Report Server deployment in Azure

[Jakub]

Hello,

I've found some articles saying that if we want to deploy Report Server in Azure, we should use Azure Virtual Machines. These were few years old articles and I was wondering if anything changed and if it's possible to deploy the Report Server in Azure App Service, perhaps using docker image? Or is it still recommended to use Virtual Machine? My concern is that our company doesn't want to manage virtual machines.

Thanks

[Todor]

Hello Jakub,

I will summarize my reply to the same question you asked in the support thread, so that our community may benefit from it:

Unfortunately, the Report Server cannot be deployed on Azure App Services. The main problem that remains is that our server relies on a Windows Service that is not supported on Azure App Services - see the public thread Support Azure deployment for details.

The Telerik Report Server utilizes the Telerik Reporting engine for rendering, and the latter relies on GDI+ (System.Drawing) for measurements and rendering. This functionality is also restricted in Azure App Services - Win32k.sys (User32/GDI32) Restrictions. Based on our KB article Preview Reports in Desktop Viewers Using REST Service Deployed in Azure, the Reporting REST Service that runs also in the Report Server may still be deployed on Azure App Services. There may be small issues due to the GDI restrictions, but there are workarounds.

Note also that the Report Server requires Windows IIS. It is an ASP.NET WEB API application and requires .NET Framework and IIS Server.

Regards,
Todor
Progress Telerik