SQL Server Reporting Services Report Prompting me for credentials when using IP address

Question

My Environment: Windows server 2003 R2 SP2 SQL Server 2008 R2 Visual Studio 2008 (BIDS)

I designed a report based on a database on my server.It works fine on the server and on any machine in the same domain. However, I need to show the report to people outside my domain. When I try to view the report using the IP address instead of the server name, I get prompted for my credentials. I don't want other users to have to enter credentials to see my report. How can I show the report to any user outside my domain using the IP address? Many thanks for your expert help! John

Answer 1

Note, this might not really be a programming question, butit could be. The first thing to check is how it behaves by tweaking I.E. settings.

That's most likely because your browser (I'm assuming Internet Explorer) settings are preventing the credentials from being passed along.

It this is IE, go to the properties/settings, and look in the security settings. Scroll all the way down to "Automatic logon". It's probably set to "Automatic login only in Intranset zone". And I.E. doesn't recognize the IP as being in that Zone.

If that's the case, simply add that IP to the Local Intranet zone.

At this point it DOES become a programming question if it's the connection string, or an Administrative question if it's a permission on the site as a whole

To show it to users ourtside your domain, you'll need to provide them with credentials, or refactor the report to not require authentication.

This may be something in the report itself.

• The ConnectionString perhaps, requires Windows Authentication instead of SQL Server authentication. if this is the case, it's easily fixable. See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms156450.aspx#Credentials
• Perhaps the report server itself is configured to disallow anonymous access. This becomes an administrator issue, perhaps better suited for Serverfault.com or DBA.stackexchange.com. Or see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb522728.aspx