We upgraded our Crystal Reports Professional copies to XI when 7.x came out, and are using the Crystal Reports Server XI that came bundled with it to serve up our reports for mid-tier. Before 7.x, we were using Crystal Reports Professional 9 with the bundled Crystal Enterprise 9 web server in exactly the same manner for the 5.1.2 and 6.3 mid-tiers. Version XI is where BO switched from providing 5 concurrent licenses with their bundled web server (all you needed to make mid-tier reporting work) to 5 named licenses, which does not work unless you tell mid-tier that it is talking to a BOXI server instead of a Crystal Reports Server. I am not sure what BO is shipping now, but in theory the web server bundled with Crystal Reports Professional should be all that you need to serve reports for the mid-tier, since we don't serve anything else (no one is accessing any crystal report natively, only those built into the ITSM application and available through the mid-tier).
I'm not sure you will find anyone still working at BMC Remedy who understands this and can give you coherent advice. For many years we were told by support that Crystal Reports Professional was the correct low-cost answer since all you needed was the bundled web server with 5 concurrent licenses to serve up reports on the web; this was true using Crystal 8.5 and 9 with earlier versions of the mid-tier. You needed Crystal Reports Professional itself to edit any of the OOTB reports, or create custom ones for import into the application, so it was the perfect choice of products. When 7.x came out and required a 10 or XI level version of Crystal, whoever knew how that worked was already gone. It took me almost a year to convince support that the licensing had changed in XI and was causing problems for the mid-tier when using the settings they had specified in their documentation. They were working under the false assumption that everyone would have a full-blown, fully licensed version of Crystal Reports Server XI or BOXI available to them, and had not kept up with the web reporting server bundled with CR Professional. I would contend that CR Professional and its bundled web server should be the ONLY thing that you need to do reporting for mid-tier. It would be a gross imposition by BMC Remedy to expect that everyone must buy a more powerful (and expensive) version of the CR/BOXI web server than that just to serve up reports on the web. That function alone cannot justify the cost of a fully licensed BO web server, which is intended (and priced) for serving up complex, native crystal reports over its own interface, to users registered within its own security model. That's like using a .600 Nitro Express to hunt mice. You should investigate whatever BO is currently selling as Crystal Reports Professional and whatever web server is currently shipping with it. You may have to buy the current version but ask for an earlier version in order to get compatibility with ARS 7.x; I have not looked past the original distribution of XI. Christopher Strauss, Ph.D. Call Tracking Administration Manager University of North Texas Computing & IT Center http://itsm.unt.edu/ From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Bill Myers Sent: Tuesday, October 28, 2008 8:56 AM To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG Subject: Web Reporting ** I attempted this post yesterday and did not see it on the list. I apologize if it is a repeat. We are looking at solutions for providing the ability to view, save to file and print Crystal Reports from the ARS 7.1 mid-tier (we do not currently use the mid-tier). I have received so much conflicting information and I was hoping someone would share their experiences. We have been told we need to spend anywhere from $600 to $100,000. We have a list of 6 - 8 products and versions that may or may not be workable. Obviously, we would like to spend as little money as possible. So, would anyone who has travelled this path be willing to share the details of their implementation including approximate costs and licensing requirements? I've contacted BMC support and of course was told to look at the product compatibility matrix. I have and I've looked at the mid-tier documentation. What it doesn't tell you is which supported application would be best suited to our implementation (small company with limited but growing reporting needs) and if there may be other un-supported apps that could do the trick. Of course, the vendors want to sell you the Cadillac when a Yugo would suffice. Thanks! ARS 7.1 (unpatched at present) on Windows Oracle 10.2 on Linux ARS 7.1 mid-tier on Linux Completely custom applications Bill Myers Remedy Developer Datacraft Solutions, Inc. [EMAIL PROTECTED] (p) 919-667-9804 (f) 919-682-5986 __Platinum Sponsor: www.rmsportal.com ARSlist: "Where the Answers Are" html___ _______________________________________________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org Platinum Sponsor: www.rmsportal.com ARSlist: "Where the Answers Are"
