What is RSS Reporter for SQL Server ?

RSS Reporter is a simple, web-based tool that generates industry-standard rss or atom feeds containing information about SQL Server jobs, job definition and execution history, database size and allocated space, or the results produced by any T-Sql statements.

How does it work? RSS Reporter can be installed on any machine that is running IIS 7.0 or higher. The RSS Reporter admin interface creates the accounts for other users that will have the authority to generate feeds from SQL Server instances on which they have access to. Users can then register SQL Server instances on their profile and generate feeds containing information from those SQL Servers (the types of feeds that can be generated are described in more detail in the Feeds section of this help document).

Why Rss Reporter? Aren't there enough tools to help the SQL Server dba do his/her job? Yes, of course there are plenty of tools out there but, let's look at the job feeds for a moment: as any SQL Server DBA knows the best and most commonly used way for monitoring the jobs is the SQL Server email notification. The first challenge one faces is configuring and monitoring the email notification service. Once all is up and running the alerts will start flowing on someone’s mailbox which is great. However, those alerts can get lost, may end up on spam folders and may be delayed or blocked by firewalls, network policies, virus scanning tools etc. Furthermore, digging through a mountain of emails to get the needed information is not very convenient and efficient to say the least.

Rss Reporter for SQL Server addresses all the above pain points and more:

unlike the email notification service it is very easy to install and configure
the feeds aggregate information about multiple jobs from different servers
user can drill down on a job to see the details of the execution
feeds can be read from any connected device and are always there when you need them
feeds can be filtered and sorted making it significantly easier and faster to get the information you need

How about query feeds? What are those needed for? Many of you out there have been and still probably are on a position where you are constantly asked to query the database and pull out certain pieces of information for your direct boss or for that big shot in the corner office. Sometimes you have the time and the budget to create a report that you can then provide to those that requested it, but many other times you just run those queries and send the info out on an email. Generating a feed and sending the link to your boss is not only faster and more efficient but it looks a lot more professional too.