

mnutty

You don't need Eclipse on the server. You will want to use Eclipse to create reports, though.<br />
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If you want to use the Webviewer you will need a Java application server like Tomcat. If you want to just serve up pdfs, then you only need Java, but you probably shouldn't take that route.<br />
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Obviously you will need the BIRT engine - <a class='bbc_url' href='http://www.eclipse.org/birt/phoenix/'>Eclipse BIRT Home</a> .<br />
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You can use IIS to front the Java app server and ASP.Net to provide parameters and/or Sharepoint webparts to host different reports or supply the parameters.<br />
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Since it seems you don't know Java and don't mind spending a few bucks, I would suggest you use the Actuate's iServer Express Report Server instead of Tomcat or another server. It is cheaper than Sharepoint for sure. You should upgrade to Actuates BIRT report designer too.